Derk & Marrit

Travel information

We are currently

Description

Hi everyone,

We are looking forward to meeting you. This is us:

We’re a family of four: Marrit (37), Derk (41) and our girl twins Wende & Loïs (4). Currently, we live in Deventer, a beautiful old city in The Netherlands. Recently we spent nearly two years living and working in New Zealand. This NZ adventure brought us so much on so many levels (quality time together, loads of nature exposure, connecting with a different culture) that we like to continue traveling as a family in between periods of life & work in the Netherlands. We feel that traveling keeps us relaxed, inspired, flexible and openminded.

This spring and summer we have the opportunity to travel around the south-eastern countries in Europe. We’re planning to be on the road from the end of April to August 2023. Our itinerary is open and flexible, and will be mainly guided by workaway opportunities.

We are hoping to combine traveling with meeting local people, following local lifestyles, helping / working in interesting local projects. We would love to engage in eco/sustainability projects, food forests and forest regeneration and outdoor sports/recreation, but community/medical/cultural projects are also within our scope of interest.
Throughout the years, we have become interested in ecosustainable / off grid living. We are conscious of climate change and the various challenges for many people in society these days and would like to make a positive change. We feel the urge to connect with people who make a positive contribution to the world in someway. We aspire to build our own off grid house in the future.

We are both flexible and open minded, easy going, quick learners with a good sense of humor. Both of us are physically fit. Honest, tidy, energetic. We love music, food and the outdoors, reading. Derk plays various instruments. We have our own vegetable garden. We have traveled many countries in various (working, internships, hiking, couchsurfing) settings, both together and separately. We are always looking for new challenges and adventures.

Our girls are happy and easy going, they bring a great cheerful vibe with them. We are super fortunate to be able to travel with them so easily. They are four and a half years old now. We definitely want our travels, including our workaway adventures, to be an enriching and relaxed experience for them too, obviously. As much as we want to (and will) contribute to the work you have to offer us; we are aware that traveling with our kids comes with some limitations of our availability during the days. We are confident that, when getting in touch with you, together we can work out if & how the four of us will be a match with your expectations.

Looking forward to get in touch!

Interests

Art & design

Charity work

Books

Cycling

Writing

Vegetarian or vegan

Sustainability

Politics / Social justice

Plant care

Performing arts

Outdoor activities

Nature

Music

Mountain

Languages

History

Hiking

Gardening

Farming

Culture

Cooking & food

Camping

Adventure sports

Languages spoken

English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Italian: Intermediate
German: Beginner
French: Beginner

Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn

We're interested in:  

Eco Projects

DIY and building projects

Life at a Farmstay

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

General Maintenance

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Some knowledge of:  

Gardening

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Able to teach about:  

Art Projects

Charity Work

More details about your skills

In daily working life, Derk is a strategic and creative consultant in the cultural field. Hobby musician & writer. A bit of an entertainer when the situation asks for it. An adventurer too. He explores all sorts of outdoor sports and has certain skills involved with that, like rope/knot constructions and outdoor survival skills (comes in handy on a daily basis obviously). He is capable in all sorts of diy in and around the house. Some basic building skills, basic knowledge of constructions and electricity etc. Ah! We must mention ironing here. Derk loves ironing (no irony here) and is great at at it.

Marrit is a health care professional. She is involved with some activist groups to address the climate change problem and to educate and activate people in steps towards a healthier planet. She is a beginning gardener (second year with her first own garden now, zero mortality of plants and veggies so far), fit & able to do basic diy projects in around the house, quick adapter and easy learner when new chores need to be done. Some sewing machine skills too!

We are both good cooks, happy to look after anyones kids every now and then, we can drive cars and bikes, we have creative flexible minds and fit bodies and practical hands that are okay with hard work! (Two winters ago we had great fun chopping our whole winter stash of firewood together :)

The kids, well they love to (try to) help with anything, but most of all they are four years old and great fun to be around. Cheerful, singing, chatting, running and climbing all day, every day. Eat play sing repeat!

Age

44 & 39

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements
  Vegetarian