Behind VeloTeoFoto I am Teo, Dr. Fülep Teofil (1973): travel photographer hike blogger, tour-guide, hike leader (instructor), PhD doctor of environmental sciences, reader and criticiser.
Professional traveller and hiker: From a very young age, my life has been defined by the experiences of travels and hikes, everything started and ended here. My travels, hobbies, studies, voluntary work and paid work became more and more blurred during my travels. I backed out of dead ends, quit jobs, and now I only keep what moves me forward. Life is short and unpredictable, in the world trouble comes after trouble, it’s not worth to spend our earthly existence in a squirrel’s wheel. I rethought and reorganized my life in terms of work, consumption, and values. All you need is what lets you live and gives you an experience. Tourism is the only place where my work meets my hobby the most, so I am currently one step away from calling myself a professional, full-time traveller and hiker.
WEBSITE-BLOG GOALS:
Classification: popular science: educational, public cultural, art (photographs).
Ecotourism: promoting sustainable, human-scale, boot, cycling, backpacking tourism.
Inspiration, entertainment: sharing experiences about my out-of-average tours.
Sustainability: promoting a slower, closer to nature, more modest, more experience-rich, cycling lifestyle.
Power and health: set an example of the possibilities and workload of the human body when you get the essential, natural daily exercise and training.
Work and services: tourism journalist, lecture, tour-guide, hike leader (instructor) advertisement.
Advertisement and sales promotion: Countries, regions, travels, and other touristic products and services within the sustainable tourism, by individual agreement.
BLOG: According to reader feedback, my style is “visual writing“: with picture drawing words and wonderful photographs. I write because I am skilled in this, about travel, hiking, sustainability. My blog is like a cave drawing: it’s for those who discover and care.
MY HIKER SPECIALITIES:
– I am hiking in the night also on foot, with bicycle, in the forests, mountains; I’m going around a lake, through a mountains.
– ~35 kilogram is the complete weight of my loaded mountainbike for a one-day-long hike, while other mountainbikers generally start with minimal weight, empty bicycle.
– Bicycle trip: during 24 hours I take 100–300 kilometres with equipment up to 50 kilogram.
– I really like camping below 0 degrees, cycling above 40 degrees.
– Swimmer hiking is my unique, own-developed method (2016–2020).
– Swimmer hike: I spend in the water 5–8 hours a day.
TRAVEL – HIKE – PHOTO, TOURISM – PHOTOGRAPHY:
The motivation and engine of my education is my being an active hiker and hike-leader since 1990, as a traveller I have visited 28 destination countries on 87 travels. I am a fully loaded bicycle tourist, a walker and swimmer hiker, occasionally water, cave and high mountain hikes. Lowlands and mountains, continental and sea waters, in my home country and in abroad – the main goal of my trips is getting knowledge, fixing in travel photographs. The large number of own experiences and photos give colours and credit into my environmental, touristic and lecture works.
LECTURES: I give educational lectures for invitation:
– geographical travel & hike lectures
– sustainability lectures, environmental protection, nature conservation
HIKE-LEADER + TOUR-GUIDE: Nature and culture, hiking and travel, mountains and waters, cities and beaches, groups, group trips, cruises. I know the secret, how to plan, organise and lead a successful travel, hike to any group, which gives an exceptional experience.
– My specialization is to introduce the natural environment, the connection of mankind and nature. Mountain, karst, forest, lake, sea, landform, plant, animal, traditional life… I tell about nature phenomena and stories that the Travellers have not heard before…
– Highlighted areas: Bükk, Mátra, Balaton, Mediterranean.
– Passengers say: “We have never seen a tour guide who tells so much.” “As you told us, I saw it in my mind.” “You should make a living as a professional storyteller.”
– I guided for occasional invitation, foreigners in my homeland (Hungary), and Hungarians in abroad (Costa Brava, Catalonia, Spain), until 2020. Than Greece, Italy, Albania, Croatia…
– My most successful publication: “The profession of hike-leading” (2010, in Hungarian) methodological book was used by some universities also; a subject was based on it as well, it creates 3 chapters of the “Hike leader knowledge” (2010, in Hungarian) study book. Sentences of my book are occurred in other publications sometime, because its contents and parts are stolen by the method of text theft.
– Hike-leader instructor (since 2014): orientation, nature conservation, mountain environment.
SUSTAINABILITY:
My lifestyle: super-frugal, minimalist, stock-keeping, sporty, urban housing + traveler-hiker-cyclist.
– My carbon footprint 2022: 3.5 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalents/2022 year
– My carbon footprint 2023: 2.8 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalents/2023 year (1.1 Earth)
https://okokalk.mnb.hu [Hungarian average: 6.6 t; world average: 4.8 t CO2-e]
– My ecological footprint 2020: 2.1 ha
– My ecological footprint 2021: 2.1 ha
– My ecological footprint 2022: 2.4 ha
– My ecological footprint 2023: 2.1 ha
http://www.kothalo.hu/labnyom/
[Earth’s ecological footprint 1961: 0.88 ha; 2011: 2.2 ha; 2013: 2.8 ha
Hungary’s ecological footprint 2022: 3.7 ha
USA ecological footprint 2004: 9.57 ha
Qatar’s ecological footprint 2022: 14.3 ha
Yemen’s ecological footprint 2022: 0.5 ha (Wikipedia)]
EDUCATION: I graduated in 1992, in the Herman Ottó Secondary School. In 1996 I became a biology–technology teacher in the Eszterházy Károly Teacher Training College, in 2000 I graduated as an ecologist for environmental protection in the University of Debrecen, in 2004 I got the trade of tour-guide in English language. In 2016 I got the PhD doctor scientific level of environmental sciences in the Pannon University, Georgikon Faculty, Keszthely. My 4 graduations are kindly overlap and complete each other.
RESEARCH: I research on waters in the field of environmental sciences (hydrology, zoology): flatworms, freshwater triclads (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida) which live in mountainous waters. 12 years of fundamental research: I have scouted, expanded and processed the knowledge of Hungary, PhD doctor scientific level.
LECTOR: I read and criticise environmental and touristic works with well-developed sense of error. If you think that your paper, publication, book or website is fine, just ask me: I will point several mistakes.
PUBLICATIONS: In detail: 2. Publication & Media
Written:
Research of environmental sciences: triclad-faunistics: 25 (included first author: 23, *English: 2),
biology and nature conservation: 6 (included book: 1, *English: 1)
Tourism and nature conservation: 12 (included book: 3, book chapter: 3); Environmental protection: 19
= full number of publications: 62, number of all issues: 84
Oral:
nature conservation: 5; triclad-faunistics & hydrobiology lectures: 28 (included *English: 2)
= full number of lectures of environmental sciences: 33
sustainability lectures: 41 (included *English: 3);
geographical travel & hike lectures: 42;
= full number of education–popularization lectures: 83
Photo publications: important nature photos: 3; important building photos: 2; photoposter: 1
TV television–radio–press interview: 10
Most important work connections
Visits: 104