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Writer's pictureAbhijit Kejriwal

Finding people you connect with at a hostel | How Els met her partner during her travels

Updated: Oct 31


Episode 2 - Globe and Grind Podcast How to find your soulmate / partner when you are travelling?


In this episode, Els Philipp - Remijnse - Founder of With Sam talks  @AbhijitKejriwal    - Founder of  @hostelmatch   through her company and how she went travelling across New Zealand living the van life.


She dives deeper into her adventures and how she ended up meeting her husband / partner during her trip.


If you are curious about whether or not you can find true love when you travel - the answer is YES!


Hostelmatch is a hostel aggregator that helps backpackers find the best hostels based on their preferences at the cheapest prices by allowing backpackers to compare prices between different booking providers.






Give this podcast a listen:




Transcript:


It's really a pleasure to introduce Els to you uh I met Els through Linkedin and I thought she had a really cool travel background and story as well so um yeah I just wanted to welcome her onto the show she has uh a company called sam. we will dive a little bit deeper into it as well so um yeah thank you so much El for taking time to chat with us we really excited to have you on our on our podcast yeah welcome always to help early St startups let go no that that's awesome so uh just wanted to learn a little bit more about you because I was taking a look at your background as well you know you've uh had a very interesting transition into now currently helping startups so what does your professional Journey kind of looked like you know of transitioning from a corporate role to coming to the space right now yeah it's um I I came from a farm uh which was very Innovative so compared to other Farms they did everything new and that was something that I loved uh the ation and I always said I want to have


my own company and that's what I always try to pursue somehow so it wasn't really an accident being a startup founder or being in stups but I learned a traditional way in my education and part by part I learned Parts about sales about it and then uh learned in the meantime a lot about that you can actually do it differently instead of writing business plans you can just bit by bit figuring things out until you're started works and that was for me like the light bulb moment where I was like wow why didn't I know this and I want to


know everything about it so I got obsessed with that in 2016 and became a rabbit hole so instead of building a startup I just wanted to learn more and more so um yeah since then I did that and so I I ran into Consulting where I was more corporate um and for three years I ran some really cool projects and then I thought okay the only thing missing now is the environment impact or like doing good for the world basically because it was great what we were building just not that added value to the world I felt so uh that was for me


okay with AI it's now finally possible to bring these best practices to people who are sitting on their attics with their best ideas ever trying to figure things out and meanwhile I'm for way too much money at other companies helping them doing those steps and I felt like okay I want to be at those like um at the ones who are really doing uh groundbreaking stuff so uh yeah I decided to figure out how I can help those early State startups and line up with with Sam oh that that's really cool honestly and I was taking a look at your


platform right before this call as well and uh a lot of it is also personally helpful to me as well and I'm sure I'm going to interact with the platform more as well as we proceed further with it our video sponsor for today is hosle match hostle match is a hostel aggregator platform that helps Backpackers find the best hostels across the world based on the vibe of the hostel all you need to do is go to hostel match.com select the country you're going to and the city you want to travel to select the kind of traveler


you are so if you're traveling alone select Solo Traveler and the vibe that you're going for and input the dates and their Matchmaker feature will match you to the hosts that match your preferences and then you can dive deeper into details about the hostel like the activities that are offered by the hostel get high res solution pictures and also compare prices between different booking providers uh so that's very interesting one of the areas that I wanted to talk about was you touched upon you know your


husband and you were looking into kind of the research behind it and I know the story about how you met your husband as well but uh i' I'd love to jump a little bit deeper into U you know maybe some of your travel experiences of how you went out traveling you mentioned that you did a 40 day trip uh as as a solo travel trip or like I believe you went with a friend so would love to learn a little bit more about like what that experience was like how you kind of ventured into the traveling side of things as well uh


that was really my first trip so I feel really old because this is more than 11 years ago so uh yeah so that was a moment that uh I thought like I never did this and I feel like it's an opportunity I live on my own and so I wanted to travel and New Zealand people always said like it's the world in small and yeah I wanted to get away and I thought like okay that that seems a away right so um yeah I I knew some hotpots where I wanted to go and I had like one to two months so I thought okay I'll go


around that and I had a friend who wanted to do Australia first in the New Zealand but I had a really great job actually and I was like I don't want to stay long that long away so right I I just wanted a trip that was kind of the idea and um and so I yeah I decided to go two weeks for myself to New Zealand she was for two months in Australia and then on the Northern Island I went and then together we met up on the southern island and did with a camp so I really went two weeks on my own which I first


thought like ah it's just two weeks but when the airplane landed I like got scared like what am I doing I don't even know where I have to go and it was all like stress full on uh and uh and I loved it way more than I expected so really like at the end of the 14 days I thought like how am I going to tell my friend that I kind of don't want to travel with her anymore like I really like you but I loved it it was really uh yeah it was so much fun to meet locals other Travelers and was also like I was


super budget the way I did it it was kind of sketchy also sometimes but yeah I I really love those EXP experiences and I was like you don't do this in your hometown even but when you're there you're so open and New Zealand is the best place ever to to do something like that I remember on the first day having my map open like proper tourist and somebody walking up to me asking like where are you going and I was like what do you want from me and he was just like I'm living here and trying to H out and


from that moment on I was like wow okay this like you are you genuine like you just wanted to help me because she saw me looking at a map so New Zealand is like it's it's it's really safe it's really really nice and beautiful beautiful place to travel no that's awesome and like what prompted you to kind of go on that trip you know cuz New Zealand is uh in one corner of the world so if you're making a trip down there like it really is like you got to have some conviction to really go out in New Zealand yeah I think it was really the


the scenery so I I've seen nice mountains mostly went to France and I wanted to do something completely different and it was just something that I heard of it wasn't like I had that or Alaska that was like my two places W like two very opposite sides of the world and my parents were like maybe not go on your own to Alaska with the bar and everything so I was like okay yeah I guess it this is more safe um so uh yeah and it wasn't really I met a lot of people who were like soul searching didn't know what I wanted in life and I


was like I really want to get back to work I love it here I so I I had a different mindset I guess to really have like an awesome holiday instead of learning a lot about myself but in the end I did it was just not my goal beforehand right right no that absolutely makes sense and you know you also touched about or upon the camper van lifestyle what was that experience like cuz a lot of us in today's day and age like a lot of us do budget traveling but we live in hosts like a lot of us haven't experienced that camper van


lifestyle so we'd love to learn more about like what that was like and how that kind of AED the entire trip around it camper van is like that sounds nice and it was actually more like a station car with a bat in the back um I went with my friends were're from the Netherlands so she's quite tall and we decided after two days that we're going to sleep head to toe because it didn't fit with our shoulders next to each other so I was really like yeah that kind of idea uh but yeah it was really really nice I actually did it once more


for two months with my husband in uh the USA so there we did also a tw- Monon trip so yeah I I really love it it's it's nice to have your house with you so you can like stop anywhere start anywhere and those are places where you can also you don't need a camping so it to totally changes um your itinerary like it's getting late it's getting dark you're like okay maybe we have food here we drive another 50 kilometers and then we stop it feels more free and you can yeah stay wherever you want basically there


are a lot of spots but still it takes some organizing like you need to have those spots are on a certain location and then it's the middle of the night like is it this road or that one so you always still have those like cringe moments and you're like what are we doing like is it in front of the cactus or Afters like I don't know I don't know where we are so yeah it's uh but it's it felt more it felt really free that you don't have to book up you go there's no inche there's no out check it's just


there's no play so yeah I really I really liked it it's just you do a lot of driving so even a month in New Zealand was a lot of driving so when people go shorter than that I'm really thinking like oh no you should you should get out of the car that's kind of the point of being in a beautiful country like that so yeah so that's I think the disadvantage that uh with when you're backpacking you take the bus which is already like you're meeting other people or you sleep somewhere you're meeting other people and with


your camper you're really on your own so we both had like solo travels and then we got together in the camper van and after a few days we said like we need other people I'm sorry but like other people than you because New Zealand there are not many people and then once you're on a camp camper Fang ground everyone's still in their own place so those were things that we missed like uh having that community and just as soon as there were people were like okay we're going to ask them if we can sit with them to eat just like yeah see a


bit of other faces again so it's always Advantage disadvantages I guess no that makes sense and then you also mentioned you went with your husband to the US and us being such a big country I'm sure like that was even more kind of heightened in that experience because you're just going from one place to the other long distances between cities as well so I completely get your point uh coming back to my initial statement I'd made like you know you said that you met your partner uh through one of your


trips so would love to dive a little bit deeper into that story and just understand how did that happened and how has kind of travel in a way you know LED you to finding uh the true love of your life when I actually when I left uh I remember my my boss saying as a as a joke like I don't meet anyone there it's so far away like what would you want to do right so uh I was like no no why would I um but uh yeah apparently uh after a few days traveling I ended up in in a hostel and then there were other


people so I saw them but yeah was unpacking and stuff and then uh I was just walking around in a park and I saw people two people having really a lot of fun uh and I thought okay those people are I think from my hostel so I was like hey you guys are staying in the same house as me right and that's how we kind of got up talking and just had a really nice afternoon and it's so easy right like that's the what the first connection is just like we're in the same place which like everyone has their own room but somehow you yeah you're


connected you both know that you don't live there you have maybe some similar experience uh and he was actually he's German uh and he work in travel he did that a lot in Australia for half a year and then he was there um so I was like a nice guy so I asked him uh yeah when do you go back to Germany was like Germany never like oh okay but Europe I don't know yet like oh okay at first Thailand and then I see and I thought like oh man why like why do you like a guy like this so it was a it wasn't like love at first


side it was really like okay that's not a match at all um but we had really like nice talks and everything and uh in the last evening when we sat together with four people I asked like should we all exchange phone number and one girl like the two of you or you also won mine so I I didn't dare to also I got everyone's number but you only messaged the one for I only want one yeah so uh so that was kind of nice but it was still like okay are you going to keep up you never know right if you're going to be texting you're also


on a trip and you don't have see why anym but um I left um my Bible so I don't know if you know it but the only plan is of New Zealand and and in it was 2012 so you you couldn't do anything without your Lonely Planet it says everything like how you travel where you sleep like where you should eat it's it's just everything and it was the only thing I had a smartphone I think but it was like so I I lost it there so I left it my parents say by not by accident but yes I left it by accident because I was


calling in the night and then I and then uh my name is in it and my phone number so uh my now husband found it and said hey it's yours show I ship it to you which was funny because every day I was somewhere else so he was trying to locate like what my next move would be and if I could if he could ship it there and every time we were in contact I was like oh no that's not handy I just went past there and I don't know if I go there anymore so we kept in touch because he tried to like ship it to me


so it was our reason to stay in touch uh which worked really well well because we kept on catching up like oh so you're now what are you doing so uh yeah that was really fun and in the end he shifted I found it and yeah we had a good reason to to keep on talking uh and then uh he kept on traveling I went back to work and for almost a year it was like a ping every once in three months like how are you where are you uh and then he moved back to Switzerland and thought like okay I'm going to leave for a while so I thought


oh Switzerland that's closer it's it's not close it's closer but it's not close so um yeah from that point on we uh we dated he was one day in Amsterdam uh where we met up with other friends and then I went a week to his house which was our date two which was quite of like I needed a break and uh he wasn't a really nice guy so I thought why not it was always fun so uh yeah at the end of the trip it was still like nice and yeah from there on it started growing and yeah I thought uh oh I'm I'm maybe in


love and now he's like I don't know it was uh 12 hours by train so wow then we started long distancing for for almost two years uh from Switzerland to the Netherlands so it still did a lot of traveling he went back here and we did some really nice trips and when I was there of course as well so it sparked a lot of uh Adventures not living next door no that's actually such an interesting story to me and uh I don't know if I've told you this before but my brother and his wife also met at a hostel while they were traveling in New


York so when um you kind of mentioned the story it really hit home with me because in my head it was like a full circle you know like my brother seen it and now you were mentioning that you you met your husband and this entire experience of just traveling trying to like understand who you are but you know once you start to do that you also unravel things that you know you like in other people that you want in a long-term partner and I'm so happy to hear that you found that and despite these long distance uh train rides and


relationships that you know you kind of kept on having for a little bit like it it really worked out so it's fantastic to hear that you're so open-minded when you're traveling right you're there to and you're curious about people they're curious about you and that makes it also that you're so interested I think when I wrote down what I wanted in a husband I think there are not many things he takes because I wanted somebody who's like me I thought and he's nothing like me which is way better so that's also like you


know you're you're more receptive to whatever is new and I think when you're maybe in your home place or doing your job it that can be super disruptive to to have some somebody who's thinking completely different or having other hobbies and there it was like wow I never thought of doing that yeah let's let's do that why not you know so it's it's uh sparking really a lot and I think in the end for us it really works to counterbalance each other when you when you're so different so right I'm I'm super rational I'm very disciplined


and he is way more grounded and way more in touch with his feelings which is good to instead of like push but I head up look around it's like oh yeah right okay we're here now yeah you're you're right so uh yeah it's it's uh it's really nice and I think that that helps to have that travel mindset and to right be open yeah no that's absolutely right and so many things that you mentioned Echo so much with me because uh even for myself like I was a huge introvert back in the day so I started traveling to kind of get


out of my comfort zone and that I think has really helped me shape myself into just being open about things like you know experiences life things that happen like you start to seek discomfort which is again uh something that yes theory if you're familiar with them I'm I'm a huge fan of yes Theory um so they kind of embrace as well so I I completely get your point in in regards to that so in today's day and age like another segue into what I wanted to kind of ask you was in today's day and age obviously


like dating is very different from what it was uh some time back right and even when you meet people at hostels it's not as easy to like you know Blossom it into a long-term relationship so is there any advice that you might have for people who you know are going in with the right intentions of finding the right partner how how should you approach this should you just let it go naturally or like you know you leave a book behind with your name and phone number on it not your lonely plan at least


something else yeah um no yeah I think um I think it's personal to everyone I really don't like those undefined relationships which already like 11 years ago was also a thing right like no we're not in a relationship we're just hanging out I hate that I like I'm I'm full in or I'm not kind of so uh that was for me like from the beginning when we we're like okay we want to see each other we want to see each other again and I like okay are we together or not like what are we and he was like we already are


like oh really like what dat since when so like a key point you forgot to ask me exactly so one and a half month later I heard that we were in a relationship for a while so yeah but for me that's really important like I I really don't understand why you want to play around why would you want to have other people next to it when you just found somebody who's awesome so um yeah I think that's for me something that I would say like that works for me just be super open about it like I'm I was ready for a


relationship but it didn't have to be so there was no pressure I didn't feel like when I would be 30 I would feel like oh kind of want to have my family and then I was 23 and I thought like it's fun I like you so let's see where it goes but I also want to be like serious if you're like I don't know then this is not right then I I go to somewhere else so that's for me important and I think when we decided like okay we want to get to know each other it's kind of weird but this long distance was really healthy for a


relationship because instead of doing fun stuff which is usually one of my long Love Languages the only thing we had was talking so you learned so much about each other because you just sit in front of your screen and ask each other question like how do you do that how did your family how do you bring that up where did you live like and I think when he would sit next to me it's so much easier to grab a movie do something fun go to the beach I don't know you know so I really noticed like we got to know


each other on such deep level um that we also knew better like what kind of a relationship we were in so that made it way more serious somehow instead despite the fact that we're so far apart because yeah the only thing you have is talking so I think that's that was for me weirdly like something really interesting and I think the other thing is that the bar gets set so high on what your partner should all be and I if you hold that against me I also would feel like super insecure so I think that's a


really strange thing that we all do and then yeah in the beginning I felt like oh he's super nice and blonde blue eyes is always what I felt for I was totally him uh but then you also discover after a while like things that that don't match that well with you but that's not reason to break up and then you notice like is if those were the first three things he would have said on date one we wouldn't be here which is kind of weird because it's just an order thing right it's just corre life is everyone super


complex some you will like about them and some less so it should be more about are we how what do you find important in life and do we feel like we can do fun things together similarities learn from each other do you make me better like stuff like that so I think that's also kind of weird that in advance you would your bar is totally different you feel like you're looking for something else I think if I would have written my dating profile he wouldn't even come by you know so it's like he wouldn't match to me and I


wouldn't matched to him but somehow yeah it works so that that makes it somehow I think also complex but yeah I would say don't give up too quickly like oh that's one thing like okay that music you like I never so bye and yeah that's that's just not fair to hold somebody that they have to like and love everything that you do it's just about being respectful to each other and understanding and being curious absolutely and I think you've hit the nail in its head because sometimes the universe does things in


such a unique way and you don't expect it but when it happens it just it's such a beautiful story that's kind of tied in together at the end of the day and then things just start to make sense when they start to make sense so I I completely understand understand what you're trying to kind of say about that as well right and in terms of uh an interesting question I had as well was what is kind of your next travel destination of choice is it still going to be backpacking or are you past your backpacking days and you're just like


that is something that is gone so uh actually tomorrow evening we go uh yeah we go with sleep train to Austria um wow yeah different traveling now so uh we have a daughter two year old uh she likes to walk but one kilometer is far enough so it's a different kind of travel but we're still like making ourselves ready to go hiking so you just adapt but still do the same thing so that's something that we we really love doing so we have a hiking backpack where the kid can go like on the top that is beautiful and she loves


it she's already like crawling in she wants to go to uh kindergarten uh in this thing and so she's obsessed already with it so we hope that she loves the mountains as well so uh yeah no not hosels no it's a you need your family space and way too many variables with the kids when she was younger even more so so yeah have we left it behind I think differently like bunk beds we still do but then it's like the Hut to Hut Walks Like You know those Mountain things the the family ones um yeah that doesn't really matter


so uh I think now with the girl she's still a bit young but we're thinking maybe next trip or later to to do that and then we're totally okay with like being in bunk bags with 20 other people in the same room like that's still fine because you really like hike mountain peaks and uh yeah so that's something that we still want to do but I think hostal are kind of gone for us I don't think that's super nice with a family uh I don't know it's just you you need more time with each other and you meet other


people through her now so she's playing out or other kids and yeah that's we're now the parents so no that that completely makes sense I'm actually going to Panama next week and I'm going with my niece she is four years old so I'm so excited about that it's going to be one interesting trip so I I kind of understand somewhat of uh of what you're talking about so that's that's really cool I think uh it's it's a really interesting life story that you've had you know like starting your company now uh and then finding your partner and now


having a daughter with your partner based on the Travel experiences that you've done so just wanted to kind of thank you for personally sharing it with me sharing it with everyone else that would be listening on this podcast as well and uh overall it was it was a pleasure having you uh on on the podcast and for any of those online who are looking to start a startup please do look at sam. a uh it's a fantastic oh sorry with sam. yeah with sam. a so uh it's a fantastic platform uh for anyone who wants any sort of help building a


startup or reach out to else directly I'm sure um she'd be she'd be happy to kind of take you through the platform and like show you around as well so um yeah I just wanted to thank you personally for your time as well as a lot more people in hostels I always try to push people say like you should go at least once you know even if you hate it then you know you hate it but most people come back and say like oh wow that was like the most awesome thing even recently my old colleague came back to me and said like I did it I did it I


went to I don't know somewhere in Asia and he loved it so uh yeah I think it's an experience that you you can't miss out of so happy to be uh be part of uh of your startups journey and uh yeah hope that you can get a lot more people enthusiastic about this way traveling oh thank you so much El and we appreciate our time heavily appreciate everything thank you thank you hope you have a good day bye bye

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