I was born in 1985 in the beautful Belgian town of Ypres. With its Cloth Hall, Menin Gate, Saint-Martin’s Cathedral and the rest of the stunning city centre. I’m proud to be born and raised there and it will always be my home, but that didn’t keep me from wanting to explore. I have many – maybe too many – fields of interest and like to be confronted with whatever it is I don’t know yet. Especially when it has some historical, cultural or sports value. I love to travel, to discover, to meet people and to admire. Writing about it was the only thing missing, until now.
I studied ‘Latin – Modern Languages’ in secondary school/high school, which I finished in 2003. After that, my interest in history got me to study Archaelogy at Ghent University for two years, after which I switched to College of Higher Education Vives in Bruges, where I started an education in Sports management and earned my degree quite easily. Ever since, I’ve been working for the sports department of the Flemish government (one of the 6 governments we have in Belgium, but I won’t go into that now, no worries!). I am still working there, in a great atmosphere with really nice colleagues. That job also gave me the opportunity to live some great things. It let me go to the London Olympics for three days in 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil for three weeks. Right now I am taking the biggest step though. I’ve taken a one year leave of absence to travel to Oceania, focussing on Australia, but considering New Zealand and other islands as well. A hopefully fantastic adventure.
This website, thejourner.be, is where I report on these journeys..