About

My name is Cindy, the Netherlands. 1972. March. Married in 2019 to Geo, Germany.

I traveled the world for 10 years. Then took the bicycle and pedaled off for 5 years, 50.000 kilometers through 45+ countries

Traveling forms. Traveling let time last four times longer. Traveling makes one feeling very alive. Alert. And aware.

What is now

Artist chasing the simple life

It was quite a juggling act to find the balance between my active lifestyle and wanting to settle down. It took us, Geo and me, several places, modes of transport and travels to find out. Now I can say we’re ‘settled’. I feel I can live a lifestyle connected to the cycling way of life: away from society, disconnected from conformation and simplicity. I keep exploring by foot, bicycle and kickbike, but small scale.

Visit my shop CINDYneedleart

What was

I started cycling from the garage door straight to West Africa
(beginning of 2012 – end of 2017)
A jeep ride into Zanskar, North India made me aware that I wanted to be exactly there where the jeep would pass by; I wanted not to be where I stepped in and out of the vehicle. When I saw a couple ploughing and pushing their bicycles through the loose sand, embraced by only nature (and the jeep I was in), I knew: a bicycle it will be.

I stopped cycling at a Mennonite farm in Paraguay and met my husband
(end of 2017 – beginning of 2018)
Cycling the world had become a normality. I could have gone on forever but there was not much challenge left. I liked to camp more than the act of moving yet again. I would embroider and bake bread on a fire at my camp spots. I noticed I longed for a home with a kitchen and more electricity. A closet. Yes, a loving, patient, trustful partner too. I wanted a simple life as I had seen other people so often on my rides, a more self sustainable style of living. A more old-fashioned way of living.

A glance of traversing the world in 10 years

I knew very early on that a regular job with a set time on the calender ‘to go on holiday’ would not do for me. I traveled, always solo, with a packback to about 45 countries, not avoiding Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan or Yemen. I had a special connection with India from the moment I entered and I lived 8 months in a valley near the Afghan border in Pakistan. An extensive summary