Let me stay for a day


Sunday, March 2, 2003

Ramon Stoppelenberg isn't just a walking billboard. He's a travelling one, and so far, since May 1, 2001, he has visited 17 countries. For free.

"Everything is sponsored — my website, my clothes, my shoes, my camera, my toothbrush," the 26-year-old Dutch traveller said during a two-night stop at the Cedar Springs B&B Lodge in Alpine on Tuesday.

During his stay in Whistler, which is scheduled to wrap up today (Feb. 27), everything Stoppelenberg did and consumed — his stay at the Cedar Springs, a lift ticket from Whistler-Blackcomb, ski rental from Summit Ski Rentals, a snowmobile tour with Cougar Mountain, a Ziptrek Ecotour, even a night of drinks and appetizers at the Brew House — was or will be completely gratis.

The same goes for all his food, accommodation, travel and even tours during his extensive worldwide sojourns — all free.

Nearly two years ago, he was just a young man with a yearning to travel and an idea: Start a website to help secure free accommodation, promote your larger sponsors and post regular updates on your travels.

He started LetMeStayForADay.com in February 2001. By the time he departed from his hometown of Zwolle, Netherlands (pop. 100,000) on May 1, he had 750 offers of free accommodation.

To date, he has 4,000 such offers from 70 different countries. The latest leg of his journey — which started this week in Vancouver — will take him on a five-month tour across Canada.

Media attention has helped. Already since he landed in Vancouver, he has been interviewed by Global TV and has been a guest of talk-show host Vicki Gabereau.

Initially, he said, an article posted on the WIRED.com website helped kick things off.

"That was the first story that went international. It got translated into about a dozen different languages," he said. "Suddenly I was famous, with phone calls coming from around the world. "

His appearance on Global's Noon News caught the attention of Cedar Springs Innkeepers Joern and Jackie Rohde. They had received an e-mail from Stoppelenberg, but initially passed it off as being from some crackpot.

"I was doing something else and saw him on the news and thought, 'Hey, this guy's for real,' " she said. "It was just good timing, and I decided to e-mail him."

Early this week, the flashing "ear" on top of Stoppelenberg's website read, "Will I go skiing on Whistler?"

Promotion on the website has value, too. When he flew from Europe to South Africa, Stoppelenberg was sponsored by a South African travel company which does most of its business on-line.

The company, he said, is able to track how customers were attracted to its services. A couple of months after his visit, company officials estimated that the additional business Stoppelenberg and his website steered their way paid for the "perks" given to him more than 10 times over.

Incidentally, his flight from Amsterdam to Vancouver was paid for by a woman in Calgary who visited his website and e-mailed him saying she had enough Aeroplan points, and would he like to fly to Canada?

"I'm just happy that people want to help me out, and whatever I can do in return is great," he said. "But that's not what this is about. It's about me visiting them and sharing their stories on my website."

When his journeys are finished —whenever that is — he plans to write a book about the experience as well.

"I want to teach people how people in other countries in the world live so we can all become, maybe, less ignorant of other cultures.

"I'm here to share the story that there is so much more in life that's possible than people think," he said. "You may spend the next 40 years in some job… but why not live the life you want?"

Stoppelenberg said he plans to make the United States the last country he visits, whenever that happens to be.

"I want to stay the last d ay in the White House," he said, seriously, "which might be a big laugh with the current president, but you never know.

"Will he let me stay or not? If not, I'll just stay outside, and I'll have a great story to tell."