Some trips take you somewhere new. Others take you back. Every so often, a story lands in our inbox that reminds us exactly why we do what we do, and this is one of them. It comes from a longtime UnTourist whose parents traveled with us in our earliest days, and who recently returned to Holland on our Leiden UnTour with a very particular mission: to knock (politely, with advance notice) on the door of her childhood home. What happened next involves a warm welcome, a walk through a garden and a discovery hidden inside a wall for eighty years. We’ll let her tell it.
I’ve been following in the footsteps of my parents who introduced me to UnTours many years ago when it first began. My husband and I met late in life and have so far enjoyed only three UnTours in Switzerland and Leiden. But we hope to continue traveling in this lovely “slow travel” fashion as long as our health and ages allow!
Having lived overseas for a good part of my formative years, I treasure the opportunity to relive special memories which remain vivid despite the passing of years. Arriving at an apartment in a beloved country often feels like coming home. My husband has come to appreciate this mode of travel as well, simply savoring the local lifestyle and different pace of life.
Our most recent visit was a return to Holland, where I hoped to visit my childhood home. At the suggestion of the UnTours staff, I wrote a letter to the new owners, whose names were unknown to me, explaining my connection with their home. I included photos of my family enjoying their home and neighborhood back in the 1950s. It was a joy to receive a response inviting us to visit during our time in Leiden.
On the appointed day, we used the excellent 9292 transportation app which directed us step by step to the bus route leading to my previous home. We received a warm welcome from the owners, who graciously let us wander through the house and garden and pointed out the changes made over the years. After showing us the modernized design which opened up the house and allowed greater access to the lovely garden, they relayed a poignant story. Upon opening up a wall, they discovered three containers of condensed milk that must have been hidden away during the time of occupation in the 1940s. This story was a sober reminder of the resilience of the Dutch people despite terrible hardships.
Indeed we found the Dutch people to be consistently friendly and helpful. Happily, we were not even identified as tourists, as most addressed us first in Dutch, then immediately switched to English upon seeing our confused faces. We greatly enjoyed meeting our UnGuide at a welcome luncheon of Dutch pancakes, wandering the twice-weekly open-air market, sitting canal-side with coffee, browsing in shops, admiring the flowers that sat outside each doorway, discovering the tiny almshouses, visiting museums, attending organ concerts (a must for my organist husband) and visiting the sand dunes and sea at Katwijk. The city is very walkable, so thankfully our substantial consumption of delicacies was offset by our daily 10,000 steps. Some of our favorite foods: ice cream with whipped cream, French fries, my favorite childhood pudding “Vla,” Indonesian Rijsttafel, pastries, cheese and chocolates (try Olala’s hand-made chocolates).
As always, I come back with a renewed appreciation of different lifestyles, and a hankering for our next UnTours adventure.
A letter to strangers, a bus ride into the past and a childhood home with a story tucked inside its walls. This is what can happen when you stay in one place long enough to let it open up to you. And, in this case, welcome you back. Leiden rewards that kind of patience. If this story has stirred up a hankering of your own, our Holland UnTour settles you into an apartment (or houseboat) in the heart of it all.
Have an UnTours story of your own? We’d love to hear it — and so would your fellow UnTourists.