HI! I’M MAAIKE 🙂

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been very anxious. 

At the age of eleven, my whole class went on a school trip to Scotland, but I (obviously) stayed behind. I was too afraid to fly, and had watched Titanic a month before, so going by boat was not really an option. With a lot of FOMO (which didn’t have a name back in 2008) I listened to all the fun stories my classmates had when they got back a week later. I remember being so upset and hating myself for the fact I just couldn’t get over my fears. My life could’ve looked so different (I often still think that way lol).

Getting over my fear of flying took another five years. At sixteen I finally stepped onto a plane, to Turkey. I still remember sitting there, gasping while staring out of that teeny-tiny window at the pink-orange sky: If I died right here, right now, I actually wouldn’t mind. This is paradise!

turkiye

Flying became a habit when I started as a social media manager at Corendon in 2022. Suddenly I was on a plane every month, off to visit a destination to create content. Did I dare tell anyone at work I secretly found it terrifying? Ab-so-lute-ly not. This was an opportunity for a job I might never get again. 

The good thing about this job was that it pushed me a hella lot out of my comfort zone, but within certain lines. I had enough connections and colleagues to fall back on. That safety net is what got me packing my suitcase every single month again and again.

In 2024 I had completely lost myself. I decided to quit my job, ended my relationship and gave up my flat in Amsterdam. I booked a ticket to Surabaya and stayed in Indonesia for two months. First with family, then on my own, and later with my best friend. I was very nervous, because i had never been away from home that long – let alone out of the Netherlands! 

 

I remember arriving at my hotel room in Bali completely on my own. I sat down on the bed and had a panic attack. What now?!  Suddenly I was a solo traveller with nobody to lean on other than my anxious brain. For weeks I’d had my family out of my comfort zone, but within those same lines. I decided to just ‘throw myself in there’ and that next evening I was dancing on tables with people who’d been strangers that afternoon. That was the moment I found out that travelling solo is actually not that bad.

I learned so much about myself in those two months, and I got through SO much. My life has never been the same since that trip to Indonesia. That little girl who didn’t dare go on the school trip to Scotland is now, anxiety and all, pretty much everywhere except in the Netherlands.

These days I travel the world with my boyfriend, and I face my fears every single day. From an overnight train in Vietnam to an international flight with an airline I’ve never heard of before. But it’s also walking to the beach by myself when my boyfriend has a meeting or getting on the back of a bike in a country where they drive on the other side of the road.

My love of writing and my curiosity are what made me start Nomad with Nerves. During one of my many mental breakdowns
when I started travelling, I missed a travel blog that was actually vulnerable and one that explained step by step how you activate
an e-sim (and not just which one to pick and where to buy it) I couldn’t find it. Someone should be writing this down,
I thought, every time I ended up somewhere with more panic than pleasure.

So, since I became the one writing it down, here are a few things you’ll find on my blog:

Travel
anxiety

Racognisable situations

  • Honest travel stories
  • What helps me
  • Things I’ve learned

Travel
guides

Everything about the countries you really want to go to but actually find quite scary.

  • Think routes
  • Vaccinations
  • Where a country ranks on my        ‘anxiety scale’

Digital nomad lifestyle

How I combine working with travelling, and what does (and absolutely does not) work.

Practical
things

Everything step by step

  • Applying for visas
  • Handy apps and websites
  • Nice hotels
  • Places to eat (aka where you can eat safely and not die)

My mom has been repeating the same Winnie the Pooh quote since I was little: “You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think”. And I want want to pass this quote on to you. You can do soooo much more than you think and I hope this blog helps you see that – even if it’s just a little.

Now let’s go travel and face (y)our fears!

X Maaike

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