CURRENT MISSION

See the world, meet it's people!

ABOUT ME

Friends desrcibe me as ever curious, spontanious (sometimes too much), always very talkative and on the move. Give me a challenge and my curiousity will force me to take it. If I don't speak your language, hands, feets and a grin serve me just fine. Love to strike up random conversations with local people I meet on the streets. My facebook has more international contacts on it than Dutch friends :D

I'm a lucky girl, because my job as a flight attendant takes me all over the world, to places I never dreamed I'd visit.
One thing I know (learned) about myself, is that I'm always just me. People might like me or not, but at least what you see is definitely who I am. Can't be fake for anyone in any situation.
I'm very much an 'outdoor nature girl' and I love to meet funny people and travel around, but when the weather really sucks, I can also crawl into a corner with a good book or movie for hours, or spend a whole afternoon trying new stuff in the kitchen. With my friends, I love long evenings of cooking, dinner and boardgame-wars. I live in Almere (1/2 hr from Amsterdam) with my 4 cats, who mean a lot to me. Like a true Dutchie, most of my traveling around my home is on the bicycle.

My boyfriend is a South African, currently studying to become a pilot at the 43 Airschool in Port Alfred on the Eastern Cape, so I'm trying to visited him as often as I can, getting to know South Africa a bit more each time!

PHILOSOPHY

You never know until you try!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I love to meet other Csers when I'm away from home on the job. Making new local friends all over the world is the best bonus I get!
If I'm home myself, I can offer you home cooked dinner, show you around, take you Geocaching, we can go to Amsterdam together and in the summer we can go mudwalking on the bottom of the Sea (google: 'wadlopen'). Any new plans or ideas, always welcome!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Had an awesome 2 week trip to Japan in November 2009 and my first experiences with couchsurfing:
I surfed 4 days at Kyoko's in Tokyo and later 2 nights at Kate's in Kyoto.
I also met some wonderful couchsurfers on the trip: Kyoko organized a Nabe party at her home where I met several cool people, Lisa was kind enough to spend an afternoon showing me some sites in Tokyo, I had dinner with Michiko in Kyoto and met some Australian couchsurfers on the Tokyo train.

On one of my KLM trip, Maragarita took me along for a very cool "Banya" experience in the mountains near Almaty, Kazachstan after a fun afternoon playing cardgames and drinking tea at the Mad Tea Party cafe in the city.
I hosted my CS friend Kate from Kyoto for about a week this summer, and we had a great time.

Lately, I've been using Couchsurfing to get in touch with local people wherever my job takes me, to meet up and go Geocaching!

Interests

Traveling: Well, duh...
Photography: Nature, Animals, underwater.
Riding my motorbike. Driving my car while singing along with loud music.
Snowboarding in the Alps (save for it every year)
Diving (typical WWW:Warm Water Wuss) Sofar: Maledives, Dominican Rep, Florida, Thailand, Bonaire, Oman.
Hiking: West Highland Way in Scotland last year.
Geocaching my way around the globe!! Wanna know what this is? Just check www.geocaching.com :D
At home: Movies, Cooking, reading, boardgame war with friends and family during cold evenings.

• animals
• cats
• fish
• books
• singing
• photography
• cooking
• walking
• partying
• drinking
• flying
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• fishing
• hiking
• kayaking
• scuba diving
• skydiving
• snowboarding
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: lots of English Fantasy books in my book cabinet! At home I just don't have the time, but when I'm away for work, I read one almost every week. Love to disappear into a book. The Empire trilogy by Feist is still my favorite I think. Some more examples: Robert Jordan, Robin Hobb, Diana Gabaldon, George R R Martin, Greg Keys, Jean M. Auel, Katherine Kerr, Fiona McIntosh, Stephanie Meyer, Charlaine Harris.

Movies: "The Shawshank redemption" is just brilliant I think. "The Fifth element" makes me laugh, "La vita e bella" can make me cry, and some big spectacle like "Lord of the Rings" is just awesome to watch in a large theater.

TV: Not a big tv-zapper, to much other stuff to do.

Music...so many different styles, depends on what my mood is and what I'm doing: Chill out (at home), Dreamtrance (when snowboarding) Creed, Nickelback, Staind, Linkin Park, Incubus, Daft Punk, Gorillaz, All American rejects, Counting Crows, Vertical Horizon, The Goo Goo Dolls, Coldplay, Snow Patrol.

I'm sure my voice is just aweful, but I love to sing along real loud when I'm in my car.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Burning Man...can't explain: YOU JUST HAVE TO GO!
(AT LEAST ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, I'M NOT KIDDING)

Having Cape Fur seal pups swirling around me during a diving at the seal colony of Duiker Island, Cape Town, South Africa
Seeing a Humpback Whale surface about 20m from my kayak in Britisch Columbia.
Skydiving on my own through a cloud.
Flying fish just above the water, flying towards the most magnificent sunset ever at Kuredu Island, Maledives.
Millions of stars in the middle of the night on Ratcha Praba Lake, in Thailand.
Walking on the bottom of the Sea to the Islands at low tide, The Netherlands
Erawan national park at dawn, Thailand.
Holding a baby tiger and having a very very big Tiger on my lap, Tiger Temple, Thailand.
Getting chased by papparazi-tourists through the streets of Kyoto dressed up as a Maiko (apprentice Geisha).

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm currently trying to learn to speak Afrikaans, so any help is welcome!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Micronesia, Federated States of, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Palau, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United States

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