Gillio meet-up 2015

Another post that I have been meaning to write before this but life and in particular, school got in the way. Better late than never though, right?

So two weekends ago I had the great opportunity to go to Antwerp for the Gillio meet up. Unfortunately I could not stay for the whole weekend as I had a gig the day after which I had already committed myself too. So Friday 20th March came around and I headed of to the station to catch my train.

I arrived in time for the dinner event and finally got to meet some people (such as Steve, Chrissie, Mella, and the Gillio team) who until then were just internet entities ;). We all met outside the restaurant that we were going to eat in. We had already chosen what we wanted to eat before hand, so the service we didn’t have to wait long for our food to arrive. The food was delicious!!! I ordered the “stoofvlees” (a beef stew) with fries. Yum!

After we finished eating, we built the famous Gillio tower. I helped Anke with keeping it stable, so unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of that impressive tower. But if you head over to the Gillio fan page on facebook, you will find some pictures there. At first, I was planning to just come for Friday and even that was looking like it wasn’t going to happen, but Mella so very kindly allowed me to stay at her place so that I could at least stay until Saturday morning, and not have to leave during the dinner. So Saturday morning arrived and Jenny picked us up from Mella’s place and drove us to the Gillio shop in the Wijnegem shopping centre. I got a little car sick from the drive but the the sight and sent of Gillio leather sure helped to make me feel better 😉

I met some new people there, that didn’t join us for the dinner the night before. We all then went to a place within the shopping centre to eat. Since I still wasn’t feeling all that great from the drive, I didn’t order anything to eat, plus I had to leave soon to return to The Hague. So after I had a drink, I said my goodbyes and headed off.

I had such a great time! Tom, Ben, Mella, everyone, were just so nice!!! I really wished I didn’t have to leave. And seeing all the pictures on Facebook of the unveiling, really made me wish that I hadn’t. But I’m still grateful that I got to spend the Friday evening and Saturday morning, meeting and getting to know these awesome people who share the same love of leather planners and other things that I do. And the opportunity to touch the planners will make it easier to make any future purchases. I need a navy blue Gigliodoro Amica and a “Whipped cream” Compangna in my life, stat!!! 

So there you have it. I will definitely be returning to that Gillio shop. That navy amica is calling my name!!! 😉 And I surely hope that this is the first of many more meet-ups I hope to attend.

‘Till next time,

P.