When you go on a trip around the world you carefully think about what you’re going to take with you. As I’m an avid reader there are I’ve got to chose between three options: physical books, iPad or Kindle(I don’t consider the iPhone a real option).

Books have a couple of big disadvantages: they’re big, heavy and I therefore can only take a couple them. I can mitigate some of those disadvantages by having people send me books during my trip, but I then have to collect them and they tend to get lost in the mail which would be a real pain. The advantages of books are obvious (ease of use) and I can give them to people after I’ve read them.

The iPad’s main advantage lies in what it can do beyond reading: monitor my RSS and Twitter feeds, e-mail, watch movies and play games. Its disadvantages are obvious as well: due to its fancy design it’s much more prone to theft. Its functionalities distract me from the places and people around me. And its screen is very hard to read in the sun (which I hope to encounter frequently during me trip).

I’ve chosen to take a Kindle with me. It does one thing really well and that’s let people read many books with ease. I don’t think it will get stolen as quickly as an iPad and it’s lighter than an iPad and a book. Unfortunately it’s sold out at Amazon, so I have to order it quickly.

Unless you’ve got better ideas. Please let me know in the comments.

This afternoon, after a very hectic two days full of great experiences and people, I abruptly found myself alone on my boat. The weather was nice as I slowly sailed back towards Amsterdam central station. As there was nobody on the water either i shamelessly turned up the stereo’s volume for Sigur Ross’s epic album ‘Agaetis Byrjun’. When i realised that this might also be very long until i sail my beloveth boat in similar conditions, there were more than a few goose bumps.

Today i said ‘goodbye’ to the first persons. This means I probably won’t see them until i’ll return from my trip. It was a weird feeling, as the trip suddenly became a lot more ‘real’.

Somebody might have said this already, but it would be great if we could live our entire lives like we’re almost leaving on a long trip. As for me, these days I appreciate my family, friends and even my worldy possesions more than ever before.

After a long period with ‘twijfels over Belgié’, they disappeared into sillty air at #gwo10 with Admiral Freebee, Selah Sue and Isbells. Great and innovative music!

Admiral Freebie: ‘i wanna get away before i stay the same’

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Send from my handheld

Friends, sun and a just in time arrival in Vlieland. Into the great wide open has begun.

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Send from my handheld

Taking tomorrow off after a long and eventful week.I couldn't go to a festival with a more fitting title than this one: into the great wide open. Seven of my best friends on an island in the north of The Netherlands with great weather.

Just had a meeting with Google. Even though most things were familiar, it was interesting to see the breadth in their portfolio. We discussed what Google could do for our iPhone app promotion. One of the major hurdles is the lack of measurement possibilities in the iTunes store. This means no CPA bidding as we can’t measure any conversions. I wonder if Apple will ever share this kind of data, as it would stimulate publishers to drive more traffic to the iTunes store.

For me this trip was a logical step: i have the savings to do it, it looks like a worthwhile endavour, i’ll regret it when i don’t. So: go for it. Looking at the storm of reactions, i slowly begin to realise how privileged I am. Quitting your job for a year in your mid 30’s because it seems like fun to travel around the world for a year or so; is something i’ll probably truly appreciate in a couple years from now.

Last night I played untill late with a new SEO tool. It’s for my partner’s wedding photography website (www.demooistefotovanjeleven.nl). i got attracted by the ease with which you can handle small seo/sea accounts. With only a little bit of effort we managed to pull in over two thousand euro worth of assignments in just a couple of weeks (which i consider quite good for a starting wedding photographer outside the peak season). All this for a marketing investment of just 200 euro’s.

Thanks to to this new keyword tool i’m confident that we’ll be able to accellerate her business even further (she’s already looking for a backup photographer as she can’t handle all the assignments herself). All this thanks to her photo skills, a great photography website, and a nicely humming Google SEO/SEA campaign.

This is for Google Chrome users only. Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in a browser, ever. It’s highly personalized, dynamically generated, local.