No job, No house, No problem

My First Letter

Hello mom, hello friends, hello my mom’s friends,

A switch from Polarsteps to Substack—thank you to everyone following along. I like the idea of writing a letter to tell you all about my adventures. The next adventure will start soon in April! A big one.

While I have made multiple big trips—living in North Carolina for a year, solo traveling around Costa Rica, doing a Yoga Teacher Training in Bali, and my last trip through Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand—I always knew when I would return. This time, I have no idea how long this adventure will take.

The start of my first backpacking trip in 2021

So here’s where I’m at: I graduated last year. I got a nice job at the university, but because of budget cuts, my contract didn’t get renewed this year. On top of that, my student housing ended—because, well, I’m no longer a student.
No house. No job. Great!

As Janis Joplin said, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." For me, this is a sign: let’s travel again! Maybe you’re thinking, Kim, are you not just running from adult life? Avoiding responsibilities? Uhm… yes, maybe. It would probably be smarter to listen to my bonus dads, start a PhD, get a corporate job, pay off my student loan, work towards a career. Great ideas, but I feel like I want to explore more of the world first.

Life is short. Losing my dad when I was younger taught me this. And while I’m not saying I should run from responsibilities, I do want to live life and seize the day. I want to learn how to really live instead of just existing. Moreover, it is not about running away from anything. I want to see the world. But not in a, ‘get drunk in hostels, avoiding responsibility kind of way’. So this journey isn’t me being lost. It’s about me choosing something different.

I could get a 9-to-5 job right now. I could work towards a life I know I don’t want. But my biggest fear? Sitting on the couch every day at 8:00 p.m., watching the news, looking forward to the two weekend days I am off. Not that there’s anything wrong with that—some people love that life. And maybe I even envy them. But I feel an intense urge to live differently. To travel. To see the world. To do something new every day. To push myself into the unknown. To get out of the comfort zone.

I don’t want to just exist. I don’t want to make plans with my friends two months in advance because life is just so busy. I am not excited to talk about buying houses and having kids. I want to go somewhere without a plan and see what happens. I crave spontaneity and chaos. I love chaos. The structure and predictability of life in the Netherlands make me feel like I’m just existing instead of living.

So, I booked the flight to Bangkok. I don’t know exactly when I’ll be back. I told everyone September, but maybe sooner, maybe later, maybe never (Sorry, mom.). I promised I’d write, though. So here we are. A Substack, because the other social media never felt like my thing, Polarsteps felt like an obligation, and WhatsApp messages get lost in my phone. (If I haven’t replied to you yet and you’re reading this, don’t take it personally—I do think about you, just call me!) Hopefully, this letter will stick. I will try to write once or twice a week, for who knows how long.

But First—My Mom is Coming Along!

Yes, you read that right. For the first three weeks, my mom is joining me!

If you know her, this should come as no surprise. She’s always been a traveler at heart—one of the reasons she works in a school is to have as much time off as possible to explore the world. But this is her first time in Asia. Very exciting!

Follow along

This is where I’ll share the journey—an attempt at freedom, a life in motion. Not just about travel, but about how to actually experience the world. How to slow down. How to exist outside of expectations. How to strip everything back and find what’s real. How to live without a plan.

If you’d like to follow along, join me on this journey. It’s a story about being mindful, about creating freedom—not just by going places, but by learning something in every place. Learning about people, places, and cultures. Learning by living it. Sharing the adventures and lessons with you on the way.

Let’s see where this goes.

Lots of love,

Kim