Sunday madness

After a couple of hectic weeks (break-ups, work travel, double jobs, and so on) I now have a week away from the office to do NOTHING. Well, nothing related to work at least - the next couple of days will be quite packed.

Such as tomorrow - Sunday.
A friend and I will be be spending the whole day picking up various other friends from airports and trainstations. By the end of the day there will be eight of us - flying and train-ing in from all over Europe - for a long overdue reunion. This group of people are the people that I spent most of my time in Osaka, 6/7 years ago, with. Although I've seen most of them within that time at least once, and usually more often, this is the first time that we are all together. Although I suppose to make it a real reunion some others should be added too.

I can't wait. The time that I spent in Osaka was amazing, and in large part due to these people. We have no plans, so I'm hoping for great weather *fingers crossed* to just be able to hang out along the canals and have fun. Woohoo!

Osaka

(sorry, a mushy post)

I was chatting to a very good friend of mine earlier this afternoon which made me realize again how much I miss some people. We hardly ever properly talk, but really, I should just make more time to stay in touch with these friends!

It also made me realize that my travels over the past half year have all been connected by one thing: Osaka.

I guess by now I can honestly say that I made some close friends when living there in '01/'02. I can't believe it's already been five years!

The trip to Krakow was together with a friend I met in Osaka. St. Petersburg was partly to see a friend I met in Osaka. Antwerp and most of all Leuven was to attend a wedding of friends from Osaka. And the upcoming trip to London is together with the Krakow-friend and we'll be meeting up with a friend who we met in - you guessed it - Osaka.

Seriously, travelling to see friends is one of the most ideal ways of travelling. It is so good to find out how people are doing, and to have them show you their life and their city.

Maybe it's the wine from tonight, but I can't help feeling really lucky to have these people as my friends. Not surprisingly, the friend I openend this post with is also an Osaka-contact. Can't wait to see him again - hopefully this year too as a trip to Spain with many of these people is supposedly on the calendar....