Tina

Travel information

I am currently

Description

IMPORTANT UPDATE (August, 2024):
I am about to reach Slovenia soon, where I'll most probably spend several months before exploring all other Balkan states.
The last 3 1/2 years I lived in Spain, where I got adopted by my beautiful 4legged companion León. I guess I must have looked very lonely at this point...;-)
To be able to travel with a big dog and to keep my flexibility I bought a VW Crafter (first a tent because I decided to walk all over Europe but León didn't agree as he has artrosis and isn't up for that sort of lifestyle anymore) that I transformed step by step all by myself into a tiny house on wheels over a couple of months.
It wasn't always easy but worth the effort at all times! I learned so much in the process and my confidence grew along with the project.
Now I'm overjoyed to be part of the vanlife community and experiencing a totally new way of travelling after 16 years of public transport / hitchhiking and countless miles on foot through about 40 countries all together.
León is castrated, well travelled, used to workaway and house sit, good with kids, other dogs, cats and farm animals in general.
Happy to pass on contact details of people we stayed with previously.
Sounds good to you??
Get in touch, I'll definitely get back to all of you soon...

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I have been raised and grown up with a Holistic approach towards life. Nourished with organic homecooked food, fruits and nuts grown by my parents and grandmother on our own piece of land where I spent most days outside in nature.

Natural movement, outdoor activities of all kinds and animals have always played a major role in my life.
Being a little explorer and adventurer throughout my childhood I started to dream about travelling the world early youth already.
At the end of high school that dream was still alive and vivid but having just finished school I didn't have the means.

Not quite sure what to do and without any direction (the school system left me totally unprepared and lost) I decided to go for an office education.

After 9 years of struggling through the German system and different though not really satisfying office jobs I finally managed to break free.

Headed for Venezuela in May 2008 with the intention to make it THE trip of my life I'm still to be found on the road over a decade later.

So by now I think it's safe to call it my lifestyle.

My main focus of each country is to get to know the locals, their lifestyle, traditional food and of course explore my surroundings extensively (I'm a very slow traveler).
I've picked up several languages along the way as well.

Amongst others I volunteered in Cahuita National Park Sea Turtle Conservation Centre and Sloths Rescue Centre in Costa Rica, helping with animal care (wild & domestic) and farming in a selfsustained 500 ppl village in the middle of nowhere (Costa Rica), childcare and playmate in an orphanage in San Jose / Costa Rica, teaching maths to disadvantaged kids in a primary school in Antigua (Guatemala) or feeding, cleaning, grooming and walking dogs in an animal shelter as well as assisting the veterinarian during surgeries in Quetzaltenango (Guatemala), being a receptionist and house keeper in backpacker hostels on Pangkor and Penang island / Malaysia, staying with a local family in the north east of Thailand (Isan) helping with everything around their little rice farm and enjoying real local family life, experiencing day to day live in a Thai Buddhist nunnery and being part of a community of permaculturists and off the grid livers in Khao Sok Natinal Park (Thailand) belong to my most memorable experiences so far.
In addition to this I worked 4 months each in a summer camp in Sweden 2013/14. The company organized tours by canoe and I've been responsible for general customer service, cooking (for guests and team members), maintenance of equipment, cleaning and occasionally office work.
I am also a pet approved housesitter around Europe.

Every 2 years I return to Germany / Austria for a while to work as an 24h elderly care taker and save some money to continue my journey afterwards.

In 2016, after trying out a few other techniques along the way, I discovered Vipassana meditation and became a devoted meditator and server ever since. Which means I spent several months in different centres around the world already as well as doing my own regular meditation almost every day.

Another dream of mine is to get to know more about different yoga practices (from July 2021 onwards I took private Iyengar classes twice a week for about 2 years) and am planning to get a YTT certification (for self development, not to be able to teach) in India one day where I would also love to study everything about Ayurveda and other eastern healing techniques.

Considering the world my travelling classroom I vowed to myself long ago to keep thriving and educating myself until my last breath.

I love to learn from and with other likeminded people and sharing ideas, dreams, home cooked (plantbased) meals and a good laugh or book.
I've some knowledge about wild edibles and medicinal plants and make all my cosmetics, tinctures, soap and tooth paste myself.

Following my heart and powerful female intuition has enabled me to live a life fullfilled with joy, happiness, unconditional love, acceptance and compassion for myself and all other living beings I share this wonderful planet with.
It's a never ending journey and I had to learn a lot of those things mentioned above the hard way...

My wish for the future is to create an as selfsustainable as possible off the grid home for myself, loved ones and a little zoo of rescue animals where everybody can grow, thrive, learn, share, heal and just be.

In the meantime I'll keep my minimalistic lifestyle without attachment, craving and clinging as taught by Vipassana and continue to love, serve, create and inspire others.

Interests

Van life

Writing

Sustainability

Self development

Plant care

Vegetarian or vegan

Yoga / Wellness

Photography

Pets

Outdoor activities

Nature

Music

Mountain

Languages

History

Hiking

Gardening

Farming

Dancing

DIY & crafts

Cycling

Culture

Cooking & food

Charity work

Carpentry

Books

Beach

Art & design

Animals

Adventure sports

Languages

Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Indonesian: Intermediate
Malay: Intermediate
French: Beginner
Romanian: Beginner

More details about my language interests
Always happy and grateful to practice and improve some of the languages I already started to learn.

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

Some knowledge of:  

DIY and building projects

Babysitting and creative play

General Maintenance

Life at a Farmstay

Eco Projects

Hospitality/Tourism

Charity Work

Languages

Art Projects

Helping with Computers/ Internet

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Able to teach about:  

Gardening

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

Animal Care

Being an elderly companion

More details about your skills

- Housekeeping (very organised, meticulously clean, neat and tidy)
- Gardening / farming and all kinds of outdoor work (I love physically demanding jobs)
- Cooking (vegetarian & vegan)
-fermentation
-preservation
- collecting wild edibles
-kombucha
-kefir / yoghurt
- animal lover (without exception)
- passionate horse rider (could definitely do with some lessons) and knowledge around horses
- Babysitter / childcare / elderly care (experienced 24 hour caretaker of elderly ladies)
- Outdoorskills (trekking, kayaking, canoeing, kneeboarding, freediving, scubadiving, snorkeling, climbing, cycling, swimming, camping)
- Experienced in working with tourists / in a guesthouse
- 10 years of office work (office leader, secretary, personal assistant, purchase and sales department)
- Internet research
- very creative (I love to decorate rooms, houses and my surroundings in general)
- DIY
- recycling / upcycling
- a bit of eco construction

Age

45

What else ...

As an animal and nature lover I spend most of my time outdoors tending to the needs of some furry friends, digging in the soil, jumping into some natural water source or hiking.
Since childhood I'm a passionate horse rider and won't miss an opportunity to be around those lovely creatures.
I also love meditation and sports like swimming, jogging, hiking, canoing, kayaking, cycling, yoga, gymnastics and like to be introduced to all kind of stuff I haven't tried yet. Thanks to two younger siblings and several babysitter jobs throughout my youth I know how to entertain kids and am grateful for any opportunity to be a playmate to those met along the way.
In my opinion they are our greatest teachers and if one pays attention we can learn more from them than the other way around...

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  no

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  Special dietary requirements
  vegetarian