Greetings globetrotters! Happy July and summer globetrotting. We are happy to bring to you our July GT of the month Sofie born and raised in Belgium and trotting the globe documenting her experiences as well. Check her out globetrotters and as always happy globetrotting.
Can you tell the I Luv 2 Globe Trot community a little about yourself (where are you from, what do you do, where are you currently based, hobbies etc).
Hey everyone! I was born and raised in Belgium and still live in my home country, together with my boyfriend who has a “normal” full-time job here. We share an apartment in Heverlee, just outside the university city of Leuven where we met. It’s a very typical love story 🙂 In the beginning of 2015 I left my job as a marketing coordinator for a publishing house to focus full-time on my travel blog WonderfulWanderings.com and some freelance work. I spend most of my time either outdoors or behind my laptop, but try to fit in some dance classes whenever I can.
How many countries have you traveled to?
*Goes to count on a map* 17! I know that’s not as many as many other travel bloggers, but I really don’t care. I travel around Europe which means that I frequently revisit countries likes the UK and Germany.
What is your dream destination and why? (think bucket list destinations).
I would love to go to South Africa. I really don’t know why. Well, because of all the magnificent photos I’ve seen, for one, but probably also because it seems so different from the places I usually travel to. Another one is Madagascar. The fauna and flora there is supposed to be very diverse.
What are some challenges you have faced trotting the globe?
Because I’ve traveled mostly around Europe so far, I can hardly say my travels have been daunting. I’ve never had to face major cultural issues or language barriers. Of course, things don’t always go as smoothly, but I’m a bit of a compulsive planner and so I usually have three back-up plans in case something should go wrong. I’d say my biggest challenge was and still is the one I also face when I’m back home: fully doing my my thing without worrying too much about what others might think of me.
Where was your most recent travel destination you trotted to?
I don’t know when this will be published, but I just came back from Grado, a small coastal town in Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region close to the border with Slovena. It was lovely being close to the see as it had been a while. The gelato wasn’t too bad either 😀
Which, if any, foreign languages do you speak?
My native language is Dutch and I also speak French, English and a bit of Spanish. I don’t speak it, but on my latest trip I discovered I understand Italian fairly well.
What do you have planned for yourself next? (any projects you’d like to promote, etc). Would you ever consider the expat lifestyle to assist with your globe-trotting?
I publish my own self-guided walks in pdf format, the Wonderful Walks, and would like to expand that collection this summer. There are so many cities I’ve visited but haven’t extensively written about just yet. And I’m also planning on starting a second business, but that’s still top secret 🙂
I’d love to try living somewhere else for a while, but I don’t think about actually moving at this moment. I’d rather give places a test run by staying somewhere for three months or so and then move on. I’d love to stay in some big cities for a while, and in places where the weather’s generally better than in Belgium.
What are some words of wisdom you would like to give to future inspiring globe-trotters and expats?
Try things. It’s only by trying out different kinds of travel that I learned that there are things I thought I was into that I’m actually not that interested by, and then other things I thought I’d never write about that now really fascinate me. I believe it’s important to be open to trying out lots of things, but that it’s also okay to say “I’ve tried it and it’s not for me”.
Bio:
Sofie quit a stable job in marketing to forge her own career path and travel the world, exploring cities and cultures in her home country Belgium and beyond. She’s created her own self-guided Wonderful Walks and shares travel tips and inspiration on her blog WonderfulWanderings.com, Facebook and Instagram.
