John

Travel information

I am currently

Description

I have always loved travelling and meeting new people, as a young man I travelled for many years from South Africa (SA) where I was born.

My first real adventure started at 19 when three of my friends and I decided to sail on a small yacht from South Africa to the Canary Islands. It was a time when heading out with a backpack was a "rite-of-passage"). The only person on board who had any sailing experience was the skipper, we were there for the adventure. It certainly taught me how to get on with people in all kinds of situations from having the best laughs to extreme situations where basic survival was the best you could hope for.

From there I travelled all over Europe and worked on yachts, crossed the Atlantic to America then South America and the Caribbean. I can honestly say this was the most exciting fun time in my life .There was always something new to learn. I was always looking for work wherever I went so I learned to turn my hand to anything that was available, from working on yachts to building, painting, decorating and even art designs , I love being creative.

After nine years of travelling (including 2 years living in Tenerife) and a load of extraordinary experiences as you can imagine, I settled back in South Africa, got married had kids, as you do, and joined main-stream living.

During that time I involved myself in many different industries and ventures. From import and export to involvement in the TV and movie industry, building renovation projects, art supplies, furniture refurbishing, paint techniques, solid wood restoration and re-purposing to interior decoration, artist representation, indoor and outdoor murals, corporate asset re-seller and owner of an off-the-wall gallery called Bonkers Gallery "where anything goes".

I became extremely disillusioned by the rat race, capitalism, materialism and authoritarianism during Covid and with my kids all grown up and getting on with their own lives and no dependants or partners in my life to consider I decided to pack it all in and start living life again (so little time and so much still to do).

So with my sole possessions being my backpack, camera gear and of course my faithful JBL bluetooth speaker, I left South Africa in May 2022 and headed off to "whatever and wherever comes next".

The result is that here I am now a 67 year (young) man, still in good physical condition, able to do some heavy lifting, happy to dig in and get my hands dirty who loves life and wants to contribute to your need.

I'm out to meet new people from all over the world, wanting to learn new things, help others to achieve their goals, seeking fun, laughter, music, and being kind.

I do not take myself seriously, I'm a perfectly imperfect person and happy to be so.

Most important to me is that I have a positive impact on everyone and every situation that I experience.

I have strong morals, principles, ethics and I live my life bound by honesty and integrity.

I pride myself with having a high work ethic and being dependable, reliable, and honest.

I would describe myself as someone who still wants to discover life meet new people, experience new cultures, help out where I can .

I love life.

I absolutely love animals and animals love me too (there have been exceptions). I have had lots of dogs and cats of my own most of my life (and some snakes, birds and fish too) but while travelling have also helped look after some goats, horses, chickens etc (more of a feeding and herding thing)


My journey since leaving SA is:

4 Months in Cyprus looking after my 91 year old uncle (really a very special encounter), re-establishing relations with my Cypriot family and obtaining my Cypriot citizenship.

Subsequently I spent 4 months in rural West Cork in Ireland doing handyman work and as farmer's assistant while experiencing true Irish culture, tradition and learning how to properly pour a Guinness.

Greece was next. I spent 2 months in Athens, before and after I took up the opportunity to live on a finca in Sesi, a remote enclave on the Greek mainland for the entire summer from May to October. This was my spiritual awakening. I was in solitude for the entire period save for when the owner brought me supplies bi-weekly. I was tasked with reviving the house and property which had fallen into disrepair due to inactivity. My role was to re-instate problematic infrastructure both inside the house and on the land. Painting, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, land clearing, gardening and olive tree maintenance were some of my functions.

As a result of the incoming winter I headed to Bequia, part of St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean. I joined a yacht as crew that was due to start a refit. A 5 year round the world voyage was to follow the refit. Unfortunately after 3 months of living on the yacht on anchor in Port Elizabeth bay I had to accept the fact that the refit would possibly only commence in 6 - 10 months time and the round the world journey was at that stage more a dream than a reality.

So with a serious bout of island fever (Bequia is tiny) significant disappointment and minus my wallet with all bank cards and ID card missing (it fell overboard on one of my trips ashore on the dinghy never to be found again) I returned to Cyprus to get replacements and spend further time with family.

I was again invited to spend the summer in Sesi and in May this year lived I went there until mid September continuing where I'd left off the previous summer.

I am currently in Holland visiting my daughter who suggested I join Work Away to further my travels (more than likely actually to make sure that I get moving) so to date I have yet to enjoy my first experience, hopefully it will be with you as my host.

Interests

Cooking & food

Gardening

Plant care

Team sports

Water sports

Sustainability

Self development

Sailing / Boating

Pets

Photography

Outdoor activities

Nature

Music

Mountain

Languages

Hitchhiking

Farming

DIY & crafts

Culture

Charity work

Carpentry

Books

Beach

Art & design

Animals

Languages

Languages spoken
Afrikaans: Fluent
English: Fluent
Greek: Intermediate
Spanish: Beginner

More details about my language interests
I am always interested in learning new languages and would particularly like to improve my Spanish and Greek. I would happily assist you to speak English or Afrikaans

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Gardening

Eco Projects

Charity Work

Life at a Farmstay

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Some knowledge of:  

Animal Care

Helping around the house

Languages

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Able to teach about:  

DIY and building projects

Art Projects

General Maintenance

More details about your skills

I am a hands on person who enjoys physical activity in whatever industry or task I involve myself in, not to say that I haven't done anything else during my time in "main stream" life, but given the choice I've avoided this.

The skills I have which I would like to continue prioritising in the future are

Photography
Animal care
DIY projects
Woodwork
Metal work
Outdoor activity
Handyman - electrical, plumbing, painting
Working with all manual and electrical tools and machinery
Creativity
Lateral " out of the box" thinking
Artistic

Age

67

What else ...

From a hobby and interest perspective I would list people, nature, travel photography and music as my top interests not necessarily in that order. I get a lot of pleasure out of board games in particular backgammon in its various formats and enjoy the majority of card games especially those from different cultures. When time allows I enjoy reading a good book be it fiction or non fiction.

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