Hi! I'm Maarten. Young, open-minded and crazy about traveling. I want to travel, to know, to meet, to learn, to enjoy.

I have traveled through Cambodia, Vietnam, Western Europe and I'm currently on a backpacking trip that has taken me through Egypt and Senegal, with the next stop probably being Budapest. In the beginning of 2017 I plan to backpack across Eastern Europe. Looking forward to meeting some awesome and enthusiastic people!

I love many things and am a really positive person. Next to traveling, I love talking about life and philosophy, reading, writing, exploring: trying new things! I'm also into craftbeer, chess, meditating, stuff about personal effectiveness and do some weightlifting (although I have found that it is hard to keep this up when you're backpacking).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

One reason is I love to meet local people and learn many things about different countries and culture. A second one is that I plan to use couchsurfing when I will backpack Eastern Europe early 2017. I hope to be given the chance to stay with hosts and have an awesome time! In general, I want to make many friends all over the world. It is a lot of fun for me to communicate beyond language and culture barriers.

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: I listen to a lot of music. My favorite genre would be melodic techno: artists such as Worakls and Fritz Kalkbrenner. I also love more relaxing electronic music, like Chet Faker and Oh Wonder. When in the mood, easy guitar songs by Jack Johnson and the likes are the best thing in the world. And, some good old pop music like Coldplay or Keane also appears in my Spotify.

Movies: Hmm, I think my favorite movie is Interstellar. Also, Harry Potter. :D

Books: I read a lot. And I mean a lot. In holidays, oh and actually also in study-days, I can easily spend 5-10 hours a day reading. Non-fiction books about philosophy, psychology, self-improvement, time-management and culture are my favorite. I also follow several blogs and have an online newspaper subscriptipn, which I read daily. I furthermore like to read fantasy books. Currently I'm working my way through Raymond Feist's Riftwar Saga.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One amazing thing I've done..... too many things to mention. Or does this mean that I haven't done one super super amazing thing? Like there are many 9's but no 10's? Interesting thought.

At the moment, my first solo backpack trip that I took through Egypt is the thing that comes to mind. Saving myself without contacts, sleeping on couches, meeting new people, it's truly amazing. Climbing St. Catherine mountain, mountainbiking deserted roads along the coast of the Red Sea...

Teach, Learn, Share

Everybody has something to teach, something to learn and something to share, everybody.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm a philosopher by heart. I can share interesting philosophical thoughts and love, really love, to have a conversation on these topics. I can share company, joy and hopefully we can learn from each other.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Gambia, Germany, Laos, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, Netherlands, Senegal