CURRENT MISSION
Combining our lifestyle of travelling with parenthood. In 2022-2023 we travelled around the world for a year. About to leave for another year

ABOUT US:
We are parents of Oz (9) and Zola (7). They are little globetrotter already, as they have joined us on many backpack trips around the world. We raise our kids bilingual (English and Dutch).

SHEILA:
My friends say I am a free spirit. I'm passionate about culture, history and travelling. I enjoy a good conversation with a nice cup of tea (I don't drink alcohol). I'm an active person who loves adventures, easy going, outgoing, straight forward and I can have loads of good laughs.

DENNIS
Is less outgoing than I am, but he's easy going as well. He's very adventurous and has excellent skills for any sport you can think of. He has been in the army (he's a veteran). Dennis enjoys reading a good book and he's a true philospher. One of his passions is anything that involves movies.

The both of us don't smoke and (barely) drink.

OZ:
is energetic and loves free running and anything active. We also introduced him to Couchsurfing, which went extremely well. Oz loves animals, especially reptiles.

Zola:
is very easy going and smiles all day. She's a little daredevil in pink and loves adventures. She is a social butterfly and feels at home anywhere when she's surrounded by friendly people.

PHILOSOPHY
Better to do things in life and regret them, than regret not doing them at all.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
We're surfing around the world and we return the favour by hosting. We're still friend with many of our formal hosts.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
We've had the best CS experiences. To name a few; enjoyed Texan music at Jana's, tried kangaroo meat at Vince's, saw a possum at Leesa's, did some fire breathing at Israel's, slept in a basement in Reno, travelled together with our Las Vegas host and so on. We loved every second of it!

Interests

SHEILA:
scuba diving, rockcklimbing, badminton, photography, history, touring my motorcycle (Intruder), blogging, crafting, reading and most important, backpacking! I love horseback riding, even though I don't do it often. I am a culture nerd and love to do anything cultural interesting.

DENNIS:
watching movies, reading a good book, writing, meditation, badminton, Star Wars, playing golf, scuba diving, touring on his bike (Shadow Ace), movie making and backpacking of course.

As a family we also love playing board games, visiting museums, comic cons and theme parks.

• culture
• writing
• books
• photography
• tattoos
• piercings
• cooking
• meditation
• motorcycles
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• backpacking
• surfing
• scuba diving
• sports
• golf
• archery
• badminton
• history
• museums
• traveling with kids

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
30 Seconds to Mars, Three Days Grace, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Dido, Newton Faulkner, Adele, Pink Floyd, Linkin Park, Crowded House, Metallica and Guns 'N Roses.

Movies:
Constantine, Harry Potter, LOTR, Sweeney Todd, Willow, Singing in the Rain, Big Fish, The Fall, Pan's Labyrinth, Black Swan, Léon, Mary Poppins, Chopper, Donnie Darko, Kill Bill, Monty Python, Marvel movies, Star Wars and anything of the Coen Brothers and Tarantino.

Series:
Supernatural, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Band of Brothers

Books:
Harry Potter, His Dark Materials of Philip Pullman , Bound feet & Western dress (Lotusvoeten in Dutch), Da Vinci Code, LOTR

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

We've got more than 26 years of backpacking experience, to name a few:

Swimming with manta rays, being surrounded by sharks while scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, abseiling 100 metre into an underground cave in Waitomo, watching the eruption of the largest volcano on earth, travelling for a year with our kids.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: Cooking Dutch or Indonesian dishes, archery, badminton (if there's no wind).

Share: personal, but also practical knowledge about tourism and travelling as Sheila has been a travel agent for many years and is a backpacker for over 26 years now.

Learn: more photography and filming skills, sign language, Bahasa Indonesia, how to feed a python, new dishes to cook.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We can share heaps of (travel) stories and a good meal. And we can advise you how to travel with a kid.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cook Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Gambia, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Russian Federation, San Marino, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United Kingdom

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