The Secret Life of Kimi and How She Does it: The Danger of Internet and Social Network Sites

The Secret Life of Kim Boes and how she does it

What is my secret? How can I live the way I do? How can I be everywhere and nowhere and change destinations every 2 - 3 months? 

Graduation Speech 

First, during my studies I already 'taught' finance to several people. I absolutely love finance (one of these rare people) and really wanted these people to understand it as well. Nothing in this world makes me more happy than making other people happy, make sure they succeed and they understand something after I explained them. Why should I keep the knowledge to myself if I can help other people understand it better? Second, I happen to have written an excellent thesis with some very nice research that I will present on the e-Tourism Brennpunkt in Salzburg, Austria next Monday. Along the way I noticed that my academic writing in English is not so bad at all and therefore I am consulting and assisting on various academic papers at the moment. Third, what I also noticed is that with understanding three languages perfectly I can translate Dutch/German text to English without any problem. Fourth, something else is that I do not have a problem doing work you do not need a degree for, therefore, I am, next to all the activities I am doing at the moment, also Delivering The Mail in Hulst. 

Tour Map of our 'Get Lost' Tour in NZ

The Secret of Living Life the Kimi Way

• Work Hard in something you love
• Take all small jobs cause they will give you the base to future success 
• Have a goal, in the not so far future, to work towards
• Take a temporary job to make extra money (even if it might not be your dream job, its only temporary!) 
• Do only what you enjoy doing and never give up no matter what other people say
• Be realistic but always on the positive side of things 
• Luxury is not everything. Remember, that with this way of living you might not have heaps on your bank account but are living the life you always wanted 
• Never give up believing in yourself! 

Best Practise 

• Cried for some weeks because I didn't find a job
• Thought about what I love most and do best and how to combine these two 
• Founded Bacon and Eggs
• Spread the word about what I am doing got me
• Ghostwriter job
• Consulting 3 dissertations 
• One translating job 
• Invitation to present my research at eTourism Brennpunkt conference 
• Awesome website and a big network for Bacon and Eggs Tours 
• Leaving my apartment to work as a temporary postman in The Netherlands
• Buy a ticket to NZ to have a 'not so far in the future' goal
• Do a TEFL course to Teach English as a Foreign Language as Volunteering Work next year
• Brainstorm about the 'Trip of my life around the world without a plane' 
• Have a permanent smile on my face even if I worry or feel sh*t 

Temp Job in AWESOME Berlin! 

This sounds like a lot and it is a lot, I work 7 days a week but believe me, I enjoy every single second of it and I could not imagine a better life than I have now. If this makes people think I am a dreamer, a liar or untrustworthy than I feel sorry for them. Having an awesome life your way is possible, just get out of that comport zone and start living. It might not be easy at first but I guarantee you, after a while you never want something else again!

Ode to Social Media

Again, I have to communicated my thoughts about people that attack one another on the internet. Social Media are there to share information (in the amounts you feel comfortable with) and help each other with anything possible. Please think twice before spreading rumours, negative worth of mouth or accusations. Before you hurt somebodies feelings or effect a company contact them personally. Public attacks might only bother outsiders and you might even negatively effect yourself in the matter. 

I am happy I found a reason to tell something about myself, my life and my company again. Thank you 'forum person' for providing me with some nice content on my blog!

Travel Mate or Horror Companion

'It's easier to find a travelling companion than to get rid of one'

- Art Buchwald

Two might be one to many: Backpacking & Travelling Companion

Im selfish, I want to do what I want to do, I want to see things I want to see and if I have the opportunity to travel alone, I will travel alone. This first sentence sounds like I am one of these socially awkward people, an 'Einzelgänger' and impossible travel companion. But nothing could be further from the truth. I enjoy both, I love both and like to combine both. During my stay in Thailand, about a year ago, I travelled alone around this country and it was wonderful. After a couple of months in New Zealand with travellers and backpackers around me 24/7 it was just delightful to be on my own, to enjoy the silence, the beauty of my surroundings and living my life and only my life. I did notice the easiness of meeting travel buddies, travel companions or travel mates which seems, in my opinion, way less complex than when you are travelling with somebody already. It's like you send out a scent, a sign for people to detect, the indication of solitary. And suddenly you are not alone anymore, your solitude is over..... you find a travel bud.

