Gaby's version and some facts about René

I met René on a birthday party of someone we both know. The first thing I thought was "Wow, those blue eyes!!!" but soon I learned that he just got out of a relationship and I decided not to make an effort: I didn't want to be 'the rebound girl' and well, I didn't think I'd make a chance in the first place.

The summer that followed René visited The Hague from time to time when we did some things/rides with some friends. The Hague is where I lived at the time, and because it was 150km's to Nijmegen, he stayed a couple of nights, properly on the big orange couch I had. We always had fun and well, he was nice company, only… every time he stayed on my couch, he just didn't leave! So I called him 'The Sticky One' when I told my parents about him. He was just all relaxed, drinking his tea, watching TV or surfing for nice YouTube-thingies to show me, not making an effort to go home until late in the afternoon.. and well.. I never had the guts to ask him to leave.

The 17th of December 2006 we went to an Amusementpark in Holland, called 'The Efteling'. René just followed me round the park and except from the "Read Nose Carnaval" we enjoyed every ride together. It was quite nice and enjoyable and so René came up with the idea I should visit Nijmegen soon, that's where he lived. In all those months, he had only visited me, so it was about time I paid him a visit.

So, on Christmas-eve-eve, the 23rd of December 2006 I got on my motorbike and rode the whole 150km's to the Far East: Nijmegen. I almost froze to death, but I made it. The night was filled with stupid Christmas songs ("All I want for Christmas is my two fwont teeth!" and "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas") and nice red wine and the sounds of the goggling bottle when you poor the first glass… We had a lovely evening which ended in his bed, just because we were too lazy to fix a bed for me. He lived in a student-house so there was no comfy couch or something to sleep on like at my place..

After some talking he kissed me and all I could say was "What are you doing??". As enthusiastic as that was, it is a miracle it worked out in the end. After that night he was mumbling things like "I'm not ready for a relationship" and "well, I don't know" and "well, maybe I am ready.." all the same evening in two text-messages. We decided to have another evening together before we would celebrate New Year's Eve with some friends, and after that evening, well.. the 30th of December 2008 we will celebrate our 2 year Anniversary! I introduced him to my mother the first time saying: "Well, this is René, you know, the Sticky one!".

The first months we traveled a lot. One weekend in Nijmegen, other one in The Hague, and so on. Then we decided that it, in a certain way, was cheating with the kilometer-counter on our bikes and since I wanted to go to college again, in August 2007 I moved to Arnhem, a city nearby Nijmegen because we didn't want to be too close all at once.. and.. the 1st of January 2008 (a whole months later!) René moved in, since he only spent one night at his own place since I moved there. But well, Arnhem wasn't really the place to be.. since the school I started there wasn’t that great after all and I decided I wanted to go to the University of Nijmegen.

And now, since the 1st of September we have an apartment in Nijmegen, the city we both want to live in, where we have our friends and go to college. We travel a lot, in summer on our bikes and in between just what the destination en weather allows. We did some city trips to York and Newcastle, went to the Ardennes in Belgium for a week by bike and next New Year's Eve we will be in Canterbury, England..

During those two (and a half) years I might say I got to know René 'a little'.

He lacks

He loves

He dislikes

Why I love him

And now, we have a plan, a plan to travel the world together, by motorbike! In 2007 we 'did' Scotland, last summer we 'did' Italy, next summer North-England and Wales, after that, Norway, Ireland, and many more countries are to follow.. To prepare us for the biggest event we both have ever planned.