Ramon Stoppelenburg
Ramon Stoppelenburg (born in Leiden, December 20, 1976) is a Dutch serial entrepreneur and author known for using "cyber-begging" as a means to travel around the world[1] and acquiring businesses.[2] He currently resides in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he runs The Flicks Community Movie Houses since 2011 and Angkor WOD Crossfit since 2016.
Letmestayforaday
In the beginning of 2001 he started the website www.letmestayforaday.com. By using the internet for requesting a place to stay and help with food and drinks, he received 4,577 invitations from 77 countries. In exchange for the given hospitality he wrote an extensive daily report on his website before hitchhiking to his following location. The travels took Stoppelenburg through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, South Africa, Spain, Australia and Canada. Coverage by international media[1][3] and the number of visitors to the website allowed Stoppelenburg to have everything sponsored: his website, clothing, camera, backpack, shoes and even his airline tickets.
Travels and book
During his travels he also wrote weekly chronicles in the Dutch newspaper Sp!ts and had weekly calls by the Dutch radio station 3FM about his latest adventures on the road. After 22 months of travelling[4] he had had enough of it and decided to end the project. He rejected an invitation to be a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2003 as he was not travelling through the USA at that moment.[5]
Back in The Netherlands he wrote a book named Letmestayforaday, around the world for free (2004, published by Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Amsterdam). In that same year he became the host of the travel show Weg Met BNN on Dutch Radio 1.
He has moved from The Netherlands to Cambodia in September 2010 and currently resides in Phnom Penh, where he runs three local western-orientated cinemas[6][7] since April 2011.
Stoppelenburg launched the freely available weekly newspaper Phnom Penh WEEK in August, 2015.
Bibliography
- 2004 - Letmestayforaday, travel stories, Nijgh & Van Ditmar publishing, Amsterdam, ISBN 90-413-5052-7
- 2008 - Fasten your seat belt, Dutch travel anthology (compiler), Foreign Media Books, Amsterdam
Awards
- 2002 - Internet Personality of the Year, by the British Sunday Times.
- 2008 - The Godfather of Couchsurfing, by Travel Channel's blog Worldhum.[8]
- 2014 - The Award of Incompleteness, by The Shape That Changed The World.[9]
References
- 1 2 Leela Jacinto (2001-03-23). "Cyber-Begging Bags Man a World Wide Bed. Hitchhiker Begs for a Bed on the Internet". ABC News.
- ↑ Anna Brown (2012-07-27). "7 Questions to Ramon Stoppelenburg". Phnom Penh Post.
- ↑ A.S. Berman (2002-02-06). "Traveler hitches a ride on the World Wide Web". USA Today.
- ↑ Derrico, K. Virtual Miracles, 40 stories of Love, Courage and the Amazing Kindness of Strangers. Sourcebooks Inc. p. 91.
- ↑ Stoppelenburg, Ramon. Letmestayforaday, around the world for free. Nijgh & Van Ditmar. p. 316.
- ↑ Gabi Yetter (2012-05-12). "Ramon Flicks the Switch on Phnom Penh movies". Latitudes.nu.
- ↑ Deborah Seccombe (2012-03-27). "Move lovers have a new Riverside venue". Phnom Penh Post.
- ↑ Michael Yessis (2009-01-09). "The Godfather of Couchsurfing". Worldhum.
- ↑ David Carlson (2014-03-27). "The Award of Incompleteness". DavidReport.
External links
- Letmestayforaday.com The official website
- Ramon Stoppelenburg personal blog