28 year old Belgian, currently travelling with my wonderful partner Hadwina and 13 months in of what will be a year and a half of adventures!

After high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do (like so many probably still don't?) and decided to go abroad for a year. I was fortunate enough to live in Asuncion, Paraguay with the most wonderful host family. Apart from Spanish (and a little Guarani) I learned so much about life and living in a different culture.

While I was away I decided where I wanted to study and chose Ghent. It's on the other side of Belgium and many people thought I was crazy for going so "far". But being more than 10.000 km's away from home, I didn't think a 2.5 hr train ride would be so bad. What travelling does for your perspective of time and space..

Fast forward 9 years, and I'm so glad I made the decision! Ghent, the old flavourful city located between Brussels and Bruges often seems overlooked by these two cities. Unrightly so in my opinion, as for me it's the most beautiful city Belgium has to offer! The perfect mix between history and modernity, and the place where I met my fiancée Hadwina. (In the library while studying for our exams, quite the funny story actually)

Hadwina and I have had the dream of travelling for a long time already. Postponed by covid and the unfortunate passing of both my parents in quick succession, we had to reinvent our plans and dreams a few times over. In June 2023, after taking care of our affairs and stopping our jobs it was finally our time!!!

We left for South East Asia and made a clockwise loop to discover Thailand 🇹🇭 , Laos 🇱🇦 , Vietnam 🇻🇳 , Cambodia 🇰🇭 , Malaysia 🇲🇾 and Singapore 🇸🇬(with a small detour for the beautiful and amazing country that is Taiwan 🇹🇼 ). After this we’ve spent 5 months in Australia 🇦🇺, 2 months in New Zealand and just
recently we touched base in the Philippines 🇵🇭!

In the wonderful year we've had, we had the chance to have countless amazing experiences and meet dozens and dozens of people we'll never forget. From heartwarming kindness to complete personified craziness, we can't wait to meet many many more of them

Living, travelling and eating sustainably (with respect to local culture, people and animals) is a big part of how we roll. When we get the chance of cooking (which we love!) it will be a vegan or vegetarian meal. Our travels were almost exclusively done by bus, train or boat, unless where its wasn't feasible (Vietnam -> Taiwan/Singapore -> Australia). We have many tips to share for travelling South East Asia by land, dealing with border crossings and where to find the best (vegan and vegetarian) food. We love being active, exploring cities and hiking around. We'll always be up for a nice walk and I can easily plan hikes around the area as well!

We're both people who always strive to look for the best in others and look where we can offer help.
As guests you can expect us to be very respectful of your property, personal schedule and efforts.
We're clean and easy going people who inherently like to give more than we receive.
Whether it's practicing languages, sharing travel stories, entertaining pets or helping out where we can, we're always ready!

(And if you have diabolo's I can teach you a trick or two 😉🤭 )

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

In the beginning of our travels we almost always stayed in dorms or guesthouses, which is a great way to get around in SEA and fairly affordable. When we went to Taiwan we got the tip to try out Couchsurfing so we made a profile and were pleasantly overwhelmed by the friendliness and helpfulness of complete strangers! We’ve had 10s of great experiences in Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. We received so much love and always try to give back as much as humanly possible.

Cooking for each other, conversing and getting to know people, helping out where we can.
As we're fortunate enough to get to know people who open their homes and hearts to us, all of you have a special place in our heart 🍀

We can't wait to meet many many many more of you!

Interests

• animals
• cooking
• traveling
• sports
• food
• physiotherapy
• diabolo juggling

Music, Movies, and Books

The unbearable lightness of being
Before the coffee gets cold
Ikigai

La Grande Belleza
The Shawshank Redemption
Disney movies
Old (60 years old or more!) movies

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

-Living in Paraguay for a year
-Going on Erasmus to Valencia and Coimbra
-Ha Giang motorcycle loop in Vietnam
-Training for diving certification in Koh Tao, Thailand
-Going around Taiwan by train and getting engaged at Sun Moon Lake 💍❣️
-Quitting our job to follow our dreams and travel!!!

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach English/Dutch/Spanish conversation
Body care and health exercises
Resume finetuning
Learn as much as possible
Share experiences, insights, knowledge

What I Can Share with Hosts

Humor, music, happiness, laughter, (vegetarian) cooking skills, conversations, insights and genuine interest

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Belgium, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain