hitchhiking works

// June 10th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // blog, travel, work

Jobs and me don’t go well together and the only reason why I liked my last job so much was because of the hitchhiking. I did it twice a week, up and down to Den Haag without much troubles. I had great rides, received fantastic stories and shared many things with the more than 50 drivers within 6 weeks of working and hitching. I even started writing about it in Dutch on a new webpage that I called “hitching works“!

And as if it was bound to happen: the day I had quit my job again, the day I was on my last day of hitching to work, I got offered new work by one of my drivers. I could not have been two seconds later at my usual spot as I was instantly picked up by her. Barely 15 minutes later she offered me to work for her, by making a television show about sustainability…

The show is already made and even broadcasted. It was a great success. The presentors and other members of the team were very happy with the work done and there is even the possibility to make more shows for them after the summer. And in addition, during this last day of hitching to and from work, I even got offered a bottle of wine by my final driver who dropped me off at my house.

Hitchhiking definitely works

I Don’t Want a Career, I Want a Life

// December 10th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // life, work

My Life In A Cube

My biggest desire in life is to help enabling a world free of hierarchies. So when I did accept a job this year, I was only slightly enthousiastic. I needed some solid financial base and yes I was ready for a challenge but a corporate job was not on my list (at all). In the end I was relatively o.k. with giving it a green light for a while, until I would have at least build up some cash-reserves again.

There are good things about my job. I learned a lot about marketing, I got to understand the technologies that enterprises use to brainwash us, I traveled a bit, worked with some fine people and I learned a lot from them. But, there is so much more to life than just jobs and career.

So when to quit? There is never a better moment than now and I feel now is that time. There are so many useful things I can better direct my attention to, and there are so many more things I still want to accomplish in the near future, that most of my time in this office is wasted. And in the end, what is so usefull about working for someone else‘s profit?

Americans don't like to walk

// November 2nd, 2008 // 5 Comments » // travel, work

Why is it that people in the US look so surprised when I tell them I rather walk 20 minutes than taking a cab or bus? This was one of my surprises while in Boston. We all know that the average US-American is less healthy than the average European, but still – it is as if they don’t care at all!

If not for the heartbeat-collective and Matrixpoint I would not have enjoyed Boston that much. I was over for a week to the States, enjoying great views of the city from a 17th floor many stars hotel, for my j-o-b. I was thankfully pointed into the right direction by Anu and Sky, making it possible for me to actually make my trip something useful and slightly less boring.

While John gave me lots of insights on the birth and death of CS 2.0, the Heartbeat Collective gave me a lot of inspiration for projects and ideas, adding more roots to them. I was especially happy when I learned about the rhizome collective, and the urban farming projects they do. Somehow I also discovered that -though the US has a lot of toxic soil- apparently there are some really beautiful flowers growing there.

Some other things that come to mind when thinking about Boston: carving pumpkins; pirates; Obama equals hope; the radio-stations played great music but were full with bullshit in the mornings; food is cheap and there are vegetarian meals everywhere; people don’t walk, don’t cycle, but they do talk a lot; I am not born for bowling (nor my j-o-b).

Check out more stuff I wrote while in Boston here

Focus of the house

// September 21st, 2008 // 3 Comments » // life, work

While my house is still a coming and going of friendly and creative people from all over the world, since some months there has clearly been a shift. The people that have been staying here in the past months are now rather focused on projects, creating new concepts and starting initiatives, while still supporting the ones we have already been involved in. Some examples:

• Hitchhiking Hitchwiki, that recently reached its 1000th article.
• Random Roads, a new magazine for independent travelers.
• Trashwiki.org, a new initiative for Dumpster Diving, recycling trash.
• Sustainable Hospitality Exchange, with a meeting soon in Antwerpen.

And there is yet more to come. Bewelcome if you feel like participating, or stay over for a while to help working on whatever social project that you are involved in or that you want to create. We have a nice and creative working environment here.

Bewelcome, new kid on the block!

// June 10th, 2008 // No Comments » // travel, work

For two years now I have been using hospitality exchange networks while traveling and also to host travelers in Barcelona and now Amsterdam. This added a new and really nice dimension to my life. Thanks to the people I met through hospitality exchange, I extended my vision, scope and aspiration.

I never felt like volunteering for these networks though (couchsurfing.com and hospitalityclub.org). How they are organised simply does not inspire me: they are top-down structured and volunteers hardly have impact on how it is run.

But since a year there is a network that does want to be member-driven: BeWelcome.org. I joined its volunteers last weekend in their yearly assembly when they select the yearly board, do some brainstorming and make plans for the coming year.

I hitchhiked to Essen (Germany) with four cars and had an excellent and very inspiring time. Obviously, since it is a new network there is lots of work that still needs to be accomplished but I am looking forward doing my share for this first hospitality network that wants to be truely democratic (ie. member-driven or grassroots), transparant and opensource – one that is not only able to facilitate hospitality exchange but also able to share the access to the buttons and empower volunteers.

Not enough Rust

// February 10th, 2008 // No Comments » // travel, work

Waking up… upset stomach… alcohol in blood… 4 am. My first working day, my value is added, my belly hurts. Almost lost a job once because of adding too much value at the bar, please fall back asleep, let’s remain one piece and enjoy the sun and beach!

8 am. A bug in my ear. I hit. The alarm-clock. Brushed my teeth but no help against the buzz. Not here. Sun comes up, rays of light. Solutions through sounds of waves. Revenue through excitement. Can we have one meeting … managing the journey?

A break. And coffee helps. Waves come in and go out, light arises. And the sun on my Mediterranean balcony warms me up. My new job, the first since 13 months, brought me to Malaga and Munich already. Yet to come: Boston, Paris and London. My towel is with me. I love it.

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What keeps me busy

// July 16th, 2007 // No Comments » // photography, work

The past weeks have revealed to me a new or rather different scope of politics and photography.

Sunday morning in Istanbul and church bells wake me up. From the place I stay I can hear them not only on Sunday’s but sometimes on Thursday’s and Frıday’s too. A very familiar sound for me as I grew up in a large town with easily more than twenty churches and only three bars.

Istanbul is pretty much well-known for its diversity; it always has. It’s a very cosmopolitan city with people from all different identities. But did you know as well that Turkey itself is inhabited by over thirty different ethnicity’s? (more…)