Year of birth: 1963
Profession: IT specialist KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Place of residence: Noordwijk
A future in Spain
Our dream is to enjoy life together in Spain after my retirement. This idea occupied Claudia's mind even before she came into my life. We have already made quite concrete plans and will leave in three years' time for the area around Denia, a town in the province of Alicante. I hope we can find a house with a nice garden and a swimming pool. I think it would be great to start a new phase of life together in our new house, cooking outside, enjoying the barbecue in the garden, and feeling the Spanish warmth around us.
We want to build a more minimalist life, where we no longer have to do anything, but can do all sorts of things. In which I can keep making music and continue training in Wing Chun. I have already found a Wing Chun school near where we want to live, where I hope to train with locals. I don't plan to deal only with Dutch people; rather, I want to get to know the Spanish, which is why I chose this school.
Dreaming at great heights
What I have resolved to do is to really go for what I want, such as continue training in Wing Chun and move to Spain. In the past, however, I have often let myself hold back from pursuing what I really wanted. For example, I once aspired to become a pilot, a profession that seemed wonderful to me.
When I think back to the past, I do sometimes envy the people who had a clear dream and went all out to realise it. I myself, unfortunately, had much less of that drive. There was always some reason why something I wanted seemed impossible to me: I thought, for example, that I wouldn't be able to do it anyway, or that there simply wasn't enough money for it. At one point, I realised that this way of thinking had often held me back from achieving my dreams. On this, I decided to change course and give the ambition to become a pilot, for example, a chance after all. So I ended up in sports aviation, got my pilot's licence for small aircraft and made several trips over the Netherlands. I have always loved being able to do this and they are wonderful memories to look back on now.
Meanwhile, my opportunities to fly have diminished and we are focusing on our new dream, our future in Spain. Until then, I will be working in ICT at KLM for another three years, working on the core infrastructure, revamping and keeping systems operational.
