CURRENT MISSION

keep travelling, then you only age at the outside

ABOUT ME

We are a family of five that loves travelling and learn about other cultures. You can learn so much from opening up to other ways of living and thinking, it broadens your mind.
We value family very much, and however much we stimulate the kids to 'fly out and discover', we really enjoy and savour those 'small moments' together that are so big! Our oldest son lives currently in Hong Kong.
Furthermore, I think friends would say we are very trustworthy, because we also trust everyone. How can you share if there's no trust?

PHILOSOPHY

Live your life to the fullest. Make your own choices, don't get lived. Always try to keep a sort of infantile curiousity and astonishment to the world and people in general. Don't take everything for granted.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

No experience with surfing with CS, but I guess we have been couchsurfing before it really existed as it does right now. So many times we met someone who invited us to their homes, and then gave the address of a friend, who gave again the address of a friend... and those were always the highlights of the trip. We made many friends abroad, and so we hosted a lot of them whenever they came to Europe, or also a friend of a friend of a friend...We have been busy hosting for a couple of months now with CS, and we enjoy it very much!Update jan 2012: Well, we've been hosting the past 2,5 years and still love it! It's amazing how quickly you connect with people and still love to bring the world into our house.
update july 2016: haven't been hosting for 2 years, due to travels and other reasons. Thought it was about time to open up our couch surfing account again!

Interests

What do you like to do in your free time?Besides travelling, what we've been doing for more than 30 years now, we both like outdoor sports like skiing and climbing. Marjan: photography, reading, dancing Guy: listening to all kinds of music

• photography
• flying
• reading
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• surfing
• skiing
• sports
• rock climbing

Music, Movies, and Books

Difficult, so many! We both love film and music so much, Marjan is also a keen reader. Music goes from Rammstein-AC DC to Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie to Loreena Mc Kennit and The Levellers. You can say we have a special interest in traditional/international music. Folk. But also classical can give us goosebumps. Right now in the CD player? This morning Souad Massi, this evening The Cult
Movies..not the box office movies but the ones that give you the feeling you travelled, discovered and/or felt something in those two hours. Some ex.: Salvador, Land and Freedom; Amores perros; Todo sobre mi madre; Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind; Across the universe; Fiddler on the roof; Il y a longtemps que je t'aime; Moulin Rouge; Priscilla queen of the dessert; Spring, summer, fall, winter and spring again; Woman in the dunes; Into the wild...
Favourite filmakers: Innaritu, Almodovar, Zhang Yimou, Kim Kiduk, Tim Burton, Ken Loach,...
Books.Hm... basically also books that have something to say,
not detectives or thrillers. Often from other cultures. Before a trip I like to read some books from authors of that country.
I like Philippe Claudel, Sandor Marai, Johan Harstad, Sandro Veranesi;Patrick Suskind, Muriel Barbery, Elsa Osorio, David Grosman, A. Baricco, Haruki Murakami, Arthur Japin, Karl Ove Knausgard...

Last read: Amin Malouf, Isabel Allende,
Next on the list: . an endless list, when am I gonna read all those books?

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Apart from having children (that's already three amazing things!), I would say Parapenting (you feel like a bird!), scubadiving in the Great Barier reef, hiking in the Himalayas.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Cambodia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Belgium, Canada

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