You’re supposed to put interesting stuff about yourself right here, but… don’t give away too much information as your boss or – what used to be – potential girlfriend might actually start taking an interest and that ain’t always for the best. So, I’ll be keeping it plain and simple.
I was born in The Netherlands back in 1977 (how many potential girlfriends did I just loose?). After about 20 years of doing what we all do in life or at least many of us in the West (go to school and uni) I had a chance of doing my university traineeship in South Africa.
Let me tell you South Africa is fantastic! Great people making you feel very welcome. 6 months I spent in Pretoria and 1 month travelling around with my parents. Yes, my parents will always find an excuse for a holiday destination and come visit their sons far far away 
One thing I remember very well about South Africa is learning how to shoot. I can’t remember what I all shot with but it must have been more than Rambo! (just a bit smaller calibre though). Not that I was any good at it and I really hate loud noises, but I actually enjoyed shooting those coke cans.
Another thing I discovered whilst in South Africa is that I really like to be out in nature. Mountains, forest or plain, it doesn’t matter because in South Africa they are all equally amazing. I’d love to go back one day to visit my friends and ride a horse through the Drakensberg or Kruger park.
But all good things seem to come to an end and after 7 months of the wonderful life in South Africa I returned to the Netherlands, leaving behind a wonderful country and a particular young lady whom I did like a lot (probably lost another dozen potential girlfriends right now).
By the end of 1999, the last university year, I did my final internship with British Airways in London. London is a city that swallows you whole and is hard, really hard to get away from. The only way seems to either to a plane or get abducted by aliens. I often took the plane as an alien spaceship tends to be harder to book online.
In my almost 7 years in London I took trips to Southern Africa, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Germany, The Netherlands (hi family). I was working as an IT manager and did enjoy my job for a long time. But in the end I needed something else and took up a masters degree whilst I kept on working.
Not long after I graduated for my Masters I left the UK for an amazing job in Malaysia. Well, don’t believe everything they tell you at your job interview… I never saw Malaysia and after a month I never saw the company again either. It was time for a real change.
August 2006 I took off for Sri Lanka to teach English as a foreign language.
To be continued………
Affordable volunteer travel