Blown away

Some places blow you away. No matter how much you've travelled, no matter how often you've seen the pictures on Instagram, being there opens your heart, blows your mind and lets your spirit fly. All your senses jolt wide awake. Are you ready to turn your wildest dreams into crazy adventures? Then come with me. Let's go where we feel most alive.

Some places blow you away. No matter how much you've travelled, no matter how often you've seen the pictures on Instagram, being there opens your heart, blows your mind and lets your spirit fly. All your senses jolt wide awake. Are you ready to turn your wildest dreams into crazy adventures? Then come with me. Let's go where we feel most alive.

And so, it begins... You take off. Bye, daily grind! Whether you're speeding away in a fast car or floating in a dreamy hot air balloon; with the wind in your hair, you feel utterly free. Free to express yourself, to be anybody you want to be. When I started my brand marlies|dekkers, exactly 30 years ago, I felt inspired by the freedom, joy and radical self-acceptance I experienced in the booming club scene of the late 80s and early 90s. On the road, seeking thrills with my travel companions, bedazzled by all the new sights, sounds and scents, I feel a very similar, intoxicating sense of liberation.

Drifting off a cliff, we float over Love Valley's otherworldly landscape, surrounded by hundreds of other colorful hot air balloons. Beneath us, soft-rock sculptures glow pink and golden in the early morning sun. This is how a bird must feel, soaring through the sky with the wind beneath its wings. We're in Cappadocia, a bucket-list destination in central Turkey. Later, we will drop 100 meters underground to visit the region's famous subterranean city of Derinkuyu, officially dating back to the first millennium BCE. Exploring these cave dwellings however, it's easy to imagine that they were built during the Ice Age as survival bunkers by an ancient, lost civilization. At the end of an adventure-filled day, your eyes are sparkling, your skin is tingling, your heart is open. Anything is possible.

With the Great Escape edition of my Awaken your Senses collections, I share the thrill of exploring unknown horizons with you. Let's turn that bucket list into our 'f**k-it, let's go' list! You don't need permission to express yourself. On the road, your senses awakened, you are free to be whoever you want to be. A lover, a fire-starter, a wide-eyed adventurer. You.