About Me

Hey there! It’s great to see you here.

Curious who I am?

My name is Dustin James Giel, thirty-three years of age and I am partly Dutch and partly Welsh. Besides playing several sports I have a passion for writing, exploring and traveling. Especially traveling and living in Central Europe & the Eastern European region.

But before I started to wander around in this fascinating region since 2010, I finished my master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies at Leiden University in The Netherlands. Since then I lived in Russia (Saint-Petersburg), Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo) and in the Czech Republic (Brno & Olešnice na Moravě). I spent most of the time living in the Czech Republic – about six years.

This experience led to a book that I wrote and published called Waar is mijn thuis, verhalen van een ‘overlever’ in Tsjechie (Where is my home, stories of a ‘survivor’ in the Czech Republic). Currently only available in Dutch but I am working on an English version!

I’m based with my family in the Czech Republic in a small village close to Brno. My wife Jana was born and raised in the Czech Republic – she is actually half Slovak as well – and our baby boy James was born there too. This makes him technically partly Czech, Slovak, Dutch and Welsh. A nice mix of cultures! We recently also welcomed our second baby boy Zack into this world!

I consider myself a restless voyager, can you relate? Always feeling the need to travel around, going from one place another and a desire to keep on exploring? Exactly, that feeling is what I mean.

Why this region?

Besides living in Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Czech Republic, I also spent a lot of time traveling to multiple countries such as: Slovakia, Poland, Greece, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro.

I’m looking forward to traveling together in this region with you from now on.

So, why this region. Well, where should I even start? This region has such a rich history, beautiful nature, delicious food, different religions and many fascinating traditions and customs. It’s a region that’s still largely uncovered and has a lot of hidden gems. I just love spending my time here as it has so much to offer.

My mission?

I started the Restless Voyager blog page with the goal of giving you a glimpse into my thoughts and experiences. I hope that this platform grows into a dynamic site brimming with information on various topics near and dear to my heart – Central & Eastern Europe. So, please take your time to explore this platform and to discover it for yourself.

I’m thrilled to to share with you a wide variety of topics related to Central and Eastern Europe. I will do this through interviews, background stories, personal experiences and travel tips. Let’s build a great community around this region and join me on the journey!

It’s a place for people like you who are looking for daily inspiration and want to know more about this region.

If you are interested in a certain topic or if you would like to share experiences please drop me a message below! You can also use this form below to subscribe so you are the first one to receive new blogs.

Your restless voyager,

Dustin James