Travel Companions, Travel Buddies and Travel Mates: Online and Offline

As I said before, I have the feeling that solo travellers send out a message to fellow travellers and suddenly contacts are way easier made than at home, than in every - day life. It might be the fact that all these people do the same thing, are in the same boat and therefore become 'friends', travel friends. For me this is a well known phenomenon as I have seen this happen many times before, but for many 'beginning' travellers and backpackers it is a nightmare to even consider travelling alone. It is therefore good to know we have something called the internet, a connecting people network where 'soon-to-become' travellers can find other backpackers and arrange trips and meet-ups months or weeks before departure. As I am searching for travellers that want to join my three exclusive and affordable bus tours in New Zealand I have found some good websites although one website developed itself as my favourite.

Find a Travel Companion: Find My Travel Mate

For me it was sad to see that many websites ask money for contacting fellow travellers. The sign up is for free, the searching as well but as soon as you find the perfect person to travel with these websites poor rain on your parade. Good to know that there is one website My Travel Mate that does not do this. This start-up makes it possible for you to create your trip, with all details included, and promote this trip on the My Travel Mate website. As I am searching for some 'travel buddies' I signed up, created a trip, added some pictures and tried out if this could work. And yes, it does. I am not one of these people that goes around to promote other websites, except my own, but My Travel Mate is something that makes me happy in a virtual world, with 100000 travel buddies websites and forums make it impossible for me to find one that has it all. My Travel Mate does this and therefore I would like to thank this website for making my life easier. And of course I recommend this platform to every traveller who wants to meet people, its easy, its fast and even better.... for free!!! 

Are you looking for somebody to travel with? Go Bacon and Eggs Tours for New Zealand and check My Travel Mate in any other case ;) 

Decisions and choice, words who rule my world

'For my part I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake.

The great affair is to move' - Robert Louis Stenson

Where to begin? Choice, opportunities, challenges... Questions, plans and endless conversations without an end. Circles, running around in circles... and time... time who pores down rain on my parade. 

New Zealand is the country of my dreams. I can be myself, have nature around me and am able to have sand and snow on the same day. It is legal to go out the door on jandals and wear board shorts, hoody and have messy hair at any time of the year. The internet and smartphones are still a thing of the future and planning or worrying are words not to be found in the New Zealand dictionary. It is the country of relaxed people where 'cuz', 'bro' and 'sweet as' are not considered as ghetto slang. I am in love with this piece of land floating around at the bottom of this planet however... can I stay here? Or better, shall I stay here? 

Now the end of my studies is getting near I should probably make some decisions on what to do after, after my 'student' life, after the years of hoovering around the world. New Zealand is the country of my dreams but opportunities lay in Europe and, unfortunately, so is the salary. Torn apart between two worlds which cannot be further away from one another. 

At the moment I am tired, tired of travelling and living out of a suitcase. A different place to sleep every night, I long to a place to call home. Because, where is home? After living in different countries over the last seven years, building up and taring down foundations I am here, 25 and at a point I want to choose. I travel around to go, to move, to have a new adventure and I tend to do this every couple of months, years. Of course I can keep continue doing this and I am sure I will be a happy camper but where will home be? I want to be a pink princess, a handbag (inside joke) let somebody else make the decisions for me cause I am too tired to do it. 

Where to begin? Choice, opportunities, challenges... Questions, plans and endless conversations without an end. Circles, running around in circles... and time... time who pores down rain on my parade and takes over my life at the moment.... 

Travelling New Zealand

At the moment my life is all about my studies and my return to New Zealand. However, the last one is causing some sleepless nights... 

It is 11pm and I'm in bed, I want to go to sleep but there is this little person running around in my head, bouncing. It keeps releasing opportunities, challenges and difficulties of where to go, what to do and how to do it. 

For the lucky ones that already had the opportunity to travel to this beautiful country, they may know how hard it is to stay at one place in New Zealand. It may seem so small when you have a look at a map of the world, but, believe me, it's huge! There is so much to see, so much to do and I want to see it all again, and on a (very) low budget :) The plans I made, or had to made, already changed numerous times and I really don't know anymore why I should have a plan before I go.

Why do people like to plan everything before they start travelling, why not just go and see how everything will be. By doing so you keep yourself from being disappointed and sad. As I wrote in my previous post, people are not fond of uncertainties, we like to plan and avoid the unexpected. I wanted to think I'm different but can't fool myself anymore. I am like this, I am a (little) Dutch 'control freak'.... and I'm not amused by it! 

So, on the 15th of December I will fly back to my favourite country, I will get on a plane with a max. of 15kg luggage, fly for 30 hours and be happy! Whatever comes after that I will see there... 

