Hi all, because we're expecting a newborn family member in February, we've decided to close our B&B and prepare our home for this long-term guest. It is with mixed feelings that I write this message. I feel joy in becoming a dad, I feel a bit sad to end an adventurous period with the world coming to us.

We would like to thank all those who've stayed with us the past 5 months for their company and inspiration. Time flew by fast. We really enjoyed every minute of it.

We are planning to reopen in about 3 years in a larger house. Please keep an eye on this blog for updates on our plan. We would love to see you again then.

Love, Robert-Reinder

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That was a tasty surprise. Thank you!

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In the past few months, we've told family and friends of our plans to open a small bed and breakfast. The responses were diverse and unpredictable. Some were enthousiastic and foresaw interesting people visiting us, paying us good for a night's sleep and a croissant. Others focussed on preparing breakfast before sunrise and having noisy strangers in your bathroom.

Here's a short account of four weeks of guests in our house.

Let's start at the bright side

It's a part-time job. Never a dull moment! Get up half an hour earlier than your guests to prepare their breakfast, clean up the remains and put the dishes in the dish washer. Remember to buy fresh bread, every day. Keep the bathroom clean, empty the bin in their room and hand out clean towels, every day. Don't forget to leave in time for your day job.
After guests depart for their next destination, clean the room thoroughly, change the sheets on the bed, start the washing machine, rearrange the tourist info and prepare the room for the next guests.

The dark side of all this joy...

We had guests coming from the USA, Ireland, Germany and France. People with stories about their culture, family, food, past travel experiences and so on. You can imagine the horror of talking about these things over tea or wine. Not only were we forced to improve our foreign language skills, we even had to hand over Dutch words at request.

On a serious note

We've had four great weeks. We learned new words, recipes, music and facts about the life in other countries. Any minute spent on household activities was worth it. Our guests were decent, interesting people.

July 2011 guests, a big thanks to each of you!

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Okay, that went pretty well. Our first guests, a brother and sister from Missouri, USA, are enjoying their breakfast at this very moment.

As exciting as any first time.

For those interested it did take exactly half an hour, apart from preparations. Boiling eggs, slicing bread, butter and bread toppings, making tea and coffee, yogurt with fruit, grilling the croissants, and arranging everything as a finishing touch. Find out for yourself if I can maintain this high standard ;-)

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Almost ready redecorating... we're very happy with the result. The first guests arrive in a week. Everything goes according to plan. Roger.

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Last night we experienced a small disappointment. A guest cancelled the reservation she made via AirBnB for eleven nights in August. 

Since the reservation, we no longer had to think of some imaginary guest. No, we were decorating the room for an anticipated real person! We were telling our selves that a booking only becomes "real" once the guests arrive. Nevertheless, we did feel slightly disappointed when the news arrived. 

Hey, it's all in the game.

Then what happened? Our listing at Hostelworld got published this morning. Just a few hours later, we received an SMS with a confirmed booking for the first half of July. Hurray, a real booking! Reason enough to open a sparkly bottle at diner time.

Update 2011-06-18: And another booking today! A stay of one night in July. For your information: we're still available on the first of July, the opening night. After that: Fully Booked. Well almost, and only in July :-)

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We've been busy, Ilse and I. Making lists of necessary home improvements, items to buy and preparing the house for our Bed and Breakfast. 

Please have a look at our listing at AirBnB and let us know what you think.

Do not forget the most stressful activity: visiting B&B in other cities. We've been to Cologne, Germany and Bruges, Belgium. We'll keep that as a habit, I can assure you.

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