Christina & Matthew

Information de voyage

Actuellement, nous sommes

Les activités qui nous intéressent :

March 2023 ~ we set off for Tokyo and plan to work our way from Japan, South Korea, down through SE.Asia to Australia & NZ

Description

Hello we’re Chrissi & Matt, together 15 years (married for 5). In 2021, we had an 'it's now or never' moment…packed up our home & life in the UK, with the aim to travel for the next few years, we would love to explore more of this wonderful world together!

We joined Workaway to assist our travels and have very much benefited from our generous hosts and eye opening experiences so far, in fact we would say they’ve been life changing! Meeting new people and learning how different communities & cultures work, has been part of the exposure to a new way of life & how we think.

Please see our photos for examples of completed Workaway's in the UK, France, Croatia, Slovenia & Japan:
- Building a stone base with wooden support log store
- Collecting & chopping firewood with an axe ~ also learning to use an electric chainsaw
- Plastering & rendering exposed stone walls
- Building a stone wall surround for a pool
- Creating veg beds, weeding & mowing grass (learning to drive a ride on lawn mower)
- Odd jobs i.e. fixing a lawnmower & boxing in bathroom pipe work
- Adding metal window supports to the frames
- Assembling furniture & getting a holiday home ready for guests
....house/ dog/ chicken sitting!

It is so rewarding to help realise other peoples goals with them, or merely helping get a few jobs done so it frees up their weekend & holidays, so they can go out and live a bit more in their own time.

We very much appreciated our hosts generosity, also being introduced to their friends & families, which added to the whole experience meeting new people. We’re very grateful of being encouraged to go out and explore, immersing ourselves as ‘a local person’ and showing us places we would never have gone to as ‘tourists’, it really added to our experience in a way which is hard to put into words and ‘thank you’ doesn’t seem enough!

2022 - we travelled round Europe for 6 months in our microcampervan, which we converted from scratch as my flower van to our tiny home on wheels. Taking in many countries we’ve not visited before, including the Balkan countries which we absolutely loved & highly recommend for all it’s friendliness, culture & adventure.
We really loved experiencing each country at our own pace (not cramming in all the activities for a one week trip of annual leave).
An added bonus, was experiencing the change in seasons, from Spring, many a Summer heatwave, through to Autumn and seeing how the landscapes & crops changed as we travelled. Also witnessing that nature really does need a rest, but also have an opportunity to flourish at different times of the year.

2023 - we booked our one way flight to Japan early March, planning to travel Southeast Asia, for roughly 12 months
As of November'23, we have travelled through Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia - Vietnam, Laos & Thailand being next on the list...

Adventurous, enthusiastic and driven, but also caring & compassionate. We’re both passionate in conservation of the environment & animals, keen to learn more and expand on what we do/ don’t know already. We would love to make a difference in the world, no matter how big or small, whether it be in a local community, or on a wider scale.

Please get in touch if we can be of help ~ we look forward to meeting you & assisting with your projects :)

Centres d’intérêt

Langues

Langues parlées
Anglais: Courant

Plus de détails sur les langues qui m'intéressent
I would be interested in teaching English

Trouver un partenaire de langue

Compétences et connaissances que nous aimerions partager ou apprendre

Ça nous intéresse :  

Travail associatif

Projets artistiques

Langues

Éco-projets

S’occuper des animaux

Aider dans une ferme

Accueil / tourisme

Enseignement

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Nous avons des connaissances :  

Jardinage

Bricolage et projets de construction

Aider à la maison

Entretien général

Quelles sont vos compétences ?

Chrissi - my career started as a Designer of Footwear & Accessories, gaining a BA Honours Degree in Footwear Design, then a decades worth of experience working in the UK Fashion Industry.

In need of a change, I began retraining in Floristry, but Covid impacted further training opportunities, so I took the leap and set up a Floral Design business for Weddings & Events. I really enjoy creating Bouquets, through to larger Installations, working with the beauty of nature and appreciating its form and design through my work.

A big focus and passion is to be as sustainable, eco-friendly and seasonal as possible. I like to build relationships locally with growers & suppliers instead of large scale wholesale. Using flowers grown with love and care, is far more satisfying, opposed to imported materials. I have worked with both fresh flowers and foliage and also dried - naturally and chemical free.

A creative background has developed my digital design skills (using Adobe programs) for creating logos & branding, business cards etc. also building a website and social media profiles for gaining customers and also taking on Freelance work for other Florists/ Floral Designers alike, who need assistance for large scale work.

Matt - I’ve worked in the Water Industry for 15 years, in a mixture of operational and engineering roles, asset management for Clean Water Distribution and Water treatment, also gaining a BSc Honours Degree in Environmental Science.

An accomplished 'DIY'er (home improvements), I have enjoyed renovating our home & garden over the last 5 years - painting, decorating, tiling, bathroom fitting, plumbing, woodwork, use of power tools, cementing in fencing & installing garden beds. I’m not afraid of getting stuck into a project and willing to give anything a go!
We have a collage photo showing my work on our property in the UK so you can see my skills - please take a look

I’ve also assisted with weekly feeds for those in need locally and more recently volunteered with a local National Trust property (UK) as part of the Ranger team, learning skills in woodland management and outdoor maintenance which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

We’re really keen to expand on the skills we have and learn from our Workaway hosts, as well as getting to know you :)

*Photos from our completed Workaways in 2022 named with 'WA' in description*

Âge

34 & 37

Autres infos...

Hiking through hills & mountains, but especially coastal paths!
Camping and the outdoors, nature, animal wildlife & birds
Visiting places of interest and cultural significance, learning about history in the local area/ country
Adventure - we’re definitely not pro’s but we love to try new activities - surfing, paddle boarding, kayaking etc.
Food - we love to cook a variety of meals ranging from meat & fish based dishes, to vegetarian & vegan recipes, BBQ and also baking

Informations complémentaires

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  Fumeur

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  Permis de conduire

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  Allergies

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  Régime alimentaire spécial
  We will eat anything our hosts kindly provide - including vegetarian, vegan diets if required