From: United Kingdom & Belgium
Couple account
Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda
04/11/2018 - 30/04/2019
992
First of all we want to thank you for taking the time to read our profile! We hope it’ll be worth your while...
We are two guys from Belgium, Nicolas from the French-speaking part, Roel from the Dutch-speaking part. In 2012 we left Belgium behind us to go live and work in the fascinating, buzzing city of London (UK) where we stayed for almost 7 years. While working hard we always created time to explore near and far and traveled quite extensively to all different parts of the world like the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Myanmar, Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Morocco, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, USA (New York, Washington, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Houston) and Europe of course (France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Lithuania,...)
As you can see, we love to explore very much but we realise that we wanted to take more time. Time to discover a region more profoundly. Time to get under the skin of an interesting culture. Time to learn a new skill. Time to meet new people. Time to take it all in...
That’s why we quit our jobs and apartment, sold or stored our things and took off. And although it’s only the beginning (traveling since May 2018), we've learned already a couple of things and feel great.
What we did:
Nicolas is a hospitality professional since forever! He started running around with trays from an early age if he wasn’t helping out his Mum in the kitchen. From the age of 14 he entered hospitality school and interned in Michelin starred restaurants. After graduating he was running a 500 cover banqueting place in his village, before moving to the capital to start a career in 5-star luxury hospitality first at Le Meridien Brussels as a waiter, then as a restaurant supervisor in Le Meridien London and finally as a restaurant manager for Shangri-La London for the last 3 years. While at Le Meridien London he also worked more than a year at the front desk/reception.
Roel is a project management allrounder. First active in production for several music festivals and performing art venues, then as a fixer behind the scenes for television and later as experiential marketing and events strategist for big brands. While working in marketing he helped creating the first global guidelines for recycling for Coca-Cola. The last 5 years Roel started his own company and is an entrepreneur-for-hire. He set up a marketing agency in London for 1 of his clients and for another client he project-managed the opening of a zero-waste, plant-based restaurant managing every single step of the process from location hunting to recruitment strategy.
Together we volunteered in Myanmar for a couple of weeks (June/July 2018) teaching kids in a monastery school and helping them to put their organic restaurant on the map to attract more locals and tourists alike in order to increase a revenue stream for them to benefit the children. In Vietnam we worked in a newly opened hotel/bar/restaurant. We helped the local managers to train their staff on all (western) hospitality standards and created some operational standards for them to work with in the future.
We both can help you on a hands-on business level and have each our skill sets to complement your needs. But above all we are quick and eager learners and are not afraid to make our hands dirty. We stripped and refurbished a studio apartment in Brussels 2 years ago and organised loads of dinner parties of different shapes and sizes. So you tell us? What can we do for you?
Yes, we’re that type of people...
We are open minded and honest. We are easy-going and hard-working. Focused and flexible. We’re keen on learning new things, especially about sustainable living, farming and harvesting, food & culture, nature & the conservation of it.
Are you that type?
We'd like to meet good people, who have got the right attitude to make a difference and to make it count. People with an open mind, sharing their knowledge and their home. Together we can make a change, doesn’t matter if it is small or big, but always significant!
If you would like to follow our adventures have a look at:
https://www.instagram.com/picourmoment
Get in touch!
Thanks
Roel & Nicolas
Gardening
Cooking / shopping
General Maintenance
Farmstay
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Helping with Tourists
Charity work
Language practice
Other
Help with Computers / internet
Teaching
We’re both not afraid to make our hands dirty and we’re quick learners eager to take on anything you throw at us.
Aside from that we have some more specific skills:
Nicolas is a native French speaker and can help with language practise. He’s also a trained cook and can run a bar, restaurant or hotel reception like a pro.
Roel is a certified TEFL teacher and can help with language practise in English and Dutch. He’s also an experienced project manager with extensive marketing experience. Copywriting, social media, spreadsheets, financial analysis, training and teaching. Some bar experience.
Nicolas’ mother tongue is French and he’s fluent in English. Roel’s mother tongue is Dutch and he’s fluent in French and English. He even has a TEFL degree (Teach English as a Foreign Language). We have lived in London for 7 years.
39 & 31
BELGIAN
We have a special interest in ECO projects focusing on sustainability and/or zero waste.
Smoker
Driver's licence
Allergies
No real allergies to worry about.
Special dietary requirements
Nope!
