I met Eva on a trip on the Ibiza Kite Cruise and we spent 5 days together on the boat. I felt like we were similar in many approaches and her way of thinking and acting is totally inspiring for every kite girl which is thinking to create a business around kitesurfing and kitesurf travels.
Together with her husband Ferry they founded the kitesurf travel agency Outbound Kitetravel in the Netherlands with worldwide travels. Talking to her and seeing how much passion into details she puts as well as researching and experiencing the destinations she offers really struck me. She quit her job as a teacher to go all in with the kite travel agency. She is sharing her inspiring story as well as life philosophy in this interview:
Contents
- How did you start Outbound?
- How do you kill your darlings? How did you realize that one idea „has to die“ and it’s time to move to the next one or focus on something different?
- When did you realize it was time to take the leap and go all in with Outbound Kitetravel, quit your safe job?
- Out of all the travels you did, which one is your favorite?
- What makes you so unique as a travel agency?
- Do you have a life mantra or philosophy that’s guiding you through life?
- What does a typical day in the life of Eva look like?
How did you start Outbound?
I started talking to the girls that were hanging out at the wakeboard cable park I worked at. Some told me that they’d love to try boardsports but that the threshold for doing it, was simply too high.

One thing I’m still kind of proud of is the festival I did. In 2016 I organized the first edition of the boardsport festival: BOARDLIFE. Together with my best friend we set up a unique one-day-urban-boardsports-festival at the wakeboard cable park. Demo’s, a surfy-market, live music and loads of clinics -from halfpipe skate to SUP.
Alongside I always kept my steady job as a teacher at a secondary school. So, in December 2014 I was going on a personal (well deserved) holiday. I chose Dakhla, Morocco. At the aircraft I met a family wearing a lot of hotel merchandise
The family asked where we were from and me and my boyfriend were invited for a glass of wine the next day. We chatted about Dakhla and about what we did back at home. It turned out, that they were the owners of the hotel!
Errrrr Yes! Why not? We put up a .nl website for the hotel and started working. One thing led to an other. Within a year we did a lot of bookings for the hotel and we became the point of contact for all the Dutchies who wanted to travel to Dakhla, which was still unknown at the time.
Sure….(!) Of course, we couldn’t carry on with the “Dakhla Attitude NL” name we used for the business. Thus…. Outbound Kitetravel was born.

How do you kill your darlings? How did you realize that one idea „has to die“ and it’s time to move to the next one or focus on something different?
I found (and find) commercial thinking difficult especially when it comes to dealing with competition. So when other organizations started with (girls-only) boardsport clinics I noticed that the motivation and the reason why I started organizing events like BOARDLIFE, had faded into the background. I had to be more concerned with competition now and market “why you have to learn wakeboarding at OUR event” / “Why you have to go on a group kitesurfing trip to the Dutch island with US instead of…”

Every now and then, to set focus, I question myself out loud:
- What does make me happy; what do I get out of bed for (doing what I love)
- What do I believe the world needs (like for example, with ENVI clinics, I believe that “the world” needed that the ‘bar for girls to get into boardsports’ was lowered)
- What am I good at? (And: Where can I grow and develop myself?)
- What can I get paid for.
The first “Girls Progression Sessions” in kiteboarding are actually already a fact by the time this little interview will be published! We did a challenging kite loop session and there are a strapless wave and an unhooked progression session on the agenda for all the Dutch girly kiters! I try to stay close to my inner motivations to organize events. I’d like to spend more time on the water with other girls and doing the events in really small groups is one of the things I really love. (Outbound Kitetravel Events)
When did you realize it was time to take the leap and go all in with Outbound Kitetravel, quit your safe job?
I noticed being a teacher at the secondary school did not make me happy. At all. I mean… It was a job that was easy for me to do. The students were pretty cool and the lesson material was sometimes fun. Especially when I had given it my own twist; practical assignments outside the school walls such as visiting a petting zoo or setting up a citywalk for tourists. All good… but it became normal, standard, boring and not something I did from an inner drive…

Out of all the travels you did, which one is your favorite?
I think I fell in love with Northern Germany a few years ago. The rough nature, the variety of kitesurf spots and the calmness on the bigger part of the Rügen region is what I really love. Also, I love camping, and that’s what can be done there! I’ve been there with a camper van, with a tent and with a car with a tent on the roof… all of those times were totally rad!
What makes you so unique as a travel agency?
Do you have a life mantra or philosophy that’s guiding you through life?
I don’t know if it’s a philosophy, but “LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE BUSY MAKING OTHER PLANS” (Lennon) is what I experience. And so I live by it. I try to be flexible, embrace opportunity’s and to always stay true to myself.
What does a typical day in the life of Eva look like?

Find out more about Eva here: