Nomad & Villager?
Good question. Who are we? To begin with Nomad & Villager are two cool ladies, at least that is what we think. Photographer and journalist. We lead busy lives, have a handful of kids, the obligatory cat, a dog that has to go for a pee, again.
We met in 2010 on the digital aisle of Twitter. A live meeting followed and two weeks later we were on a bus full of women to a village full of men. Our first foreign feature, sold to national newspaper NRC-Next. I know, it caught us by surprise as well.
After that, more stories followed. About the alleged Scottish murderer Charlie and the Iraqi minister M (asculinity.) There were times we needed to be rescued from a Norwegian ravine, ate bagels with mayo and lynx or barely survived a walk over fire. We rolled out a sleeping bag between HIV-infected Ugandan orphans and at other times we shivered beneath the sheets in a room full of stuffed knights.
So?
We do our thing.
Still, every day. In our travel features we look for the stories of the men en the women in the street, often unusual stories. We jumped out of a cessna, layed like corpses in a body bag in a sledge and hung deep green over the railing of a cruise boat. We portrayed Chinese workers in the Netherlands and had us hand cuffed by the police in Iceland, safest country in the world. Ok, that is a lie. But we did try.
So?
We are very serious and do not shy away from uneasy subjects. Travel stories aren’t fairy tales.
And so?
We are for rent. We are even equipped, mind you, with a media kit and a marketing strategy. Especially creative minds have found us. We are independent storytellers. Try us, you won’t regret it.
So who is who? The official biography.
Mrs. Nomad, alias Nicole Franken is a photographer. She was born in Rotterdam on the coldest day of 1976 – rumour has it in ski gear – and moved to Curaçao as fast as she could to warm up. She hates public transport but has nonetheless travelled the entire world by bus. She finally settled on a houseboat on a very Dutch stretch of water. She captures with her camera things that tend to stay out of sight. Her photographs can be seen on her own site Nomad Reports (+31 6-24242085).
Mrs. Villager, alias Anneke de Bundel is a journalist and travel blogger. Born in Belgium in the year that the turtle Tui Malila died in Tonga at the age of 188 years, she moved to Holland at a young age. An event from which she has never recovered. She has lived in the US, Spain and former Yugoslavia. Her stories in Dutch can be found at Stories of a global villager (+31 6-81773669).
Publications
The ladies’ articles have been published in NRC-Next, Esta, Libelle Balance, De Groene Amsterdammer, Grande Magazine, Columbus Magazine, Viva, Marie Claire, Elle, Meridian Travel, oneWorld, de Gelderlander, Reiz&Magazine, de Volkskrant, Het Parool, 360° Bever magazine, Villa d’Arte, National Geographic Traveler and on NOS Broadcasting Company News.
Cooperation:
We truly enjoye cooperating with:
- Meridian Travel
- De Liberationroute
- Visit Jordan
- Toerisme Vlaanderen
- Visit Norway
- Be More
- Vechtdal
- SüdTirol
- Spaans verkeersbureau
- Toerisme Lorraine
- OH Berlin
- Cruise Travel
Awards & Nominations
- Belgian Blog Award 2014 for Ostend’s Perfume (2015).
- Travel Award Fitur for best travelblogger international (2015).
- Nominated for Travel Photographer of the Year for a photo of the serie Oman in the picture (2014).
- Spanish Press Award Nomination for Roadtrip flamenco (2014).
- Spanish Blog Award for The shop of Modesta (2011) and for Perrito (2013).
- PANL awards for the serie Jamaica vibe (2011) and the serie Harley with a fur coat (2012).
- Nominated for the national Dutch national Travel Award Aad Struijs Persprijsnominatie for Harley with a fur coat (2012).
- National Geographic for an image from the series The Highlands in fifty shades of grey (2013).
- Skyscanner Bloscar for the best and most creative travelsite of the Netherlands (2014).
- European Fitur for best travelblogger of the Netherlands (2014).
Photos: Hillebrand Beuker