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Hello, I am Dominiek, born in the Flemish Belgian region on an very warm day in April 1976. Since my birth, I have lived in Wervik, a town right at the border with France.During my childhood, I loved exploring the Flemish countryside by bike. But, from the age of 18, I became more curious about exploring other places across the border. One unexpected trip suddenly followed; I got my first flight ticket with destination Istanbul in 1995. From that trip on my interest in different countries and cultures has always been growing and growing until now.
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How the times have changed…
During the pre-internet days I shared stories about my adventures with people at home using a faxmachine and letters! No matter where I went, my parents were always in a kind of permanent panic. In the 90’s, I ‘ve sent many postcards and had to use expensive pre-paid phone calls for keeping contact with my family. That’s why during a long world trip I could only communicate with my family and friends once every few weeks.
Twenty years ago, my backpack was stuffed with film rolls and slides but now I have the possibility to share my adventures through live 4K video reports. My camera and I have always been inseparable.
During my early years of exploring the world I had to travel with a map. Thus, I had to understand a basic level of geography that is far beyond common sense any backpackers have today. Next to maps, I didn’t leave without Lonely Planet guidebooks as well. Back in those days, there were
no more resources for decent travel advice. Nowadays I still love paper guides and maps, they reflect me back to those early years of travelling .
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How my life has changed…
I lived and worked in Thailand from 2004 to 2008. My guesthouse, restaurant and travelagency “Thai basecamp” was located in the famous beach town Phuket. Afterwards I returned to my hometown Wervik, where I bought my own property and transformed it into a travel and culture house “Buddhas”.
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In 2009 I started with “Travel & culture house Buddhas”.
It’s completely decorated inspired on my travels, because I want to share my knowledge and experiences with others. Everybody is welcome! At “Buddhas” you will find several photos and original souvenirs brought from different countries. It is even a meeting place where travel associations, organizations or classes are always welcome. All travel information is well maintained on my extensive travel library. “Buddhas” is a gathering place of travel memories and at the same time new travel plans are constantly born here. And all this is a 100% from my passion and in a non-commercial way.
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During one of my many long trips I ended up in Budapest. In a backpackers hostel and I started talking to Katia, a Peruvian girl who was studing in Madrid and spent the summer break with friends travelling in some European countries. When I started talking about my experiences in Peru, where I stayed for some months, the ball started to roll, and we kept in
contact. Right after my trip I invited Katia to Belgium, and we haven’t been apart since then. In 2015 we married and now we are living together at “Buddhas”.
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The irresistible urge to go explore the world over and over again brought me in the past 25 years to more than 150 countries. Maybe someday I can reach my goal of travelling all the countries in the world.
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