ERE meetup - Amsterdam NL - 8 September 2024

[J_]

Hi @rube, I can be there too. With some apples and bananas

[rube]

Yes! I got a place to stay. I should be there barring any travel issues. See y'all Sunday!

That's so cool! In case you're not traveling with one of the others, PM me your email address so we can share the exact location, last minute changes etc.

If the weather collaborates, I could bring some cold cuts straight from Italy to share, and we could improvise a picnic (the bread at Albert Heijn has been one of the most pleasant surprises of NL so far).
Or we could go to a high end steakhouse and splurge on air-flown Japanese wagyu and fine wine.

We will definitely go to the most expensive restaurant in "Old South", the poshest 'hood of Amsterdam (at least as far as I know? Maybe there's a secret superposh part where part of the attraction is that only the superrich even know it exists?).

I'll try to be at the Vondelpark around 12 as well, and beforehand I will tour my mansion with the beautiful paintings and sculptures (a.k.a. the Rijksmuseum). I'll do most of the traveling in my $4 million vehicle on rails (with, of course, a professional driver).

I am afraid the group will split up if Seppia and Dutchgirl decide to go to the high end steakhouse or similar and I'm not sure yet which group I will join
@Dutchgirl, enjoy the visit to your mension but also check about the maintenance needed and the assoicated cost of it
@J_ nice you'll be able to join! I'm also curious about your stories and experience at the European meet-up.

I'll think about what food I will bring and can be shared.

Several website predict rain in the afternoon, but this one is more positive and therefore I assume it is correct: https://www.buienradar.nl/weer/amsterda ... 94/5daagse. so there won't be any rain, nevertheless, perhaps it smart to bring an umbrella just in case....it's the Netherlands after all.

@FiscallyBlonde and @muu thanks for your PM, I'll send you an email soon.

@jasmine and @Vanji and anyone else that would like to join send me a PM with your email address.

Confirmed: @McTrex @Seppia @DutchGirl @FiscallyBlonde @Rube @Figmenter @J_ @Jin+Guice @jasmine @muu
Tentative: @Quadaluope @Simplex @Vanji

[Seppia]

I have an easy solution. If the weather is good, it’s picnic with cold cuts and supermarket bread. If it’s bad, DutchGirl will provide the mansion and the transportation (I heard it’s big enough for double digit people) and I will have the air flown Japanese wagyu (A12 grade of course) catered for everybody.
@rube can you take care of the red wine? I kinda like Petrus or Chateau Margaux

See you all soon!

[McTrex]

If there's anybody who needs transport, I'm driving from Ermelo.

[figmenter]

FYI parking at Apollolaan is free on Sundays. And from there is a 10-15 minute walk to Vondelpark.

[Jin+Guice]

Bad news y'all, my flight from New Orleans to New York was cancelled which means I won't make the connection to the Netherlands. Sorry to miss everyone, I hope y'all have a great time!

[DutchGirl]

Aww, that really is too bad, Jin+Guice.

I was just going to post that the weather is now predicted to be dry tomorrow.

But no Jin+Guice, that's sad.

[Jin+Guice]

Yes, I am very disappointed to miss this, I was really looking forward to meeting all of you!

Also thanks to my kind volunteer host (who I'm leaving anonymous in case they want to be) and sorry again for the last minute cancellation!

[Seppia]

Thank you all for the great time today, it was super cool meeting you in real life.
Safe travels back home!

[DutchGirl]

I had a great day, too! Nice to meet you all, including the two kids who both at some point during the afternoon managed to get themselves soaked somewhere in the park

[J_]

Ere Picnic in the Vondelpark

I sit in the electric tram, right through the old city of Amsterdam on my way to Central Station. I am pondering the many talks we had with each other during the ere-summer picnic yesterday in the beautiful Vondelpark, instigated by @Dutchgirl and @Rube. I met also again @McTrex, @Simplex and dear friend @Fermenter. We started ere-meetings in 2015 at @Simplex place in the Netherlands.

@Rube tells me about his plans how to invest money in the future and we discuss about the books of dr Greger. He is a very inspiring man, thoughtful and practical. He reprimands me friendly about my too bold stance about nutrition. From @Fermenter how he spends lots of time growing fruits and vegetables and works sparsely his profession.

It is a pleasure to meet @Seppia and even his DW and little seppia for the first time. He tells about how he enjoys his way of life at the moment, together with his family. I ask him about his far future ideas: living in summer in the mountains and in winter on a warmer place. Exactly the opposite as I live at the moment.

