About Me: Ramon Stoppelenburg

Hi! I’m Ramon Stoppelenburg.

Career Slasher and Intellectual Adventurer

As a career slasher, I belong to a dynamic tribe of professionals juggling multiple jobs across diverse sectors, thanks to varied interests and the rise of the gig economy. Dutch psychologists recently confirmed that I am intellectually gifted, which might explain why I often found kindergarten classes a bit too slow!

Early Life and Education

My childhood in Jakarta was a world away from the small village near Rotterdam, Netherlands, where I later moved. Growing up in Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, South Holland, I studied Journalism and Communication and soon discovered that the grass is indeed greener in different parts of the world.

Professional Journey and Achievements

  • Journalism and Writing: I traveled the world for two years without spending a cent, penned columns for a daily newspaper, and wrote the bestselling travel book Letmestayforaday. I also presented a travel show on Dutch Radio 1 and compiled a literary collection about flying.
  • Crisis Management and Humanitarian Work: In 2018, I coordinated emergency aid efforts in Lombok, Indonesia, following devastating earthquakes. I developed an innovative app-based system to identify areas lacking aid, coordinated with military forces for aid drops, and ran successful online fundraising campaigns. This demonstrated my ability to create effective systems in chaotic situations and coordinate complex logistics across different stakeholders.
  • Entrepreneurship: From running a pub in Zwolle to managing three movie theaters in Phnom Penh from 2011 to 2021, my ventures have always been driven by a passion for creating unique experiences. Since 2008, I’ve operated Expedition Kilimanjaro, guiding adventurers up Africa’s highest peak.
  • Recognition and Media: In 2018, my project Letmestayforaday was designated as UNESCO Digital Heritage by the Royal Library in The Hague. I was also among the top 50 candidates for NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Program in 2020.

Global Citizen

My journey has taken me from Cambodia to Tbilisi, Georgia, and Casablanca, Morocco. I currently split my time between Lisbon, Portugal, and tropical destinations during the winter months.

Diverse Expertise

  • Crisis Management and Coordination: Demonstrated ability to organize complex operations in emergency situations, as shown during the Lombok earthquake response where I coordinated between civilian and military efforts using innovative digital solutions.
  • Business Strategy Consultant and Social Media Pioneer: My experience spans business consulting, social media strategy, translation, and writing.
  • Publishing: From hijacking the high school newspaper to launching The Quiet Reader during the COVID-19 lockdowns, I have a lifelong passion for publishing.
  • Travel Writing: My travel stories have appeared in Columbus Magazine, Arts & Auto, Malaysian Airlines’ Going Places, Air Finland’s My Way, The British Sunday Times Travel Magazine, and WorldHum.

Notable Ventures

  • Digital Nomad and Internet Personality: I was the first digital nomad with Letmestayforaday.com, traveling the world for free thanks to a social network I created before Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Named Internet Personality of the Year by The British Sunday Times in 2002, my adventures even earned me the title “The Godfather of Couchsurfing.”
  • Humanitarian Innovation: Created and implemented a digital system for tracking and coordinating emergency aid distribution during the 2018 Lombok earthquakes, successfully bridging civilian initiatives with military operations.
  • Entrepreneurship: My projects include running art house movie theaters in Cambodia and managing Expedition Kilimanjaro. I also dabble in stand-up comedy, ghostwriting, and weightlifting.

 

I am a social person

Look, mum!

Vanity Fair

“Cyber-Begging Bags Man a World Wide Bed”
– ABC News

“Hitching a World-Wide-Ride on Web”
– Wired.com

“Web personality of the year 2001: this year’s web eccentric is not some unfortunate and unwitting nutter, but a personable 24-year-old Dutch media student”
– The Sunday Times, United Kingdom

“He has become a mascot for living the impossible dream, laughing in the face of caution and conformity, embodying the spirit of reckless adventure that most people year for… when the geyser’s fixed and the kids are older and the mortgage is paid”
– The Dispatch, South Africa

“Ramon Stoppelenburg has become one of the first true internet celebrities”
– Evening Herald, Ireland

“Bloomin scroungers, all of em! Go get yourself a proper job and be miserable and parochial like the rest of us!”
– The Register.co.uk, UK

“These are classic travel stories from a modern time”
– globetrotter and travel writer Mike Pugh, Worldhum.com

“It’s the flying Dutchman!”
– The Citizen, South Africa

“One guy from Chicago said he could stay as long as his wife didn’t object. And if she did, hell, he’d pay for a hotel.”
– Wired.com, USA

“Have website, will travel”
– Daily Mirror, UK

“The whole world knows our Ramon Stoppelenburg”
– Het Parool, Amsterdam

“Critics would call him a freeloader but fans call him a entrepreneur”
– The Courier Mail, Australia