New Zealand travelling south

As you may know I am travelling the south island of NZ at the moment. I got myself a Stray pass, hopped,last Thursday, on the Intercity from Auckland to Wellington, got on the ferry to Picton after a good night out in the hostel where I stayed, slept a couple of hours during the crossing and jumped onto Daisy's bus in Picton. Surprisingly, I managed to crump all I wanted, or needed, to bring down south in my small backpack. I decreased the amount of shoes I thought I might need from five to three and did not bring, I think, unnecessary clothes. Have to say that till now I haven't even used a third from what I brought but let's not get of track here.

So, I got on Daisy's bus, with 17 other backpackers, and the first thing we were going to do  that day was.....wine tasting. Awesome activity for an hangover day! I needed about five different wines and only 2$ to get me into that nice half drunk phase again. However, this was going to be a long day on the bus and I knew I was going to be hit by Daisy if I would fall asleep while he was driving. So, I got myself together and managed to stay awake all the way to Marahau, Abel Tasman where we were going to stay the next two days. We decided to cook a group meal this night which resulted in awesome mussels, thanks to Daisy, and amazing spaghetti coordinated by nobody else than myself (I am not kidding here) and lots of help from other people on the bus. Cooking spaghetti for 14 people in a small hostel kitchen is kind of a challenge which we, as an awesome team, managed very well. I called it a night early and enjoyed an outside hot tub before I went to sleep.  

Next morning we woke up with the news about  the earthquake which had hit Christchurch early that morning. As we were in Abel Tasman, about 500km away, some had felt it whereas others didn't. I contacted home as soon as possible to let everybody know I was doing good. However shocked by the fact of this 7.1 earthquake we got the car and drove to a very cute salmon farm where we were able to catch our own salmon which was then going to be cleaned, smoked and eaten. As an, very, inexperienced fisher I followed Mike. I hoped he would know what he was doing....After 20sec he proved me he knew exactly how to catch fish. I was shocked, not even ready, still looking at the water in the hope to SEE a fish. But there he was standing, getting the fish to the shore where I was suppose to catch it in my net. I tried to pretend I knew exactly what I was doing, got the net, walked to to shore, managed to not fall into the water and surprisingly got the salmon out of the water in no time. A bit proud of myself I let Mike convince me of throwing in the line as well. After following his instructions I caught the, second, fish in my life! (there was this one time back in the day, when we didn't had the Euro yet that I happen to go fishing with some of my family). Some pictures needed to be taken so I posed with my fish, kissed it and let Mike kill it. After 20 min of fun (Mike managed to catch yet another one in the following 10 min) we let them clean our salmon and smoke them for us. The taste was amazing! I was never a big salmon lover but catching them yourself suddenly makes them much tastier :)

We drove around some more and I even got to drive a manual car on the left side of the road heading up a mountain with some crazy turns in it. I bet Mike was scared as hell however he keeps denying it. Next day was Barrytown day. All Nations backpackers, well known for the dress up parties. As I grew up with carnival I like parties like this and thought about my outfit for the rest of the day. Pirates and ninjas was the common thing I heard so I, as some people may know of me, needed to be different. As a persons who doesn't wear make-up or owns a proper dress I decided to kill with... LOVE! I let Mike wrap me into a plastic bag, I tied a bow (think this is the right word) around my waist and head and here I was, ready to destroy with love and cuteness. Have to say it was a really funny evening with some interesting gossip afterwards :) Don't we just love it being on an holiday, hooking up with everything and everybody and let the gossip go around the bus the following morning :) Or other things referring to one of my previous posts.

However, being sort of a backpacker at the moment I am not able to access my Twitter or Facebook account very often. I told you in my previous post that I am a Facebook addict and I have to admit that it was very hard not being able to post anything on Twitter or Facebook. However, the sweating and shivering is over and I am very happy to say that I am still able to live without it. (Although I prefer with).

I will continue my journey through the south tomorrow where I will take heaps of pictures to post here and on my Facebook account next week. I just love New Zealand and all the people in it!

Role of social media in my travel life

After spending the last two days on expanding my knowledge on social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn I came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, the news and your friends know where to find you. 

I remember opening my Facebook account only because of my friends. What is this Facebook, I don't need this I have Hyves. Who needs Facebook when you have Hyves? But I surrendered and opened my first Facebook account. It didn't mean much to me in the beginning but now, I am ashamed to tell you this, it rules my world. It is the first thing I open when I start my computer and I am brave enough to admit that I can spend a whole day behind my computer checking my account every five minutes. I know this sounds pathetic though it is time for me to admit this to the world. Yes, I am an Facebook addict. 

And it even gets worst. Since I decided to write my thesis in regard to social media I had to dig deeper. I need to know what is going on in this fast changing, never sleeping world of unlimited information. Therefore, I opened my first Twitter account yesterday. Till 30 September 2010 I could stay out of the hands of Twitter though had to bend my back to it finally. I keep telling myself it is all for my thesis, all for the good cause. However, I saw myself totally getting sucked into the world of Twitter, Facebook and Hootsuite over the last, what, 48 hours! It's ridiculous how much information is out there! So many things you can and have to do to get the attention of the people around you.

