If you are an avid traveller, you’re probably used to reading guide books and seeing the same formulaic information about a country. At times it can be off putting because you rarely get a sense of the destination until you actually get there. As I’ve mentioned before, blogs are a good way to virtually explore before you travel there. Besides lenient drug laws, tulips, and wooden clogs, The Netherlands has an amazing culture, architecture and landscapes. The following blogs are a mix of photo, expat and travel.
Photo Blogs
- Dutch Daily Photo is the site of amateur photographers Piet Osefius and Rob van Kleef, living in The Hague. The site has almost a thousand photos; not only of The Netherlands, bu also of other places they have travelled.
- Dweaf is the photoblog of Michaël Bakker, who lives in Arnhem. His daily photos range from portraits and architecture to trips to New York and nature. His photos are also available on flickr.
- Aan de Dijk is photographer Rachel James’s site. She’s an American who’s been living in The Netherlands since 1998. She describes her photos as “the simple, banal, everyday scenes that make up Dutch daily life.”
- Talkin is a basic photoblog by Maarten Scholder. I’ve included it on the list because he focuses mainly on nature and landscapes. His photos provide a great view on what the rest of the country looks like outside of Amsterdam.
Expat Blogs
As I’ve mentioned before, expat blogs are a great way to virtually explore a place before you go. The following are a mix of personal and family expat blogs:
- Dutched Pinay on Expatriotism, written by a Philipino woman, is an excellent resources for information about daily life in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. The blog provides a number of interesting links and Dutched Pinay travels quite a lot (with a camera!), so you get a lot more than just the Netherlands.
- Something to Say: About Life in the Netherlands is a personal expat blog. It’s fairly family-oriented, which is great if you are looking to take your kids for a trip, or a long-term stay, to Holland. Jenn is quite an avid blogger, so besides finding out about Holland, you get to read some funny posts.
- Blonde But Bright is written by a Minnesotan woman, living in Ledien. The blog is three years old so you’ve got a lot to work through.
- Stitched in Holland is a mix between a mommy blog and an expat blog. Ashleigh writes about Dutch culture, food, family, and working as a trainee florist, all the while trying to deal with a foreign language. She has taken a break from writing her blog at the moment but there is still two years worth of archives to explore.
- Invading Holland’s tag line is ‘The story of an accident prone Englishman’. Stuart has lived in Holland since 2001. The blog could definitely be described as humorous and the author also draws his own cartoons to accompany posts.
Travel Blogs
Good ol’ travel blogs give you a quick snapshot onto specific locations, as opposed to an overall feel for a place that you are more likely to get from expat blogs.
- TravelPost Netherlands blogs are my favourite because bloggers rate and review destination, restaurants, museums, etc. as well as posting about their own expeiences.
- TravelBlog has over 1000 entries about The Netherlands. You can filter your reading by area and there is also a dedicated photo section.
- RealTravel has some good posts about Holland It’s a similar layout to TravelBlog but blogs are rated according to popularity so don’t be surprised to find yourself reading blogs from a few years ago.
- prised to find yourself reading blogs from a few years ago.