April 9-11: Strangers Become Family: The Movie

Well, this story hasn't been turned into a movie yet, but it certainly has that movie-like “not in real life” quality to it. The true story is this: During our flight from Washington Dulles to Amsterdam at the start of our May 2009 trip to Europe, I happened to have been seated next to a 21 year old woman (Eline) who was returning to Amsterdam after 3 months of a 6 month internship at Disneyworld because she had just learned that her dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Back then I blogged (here) about this meeting – and the resulting flight-long conversations with her as the first highlight of that trip. After the flight, we stayed in email contact, sometimes infrequently – but enough to know that her dad died a couple months after our meeting on the airplane – and to learn more about her life, her mother and brother.

In the exchange of emails after the flight, Eline's mom (Nanny) also emailed me expressing her appreciation for our interaction with Eline -- given the circumstances of her flight. These emails began a sort of modern-day email “penpal” relationship with both Eline and Nanny. Deb and I enjoyed getting to know both women via email – and the warmness of the contact was more than sufficient to make us want to add a personal visit with them to this trip. I recall that initially we wrote about the possibility of sharing a day at the Disneyland-like fairy-tale amusement park located in their hometown city of Tilburg, Netherlands – a place that I first learned about from Eline during our flight together. Over the course of emails – Nanny invited/encouraged us to stay at their home. As with such interactions, it was challenging to decide whether the offer was genuine and whether or not to accept it – after all, the entire relationships had been built on a chance meeting on a flight and emails. But in the end, the warmth of the emails coupled with my frequently blogged about “what's the worst that can happen” logic – Deb and I agreed to accept the offer. Subsequently we also had an opportunity to meet “face to face” during a Skype call – and it helped to assure us that the offer was genuine.

So, our destination upon leaving Frankfurt on the morning of April 9, 2011, was Tilburg, Netherlands, one of the larger cities in the Netherlands  – a destination that required a change of trains in Arnhem, Netherlands.

After the comfortable train rides – including having free internet on the Netherlands' train from Arnhem – we were warmly greeted with the personal “hugs” that had become our trademark email valediction. We both immediately felt the family-like connection that continued and grew through our two-night stay.

As prearranged, we dropped our luggage at their house – and then proceeded to an indoor volleyball arena/park where Eline had a scheduled game. As some may know, volleyball is hugely popular in the Netherlands and there are many organized teams/leagues for players at all levels/ages. It was exciting to get this first-hand introduction to Eline's and Nanny's lives – and in the process get to meet Eline's boyfriend, also a volleyball player but at a high/paid level, and his parents. Thereafter we returned to their home where Eline's brother had arrived home for the weekend – and we enjoyed great food and fun conversation late into the evening – sort of a continuation of our flight with Eline: sharing back and forth about the similarities and differences in our lives, cultures, languages, traditions, education, etc.

The next day, the six of us (Eline, her boyfriend, her brother, Nanny, Deb and I) enjoyed spectacular weather for our day-long adventure at Efteling – a fabulous and beautiful amusement park with lots of depicted fairy tales and thrilling rides. Eline's brother, who works part time at the park, was a fantastic tour-guide as his narration brought life to every fairy tale – some familiar, some not. It was a day of much laughter and fun that continued even after we left the park at closing time – over a delicious home-cooked meal and into the evening.

Goodbyes were the only part of the visit that were challenging because what started as a chance meeting on an airplane – has resulted in our having more “family” in the Netherlands. We're already looking forward to adding to this “movie” when they get to visit us in Portland – another bucket list addition that doesn't yet have dates.

Here are some photos taken during our visit in Tilburg.