‘I only buy clothes if I like them’

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‘As a freelancer you are always on. Then I’m at a birthday and I hear people talk about a problem at work, and I often think: maybe there is an assignment for me… That’s how I got my current job for a working group with cardiologists.

“I advise companies and organizations on hospitality issues. For example, I helped the Depot of the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam to make visitors feel more welcome.

“For years I worked in the hospitality industry, first in Amsterdam and then for seven years in the Philippine capital Manila. When I came back to the Netherlands in 2014, I wanted something different. I started my own business, and what started as a joke quickly turned me into the self-proclaimed city buster. From that position I am involved in the hospitality in Rotterdam. My thirty years of experience in the hospitality industry has helped with this: certain things regarding hospitality work the same all over the world. But I have also read a lot about it, I have followed training courses and now I also give them myself.

“I also organize events for a shopkeepers’ association on the West-Kruiskade and I recently started a pop-up hat shop in the city. I have a beard, but no hair on my head, so I wanted something on my head. A friend designed a hat and now I’m selling it. My income fluctuates quite a bit, but I hope to grow old with the shop in the long run. I can still see myself sticking that key in the shop door twenty years from now.”

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‘As a single man in Rotterdam I often eat out. I live on the West-Kruiskade and there you have a wealth of cuisines from all kinds of cultures. If you’re as spoiled as I am, you don’t have one favorite, there’s too much choice for that. I spend about $100 a month on that. In addition, my pop-up shop also has a cafe with lunch and drinks. What’s left of what I cook there, I eventually eat. Sometimes it’s an omelette, bruchette or a ball sandwich – I only make what I like.

“My business is looking nice, so I spend quite a bit on new clothes every month. Not that I rely on certain brands, I only buy clothes if I like them. For example, I once bought a terribly expensive winter coat of 1,000 euros. It must be a brand, no doubt, but I have no idea. I found him in a crazy shop on the Nieuwe Binnenweg.

“I have a car, but I can actually do without it, I recently noticed. I took part in a pilot of the municipality: with one pass I could use all public transport in the city, from the water bus to the shared scooter. Very handy, and then you suddenly discover how fast you can travel through the city. Still, I keep my car because my 80-year-old mother lives in Koudekerk aan den Rijn and I want to stop by at least once a week to do fun things with her.”