I noticed that it does not matter where I am on this planet, if I promote myself in the right way everybody can find me. As my parents live in Holland, I study in Austria, live at the moment in New Zealand and have many friends from all over the world, this is very convenient. With one post on Facebook everybody knows what I am up to. Or even better, I go into Hootsuite and post the same in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn all at the same time. It opened my eyes to a very interesting and easy way of staying in touch with everybody I know, or who knows me.

Over the last 48 hours I opened my Twitter account and posted about 20 tweets, got 12 followers and started following 24. I posted a new post on my blog which my friend Kate posted on many different websites. In only 2 days my posts was watched twice as much as it had been over the last 6 months! If I am out there, on the web, interacting with many different websites, people will find me. It's scary to know that it is so easy to post all your personal information out there although it feels so good to see that people are actually interested in you. I checked the Stats for my blog and discovered that, although I am from Europe and have never even been to the US, my largest group of followers is from the this country... Now new questions came to my mind. Why are these people reading my blog? It must be interesting to them. Now I need to keep this level up and start writing interesting stuff all the time, or most of the time. 

I don't want to say that being, suddenly, out there changed my mind although it feels like an addiction. I suddenly want to increase the number of followers on my Twitter account whereas I normally wasn't interested in this at all. Start posting some serious links on my Facebook account   and not just status updates. I feel the need to have more people reading my blog. Where does this come from? Why does social media intrigues me so much? It is a world I never was really interested in although now I am in it I wish I started this earlier. With me travelling around the globe, living in different countries all the time, it makes it so much easier to keep up with everybody... and everything. 

Social media is not a fad, it's a trend! It is amazing, fascinating, fast, alive and booming! Thank you Twitter and Facebook for opening my eyes! 

To be or not to be..... a backpacker

I was just sitting on the patio at the lovely house I am living in knitting yet another beanie and could not help thinking about the reasons why people decide to go backpacking. I could only come up with some of them.

Why do people motivate themselves to cram their life in a 23kg backpack to travel around the world, live on pasta and soup, sleep in noisy, smelly, hostels with snoring or sleep talking drunk people, wear the same clothes till they look like something the cat dragged in, wake up next to somebody you cannot remember the name from, make hideous pictures, post them on Facebook and call it 'an amazing experience', call your parents cause you need more money to expand your cultural knowledge of the different kinds of beers you hostel bar is selling, add heaps of 'friends' on Facebook, go to every party where you can get free beer by playing games you would not even consider doing at home, apologize to your boyfriend the next day for the shocking pictures your 'friends' added you in on Facebook, jump from a bridge cause you suddenly have the courage to do so.

Snog numerous other backpackers from the other or same sex, take photos from this as well and explain your friends you try before you buy, fall desperately in love, ditch your travel friend, take off with the love of your life, discover he is not your knight in shining armor, spend more money to go back to your friend, make up with yet some more beers, jump on another plane to an even more exotic destination, get bitten by insects you cannot pronouns the names from, try to explain the doctor you are not an alcoholic you just need to wash your clothes, fall out of the bunk bed while having sex with your new catch, wake up all the people in the room by doing so, invite them for a 'Im sorry you saw me naked' beer, find a new hot guy, sleep with him in the lower part of the bunk bed, embarrass yourself in the pharmacy while answering the questions to get the morning after.

Fall asleep on the street, wake up at the police station, explain yet again you are not an alcoholic, call your parents again for more money to spend on more cultural experiences, pretend to be a lesbian with your friend to shock guys, get into mud wrestling, feel guilty of not contacting home, try to post something serious on Facebook, drink more beer but do not forget the local beverages, jump out of a plane cause you are forced to do it, get drunk before you jump out of the plane, blame it on the guy who took you out drinking the night before for the lovely, sick photos of your jump, get really cold, curse every day about something ridiculous, get an extreme sunburn and tell everybody you always get that red before you gain color, complaint about the sunburn in secret to your mum.

Tell everybody you will catch up with them later, forget who you promised to catch up with, take more pictures of hot guys, get into a wet shirt contest, post serious stuff on your blog to keep the home front happy, decide you are not going home again, let your friend convince you of hunting a sheep, hook up with locals to get a free accommodation, tell your parents they should send you money if they want to have you home again, get on the plane and come back home completely broke, tired and with a weird sexual disease.

But this are just some of the reasons I could think of....