HannekeTravels - About Hanneke

So you are curious about who I am... Here are some random facts, if you want to know more or if you have any questions about my web site, you can contact me at hanneke@hanneketravels.net

I grew up on the coast, in the Netherlands, and always willing to explain the difference between the Netherlands and Holland (yes there actually is a difference hehe)

I'm from a big family with 2 brothers and a sister (all younger), we used to travel through Scandinavia/Iceland/United Kingdom/Ireland/Germany/Belgium in a camper car, a different campsite every night and for up to 7 weeks... not that hard to see where I caught the travel bug :)

I studied Soil, Water and Atmosphere and specialized in Meteorology, I graduated for my MSc in March 2005. I had a great time living and studying in Wageningen (the Netherlands)!

In 2004 I lived in Alaska for 7 months, from January-August. I did an internship at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I fell in love with Alaska, the nature, the mountains, the snow, the winter, and especially the northern lights... still miss it a lot and I want to go back one day.

After that I lived in Toulouse (France) for almost a year, doing a thesis at MeteoFrance and working at the Laboratoire d'Aérologie. A good experience, but though I had a good time there (and became a plane spotter for a while - the Airbus factory is in Toulouse and I could always see amazing planes from the balcony!) it wasn't really a place for me.

Since September 2005 I live in Norwich, in the UK. I'm doing a PhD at the University of East Anglia in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey. My PhD is about modelling katabatic winds in Antarctica. I really feel at home here, I love the campus, Norwich is a great place to live... not far from the coast, and even not that far from home!

I enjoy being outdoors, especially hiking, biking and skiing. Favorite places: mountains, beaches and on ships :)

Photography is my biggest hobby, I always have a camera with me. I have 3 camera's, a compact digital one (Canon Powershot S80, replacing the S60 that I sadly drowned in my backpack after only 6 months!), a digital SLR (Canon EOS 350D) and my "old" Canon EOS 300. For my SLR's, I have 2 Sigma lenses, a 28-135mm (with macro!) and a 15-30mm wide angle lens.

In the Summer of 2005, I traveled around France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany for 6 weeks on interrail, half of the time on my own. I had a great time and it made me even more addicted to traveling

I fell in love with Switzerland on that trip... why?? Because the Alps are beautiful, you can do great hikes there, the people are friendly, the country is clean, the trains are always on time, the youth hostels are really good...

I have a "thing" with google... I like it so much that I've had people asking if I work for google just because I was telling them such an enthusiastic story about how amazing google is!

Addicted to bagels and bananas...

I love going to concerts, and it's great to live in a country where folk music is big... I've been to concerts of Kate Rusby, the Churchfitters, Cara Dillon, Seth Lakeman, The Levellers, Kat Flint. They are all really good!

Besides folk music, I listen to Dido (I saw her concert in Toulouse, she's even better live!), Barenaked Ladies (their lyrics are just hilarious!), Meat Loaf, The Beautiful South, Boney M (very cheesy ;) ), well too much to mention here I guess!

I enjoy going to the movies as well - but have been told I should call them FILMS here in the UK (I picked up too much American English in Alaska apparently). Anyway, some of my favourites: Magnolia, Dogville, Amélie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the Truman Show, Lord of the Rings, Shrek, Finding Nemo...
Other random interests: boardgames (Catan!!), computer games (used to be addicted to the Sims, don't have much time for that now), I read a lot, used to be addicted to MSN and internet but have been forced to get rid of that addiction ;) (I now even live in a flat without internet, for the first time since about 1997!!), dancing (almost any kind, did ballroom dancing for a couple of years, but now discovered salsa dancing recently), playing badminton with friends...

I think this is more than enough about me!!