We met @muu, who lives and works in Germany at the moment. She is happy to discover the in’s and out’s of ere. We met @fiscallyblond from the Netherlands and her SO.

And there came @jesmine with DH and joung son, now living in the south of the Netherlands too. During talks with her husband I found out that he was looking for the possibillity to work on his own instead of a job. So I introduced him to @Fermenter who has a lot of expierience working on his own in the same field. It appeared even that the family of jesmine and fermenter lives in the same town and the same neighbourhood. So it will be easy for them to discover each knowledge and use it.

Yes @Chenda, I do think, ere- meetings in real life are really inspiring and worthwhile!

[rube]

It was great weather and a perfect place for a nice ERE picnic. Very nice to see so many longterm forummembers and see how people are doing, some of them already meeting for over 9 years! Also very interesting to meet several new members with different backgrounds.

Many chats about all kind of different topics. Time went fast and I before I realized it was already early evening and I realized I had many more topics I had not even brought up yet to get insights from others! As often I talked too much and asked to little

Still, I left with new and renewed insights: how to view health and keeping it at the same level IS also progress, experiences from others regarding a daily and seasonal rhythm (how a daily early morning walk influenced the sleep pattern positively, living in 3 different places based on the seasons), inspiration about traveling (Patagonia! - alone in the mountains), some brief information about estate planning and very practical how to park for free in Amsterdam on Sunday
I hope others were also able to get some usefull knowledge, experience, inspiration from others.

@J_ I hope and believe you know despite my friendly "reprimand" you are a big inspiration, already since 2011, living an ERE lifestyle already for many years! Also for your food and health knowledge .

[DutchGirl]

Here, here! I agree with many of the points above.

Impression of the picnic


I was thinking some more about what you need to see when you're new to the Netherlands . We've talked about the Kröller-Müllermuseum in Otterlo, near Arnhem, definitely a nice place to go, especially if you like art and/or nature. (Nature because the museum is situated in the Veluwe, one area of the Netherlands that's mostly nature with forests and heath).

We talked about Vincent van Gogh as well. He was born in the province of Brabant, and here is a website on how to visit the area and find places where he used to live or that were special to him while living there: https://www.vangoghbrabant.co.uk/nl/hom ... gh-brabant . Please note: the Vincent van Gogh museum, that has a lot of his paintings, is not in Brabant. Going to Brabant would be more to discover where he came from and perhaps what views and nature inspired him early on.

I now also want to recommend one weekend per year called monumentendag - where many Dutch monumental buildings open their doors for free. It's in the upcoming weekend of 14 and 15 September. Normally visiting monumental buildings costs money, and some monumental buildings even aren't open to the public normally. Personally I will visit the local water tower and one old monumental palace near a canal here. But all cities all throughout the country have special opportunities this weekend. So I'd suggest if you're in the Netherlands: look at what options you have in your area. Googling "monumentendag 2024" + city will tell you more.

Oh, and for ERE people who live in the Netherlands and love to visit museums: definitely check out the "museumkaart". It is valid for 12 months and will give access to many museums. It's 75 euros and I'm guessing a lot of museums these days cost 10 euros to enter, so if you visit at least 1 museum per month it should definitely be worth it. (And with such a card, you can visit local museums for just an hour or half an hour whenever you feel like it).

[FiscallyBlonde]

Hi all, I had a great time meeting all of you this Sunday! Amazing to see such a big group of people with completely different backgrounds but similar interests. Also, if you saw the amount of food everyone brought no one would think this was a gathering of super frugal people! And of course the lovely wine @seppia brought.

I did not manage to speak to everyone, but please do not hesitate to message me if you want to know some more on Dutch taxes or estate planning. I would be happy to help.

[Quadalupe]

Thanks for the writeups everyone! Sound like you had fun and learned from each other, nice! I'd love to attend the next meetup.

And I love that stroopwafels are included in the picnic picture @Dutchgirl!

[muu]

It was really wonderful to get to meet everyone last weekend, thanks all for coming out and spending that rare sunny Sunday together in the park! I'm looking forward to continuing the wide-ranging conversations we started then here in the forum, and perhaps even beyond Until we meet again~

[Jin+Guice]

I'm actually coming to Amsterdam now... probably.... unless something gets messed with flights again. I'm landing the morning of September 23rd and leaving September 28th. Is anyone interested in meeting up? Reply here or PM me. Cheers y'all!