Travel & Hotspots

KIKI'S WINTER WHERE ABOUTS

Part 1

Just admit it. It's okay, I do it too. Since the whole month of December started, you've been out of sorts. Fatigue is setting in, you have little energy and actually want to binge-watch Netflix all day with a blanket over your head and eat calorie-rich food. Feeling a winter slump? I am. And every year, more than 500,000 people in the Netherlands feel the same. Fortunately, the world is wide, and there are always tropical summer spots where it's nice to stay in winter. Are you bringing the sunscreen?

Jakarta, Indonesia

Let's just start with a sensitive topic. Namely the numéro uno travel destination at the top of my bucket list: Jakarta. My name is Kiki, half of my family was born in this Indonesian city and no, I still haven't been there. A few hundred years ago, I would have been pelted with tomatoes by the neighbors, the shame alone, but it's on the agenda, no worries. Within now and three years. Anyway, about one in three people I know has been there and calls Jakarta magical. According to them, the city is incomprehensible, but also not for the Indonesians themselves. You go there, you marvel, and you get sucked in. And yes, there is a lot of traffic, but that's just part of it. The metropolis is also lovely in winter, with an average temperature of 27 degrees in January. Maybe not ideal for a beach holiday (so I've heard the sea and also the beaches in the immediate vicinity of Jakarta are quite a bit polluted), but you could take a boat to the Thousand Islands. There, sunbathing is indeed a great plan. For those who really want nothing but cocktails, pools, and sand between their toes: then Bali is a better option. Incredibly green, geared towards tourism, and with extremely nice sandy beaches. Still, Jakarta is a city that is perfect to start or end your Asia trip for a few days. Even if it's just to visit the old harbor of Sunda Kelapa, the Chinese district Glodok, or one of the hundred modern shopping malls, of which Senayan City is one of the most famous and popular. I drill it into my head like a mantra: ‘within now and three years, within now and three years, within now and thr…’

Credits: Flickr Creative Commons