Our Team
The Faces Behind 22places
Jenny & Basti
The Founders
We’re the two crazy people who in 2014 thought “Hey, let’s start a travel blog” and everyone around us thought, “Are you crazy? Why don’t you do something normal”.
We went through with it and with a lot of love and even more sweat (eew!) we turned that travel blog into our little company.
Fun facts about Jenny and Basti:
You’ll have to ask our team. If you ask us, we are very serious bosses.
Favorite travel destinations: New York, Lisbon, London, Paris, Thailand, Japan
Anna
Online Editor
Anna started as a working student and is now a full-time team member. She writes about her own travels and makes sure that our trips are turned into lots of amazing and helpful articles. Basti and I tend to procrastinate on that a little. She constantly impresses us with her superpower: she finds at least three typos in every one of our articles that no one else has noticed.
Fun fact about Anna:
Anna loves traveling, too. The only time she would never travel though, is during the carnival season. She is part of a dance guard, sews her own costumes and wouldn’t dream of leaving the country at this time of year.
Favorite travel destination: Greece
Jaike
Online Editor
Jaike is literally a true island child. She was the very last child to be born on the island of Juist, crazy right? She was practically born into her love of icy winds and rugged coasts. Although she now lives in Cologne, dark and mystical places are on her travel bucket list. The ideal addition to our sun-loving team.
Fun facts about Jaike:
In keeping with the dark destinations, Jaike is also an absolute true crime fan. Ask her anything about a case – chances are she can tell you the whole story behind it.
Favorite travel destinations: Great Britain, Amsterdam
Joelle
Online Editor
During her studies in Mainz, Joelle already worked as a working student at 22places. She has now successfully completed her studies. But thankfully not her collaboration with us. And we are very happy about that and are delighted to have her on the team as Online Editor.
Fun fact about Joelle:
In case of a zombie apocalypse and we have to survive in the wild, Joelle will be our leader. She was a Girl Scout for nine years and is a survival expert. But we’d be okay only getting to know her scouting knowledge when it comes to campfire songs. Maybe we should practice during our next team call. Just in case.
Favorite travel destination: Spain
Julian
Editor Photography
Julian is a professional photographer and knows every camera and lens there is out there. He knows the right answer to every question about photography. Really!
Fun fact about Julian:
Julian has 7 bikes (yes, one for every occasion) and he sold one of them to WDR (a German public broadcasting station). So Julian’s bike is famous! And in case someone from WDR is reading this – we’d like to add that he would like to buy his bike back!
Julian used to work as a crime scene photographer. But he claims that was more boring than working for us.
Favorite travel destination: Germany
Julie
Digital Content Lead
Julie is our right and left hand and supports us in everything we do. Whenever we have an idea, Julie will do anything to make it happen. When someone in our team calls asks “Who’s going to do it?” the answer is usually “Julie!”
Fun fact about Julie:
Julie knew Jenny way before Jenny met Basti (sorry, Basti!), as they used to live together during their studies in Holland and Berlin.
Favorite travel destinations: Canada, Norway
Larissa
Online Editor
Larissa actually has a background in traditional local journalism and has interviewed German celebrities such as Eko Fresh, Mia Julia and Kim Wilde. But she prefers to write about her travel experiences – and she has quite a few. Her biggest dream? To visit every country in the world – she’s already made it to one third. Amazing!
Fun fact about Larissa:
Larissa’s apartment in Cologne is like a souvenir store. She buys at least one of those cheesy souvenirs from every country: the Eiffel Tower from Paris, a Mayan temple from Guatemala or a puffin from the Faroe Islands. But her favorite thing to bring home is one of those colorful little plates.
Favorite travel destinations: Thailand, Greece, Costa Rica
Laura
Content Lead
Laura is a multi-talent. She is a trained graphic designer, has already worked as a project manager and loves structure and Excel lists. A funny combination, isn’t it? We think so too and love it, because it makes Laura the perfect team player. That’s why she leads our content team.
Fun fact about Laura:
Laura is truly making the most of working remotely. She is constantly sitting somewhere else in our calls and so many conversations begin with “Laura, where are you now?” “Oh, I’m in Budapest, Istanbul, Georgia …..”
Favorite travel destination: Italy, Morocco
Linda
Editorial Assistant
Linda, our loyal reader, thought to herself one day: “Why not just apply?” No sooner said than done! Her infectious enthusiasm for 22places won us over straight away. Luckily, she is a series abstainer – no TV, no streaming. Perfect! So she has time to support our team alongside her event management job.
Fun fact about Linda:
When Linda isn’t working or out in nature, she loves needlework. And likes to try out everything. We wonder if carving is one of them? We’ll get to the bottom of it again.
Favorite travel destination: USA, Austria
Rebecca
Editor Italy
Rebecca is our absolute Italy expert and always amazes us with new articles from Bella Italia. Her mom is from Italy, her husband is Italian and we have the feeling she’s in Tuscany more often than at home in Berlin.
Fun fact about Rebecca:
Rebecca was our first ever external author and taught us to trust someone with our work and that we do not need to do everything by ourselves. That’s why we did not want to give her up anymore and hired her as a permanent member of our 22places team.
Favorite travel destination: California, and – what a surprise: Italy
Tina
Online Editor
Tina is always on the road, traveling and traveling. One minute she’s in France, the next she’s in Portugal and the next she’s in South America. From wherever she goes, she brings back wonderful tips and writes them down for us. OWhen she was still a working student, she was supposedly studying on the side. Now she is fully involved with us.
Fun fact about Tina:
Tina is not only a fantastic writer, she’s also a great athlete and a talented linguist. She speaks six languages fluently. At the moment, she’s also learning Greek. We don’t know how she manages to do it all.
Favorite travel destination: South America
Natalie
Brand Communication Lead
Natalie is in charge of making sure everyone (yes, everyone!) knows about 22places soon and realizes that we have the coolest and most helpful travel tips in the world. Absolutely no pressure, Natalie! Haha. But we’re not worried at all, because Natalie not only studied marketing but also gained plenty of hands-on experience with her own handmade business. She used to love exploring the big wide world, but ever since becoming a mom of two, her travels have mostly been within Germany or to European destinations. But watch out, dear Natalie – we’ll definitely change that very soon!
Fun fact about Natalie:
She loves electronic music and attends festivals and raves every year.
Favorite travel destinations: The Azores, Southern Sweden
Ilkay
Editorial Assistant
Ilkay woke up one morning and thought to herself: Hey, I love traveling. I’ll just ask 22places today if I can become part of their team. Of course, her application was a bit more detailed than just this sentence, but look: good ideas often pay off.
Fun fact about Ilkay:
Ilkay loves sports, but above all, she always enjoys trying out new ones. We just hope she never runs out of ideas for new sports. But if she does, she could pursue her love of musical instruments – because even there, she’s not restricted to just one: piano, guitar, trumpet – Ilkay can do it all.
Favorite travel destination: Philippines and Indonesia