Another Immigration, a Fiancé, and More - 2024

Currently scrolling to January in my camera roll because I simply cannot remember where and how this year started. Quite a realistic depiction of the journey it has been. It often blows my mind how quickly time flies. However, many events I think back on feel like a decade away but happened in 2024. A tip on how to make years feel longer: renovate multiple homes in multiple countries and states, travel to 13 countries, completely change careers, not only move but immigrate to a different continent, meet lots of new people and do fun new things.

This year started in a hotel in Huntsville, Alabama where my mom, Don and I worked SO hard (thanks again Mom) to start the renovation of our first rental property. In 3 long days in a freezing house without a working HVAC, we cleared the property of much garbage, scrubbed and painted every wall and completed a few other necessary tasks. We then drove 17 hours through a blizzard back to Lakin to enjoy one day at home before heading back to the Netherlands.

Don't those walls behind us look nicely painted?

In March I quit my job as financial consultant in the Netherlands and focused on our USA long term rentals, the Sint Maarten Stays villa rental business, preparing for our move, and (most importantly) traveling. I met up with my dad, Meagan and Austin in Singapore mid-March to make a short Asia tour. We went to the Eras Tour in Singapore and visited some friends working in India and the United Arab Emirates. This trip was something else. I have a whole blog about that for anyone who hasn’t read it and is interested. Once I returned to the Netherlands, half a week later I went with my Dutch bestie Ilse, to visit our friends from our bachelor’s exchange semester in Austria, Lina and Santtu, who live in Finland. The four of us also traveled from Finland to Estonia.

Estonia with Santtu, Ilse and Lina

In April my family came to the Netherlands to celebrate my grandparents’ 55th wedding anniversary. Quickly thereafter Don and I went on our “bezichtigingsreis” to Sint Maarten. This is a trip planned and paid for Dutch military who get placed in another country to prepare for their upcoming move. It was good practice living in a villa way too big for two people, having our own pool and eating breakfast with ocean view. I am so proud of my brave military man for serving his country in this way. The USA was the following country we went back to. Belle, my FHSU roomie got married, Don & I went to Kansas City to look at rental properties, my mom celebrated her 50th birthday, my aunt Bo started her second half of bicycling across the US, I chopped my hair off, Meagan graduated with her bachelor’s and Austin competed at state track. Hectic, but an amazing month with family.

May ended in the Netherlands and June started in Spain with my PAC (the coolest people ever who I did my master’s degrees with). They surprised me with a dolphin watching boat ride for my birthday and the following day I closed on our first rental property in Kansas City. Mixing business with pleasure has become my entire life now. After the Spain trip we had two insane weeks getting all our last things we needed for the move to Sint Maarten, lining up documents and registrations, packing, and goodbye parties. I must admit, for me it was two weeks because that was the only time I was in the Netherlands. For Don it was two months of scrambling, driving all over the country for our marketplace finds (sounds more dramatic than it is, the Netherlands is 7x smaller than Kansas, but still), lining up all the practicalities, and living in a house that had one tiny trail to one spot on the couch and one open spot at the dinner table because the rest of the house was filled with boxes, additional couches, dining room tables, chairs, our Sint Maarten gym and so much more. Thanks my guy, appreciate you. 😊

June ended in our new home in Sint Maarten. The container with all our stuff arrived a couple weeks after us so we had a bit of time to recollect ourselves, acclimate to our new island lives and enjoy the beautiful island of Sint Maarten. During this time, I also drug Don to a cat event, signed us up to be foster parents of kittens, and quickly got us some little buddies. Don has a huge heart so I knew cats would fit even if he wasn’t sure. Long story short, we foster failed our second round and are proud cat parents of Lanny and Sol. Don loves these lil nuggets, you can even ask him yourself.

Lanny & Sol

Container, my mother, Don’s job, my management role and reality of the true island life all arrived sometime in July. My mom helped me get started with 3 massive yards, figure out how to clean and maintain 3 pools, sort and clear out storage rooms, get rid of tons of excess furniture throughout 3 villas, make our own acupanels, remodel a couch and many other random and time-consuming projects. Plus, we went wing foiling a couple times every week. Without her help and moral support while diving into the world of property management of short-term vacation villas I’m not sure we would have made the progress that we have made to this day.

While being the fulltime team leader of the Dutch Royal Marechaussee on the island, Don is also my utterly underpaid co property manager. We have both learned remarkably much when it comes to being handymen. Vans often drive by marketing their skills like “plumbing, roofing and gardening.” Don and I used to laugh about what a random combination something like that is. Now we feel like we should update our car to include “electrical, internet, roofing, painting, pool maintenance, plumbing, woodworking, gardening, property management, marketing, social media, website building, financial advising, accounting, etc. LLC. With lots of determination, YouTube, trial and error, occasional bickering, trips to the hardware store and constant teamwork, we have caught up on so much overdue maintenance and improved the villas themselves, as well as the booking rates for the business. While it was the job I signed up for, it was the job Don found himself doing… every single night and every weekend. Without him we would never have gotten the results we have now. Thanks again, my guy.

This career switch has been interesting for me. I had the usual 9-5 with a flexible, hybrid work environment and 30 paid vacation days in which I could completely ignore every ounce of the company. Now I work from 6am to 9pm and most weekends and when I am gone, I still have to keep up with my emails and messages and line up everything from afar. Yet somehow, being my own boss has been such a liberating feeling. The freedom I have to plan my day however I see best fit and to reap the rewards such as seeing all those brand-new outdoor lamps turn on and watching the upcoming months nearly sell out knowing we did that is exhilarating. Watching that endless to-do list from July dwindle into something that is manageable and allows us occasional off days was necessary for our mental and physical health but also very fulfilling.

Don’t be fooled thinking I only worked the past 6 months. I definitely still mix business with travel as much as possible. With our Caribbean location we can conveniently go island hopping. In October, which is during the slow season on the island meaning we didn’t have guests, we took a trip to Puerto Rico. A few days after we came back, I went to the United States once again because I couldn’t stand not seeing any of Austin’s senior year cross country meets. Additionally, I’ll take whatever excuse I can to be with my family. November provided a trip to the Dominican Republic to attend my childhood bestie, Rachel’s wedding. This meant Don had to pick up the booking scheduled during this time as well as do the gardens and pools. He got us our first 5-star review on AirBNB! Great guy, let me tell ya. This selfless and well-done service officially got him the 2024 MVP award.

We have also enjoyed company coming to visit including my parents, my aunt Margreet and two of her friends, Don’s family, and my bestie Fiona is coming from Austria tomorrow. Since work doesn’t stop because there are people over, these guests have all gotten to help by painting rooms, fixing leaks and disposing of a dead monkey in a yard, among other fun things. Can’t wait to see what Fiona gets stuck doing.

December is a month of finalizing the villas before a nearly fully booked high season and making time to enjoy the holiday season and each other. Because of Don’s actual job, we are stuck on the island. This is the first Christmas of my life that I am not with my family. I have thrown some pity parties for myself but am now busy with work once again and happy to spend quality time with Don, Lanny and Sol. Also, how lucky am I that I got to spend the last 26 Christmases with my favorite people in the whole world. Next year, we’ll be back.

Don and I occasionally plan “date days” for each other to force ourselves to put the drill down and enjoy our lives. Our last date included a romantic sunset horse ride where Don got down on one knee and asked to be my fellow handyman for the rest of our lives. His hourly rate is unbeatable so of course I concurred. Plus, I love him a lot and all that fun stuff. He has been my rock the past few years and makes this busy life a fun, productive adventure. Sint Maarten is where we met so it was fitting that this is where we got engaged. Well done, Don.

Let the records show that Don had been voted the 2024 MVP by the board of directors (Me, Myself & I) before he bribed us with diamonds and gold. However, it is a nice cherry on top.

Thank you 2024 for yet another blessed year. I am walking into 2025 with the same great guy, a heavier ring finger and an additional lengthy to-do list. Also, with an enormous amount of gratitude once again that God picked me to live this life.