Lily Barlow's Photo

Unverified Profile

  • Payment not verified
  • Phone not verified
  • Government ID not verified

Not Accepting Guests

  • Last login over 2 years ago

Join Couchsurfing to see Lily’s full profile.

Overview

  • 99 references 47 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English, French; learning Dutch, Spanish
  • 36, Female
  • Member since 2008
  • Sailor, skipper, cook, photographer, bike mechanic
  • photography and film degree
  • From Port vila, Vanuatu and East coast, Australia
  • Profile 95% complete

About Me

CURRENT MISSION

To build a cycling and sailing adventure travel business!

ABOUT ME

I'm ragged but right. I've got the bug. You've got it too, so you know what i mean.
"Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ship's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage." Steinbeck

I grew up in Vanuatu, moving to Australia at 13. I've moved around a lot since then, mainly with a focus on long distance sailing and cycling adventures. The latest project had me sailing my 30ft Cape Dory sailboat across the Pacific from the USA to Australia. For now, i'm working on boats in Cyprus, but that changes often also.
Making conscious choices about my life, my food, my possessions, and to try to be as sustainable as possible is important to me, and I try to live with those philosophies in mind.

PHILOSOPHY

Go big or go home (dive in: make your dreams happen!)
Go small and go now (use what you have, and GO!)

Let your intuition guide you in everything you do. Stay true to that feeling in your gut and things usually work out ok.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've been using CS for almost a decade now! It has brought me many friendships, connections and amazing experiences.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Have surfed in most countries i've travelled.
Have hosted a lot also, in various different places and abodes (van, boat, houses)
My tent/cockpit/hatch is open and the kettle is on...

Interests

Sailing, cycling, bike touring, reading, letter writing, photography, outdoor adventure in general, freight trains, raw food, vegan food, whole-food, actually food in general... live music, DIYing, cruising and boat ownership etc... and lots of silly little things, like scraping off varnish and making wood beautiful again, or the mist in the morning on a cold day, or that silence between good friends...

  • writing
  • photography
  • dining
  • cooking
  • raw food
  • vegan
  • working out
  • boating
  • reading
  • traveling
  • dumpster diving
  • music
  • live music
  • outdoor activities
  • cycling
  • surfing
  • sailing
  • swimming
  • business
  • tourism
  • adventure travel

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC!! love jazz, blues, bluegrass, roots, rap, reggae, gypsy, dub, folk, country and even a bit of classical.

FILM is an incredibly powerful tool... Surfing the Waste (a musical documentary), the Little Chinese Seamstress, Easy Rider, Backroads, Dark Days, Amelie, Spanish Apartment, Footloose!! Ferngully, the Tracker, No Man's Land, Into The Wild, Three colours Red White and Blue, the Bridge, La Jettee, A river runs through it, The White Diamond, Wings of Desire, Yukon Passage, The Postman (!!!)...

BOOKS: I love to read!
Walden by Thoreau, The Ethics of What We Eat, Travels with Charley Across America, Dharma Bums, No Such Thing As A Free Ride, Road Junky's Handbook, Hand To Mouth To India, The Call Of The Wild, The Alchemist, Waiting For Godot, Still Life With Woodpecker, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Like Water for Chocolate, Ways Of Seeing, Celestine Prophecy, 1984, Black Like Me, On The Road, What's The Use of Walkin' If There's A Freight Train Going Your Way?, Wanderlust, The Wayward Bus, Blue Highways, "Banana the fate of the fruit that changed the world", and - the wonderful rambles of "John Barleycorn!"
Also - the most inspirational book ive found so far - The art of looking sideways

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Strawberries... have you ever looked closely at a strawberry?!

Seeing the world roll by on two wheels at 12miles per hour, amazing.

Whales 3 times the size of my boat, swimming underneath and all around... many hundred miles offshore... beautiful, overwhelmingly majestic, and scary too!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to fix your bicycle, how to dumpster dive, how to sail, how to make things, how to remember to write letters... I'm keen to learn anything you're willing to teach!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I will joyously cook you a meal, fix or tune any bicycle that's lying around, tell you way too many stories if you ask, and then ask too many questions in return. I don't need a tourists-eye-view of your town, and would prefer to just live a normal day in the life of ... (insert your name here).
For me, couch surfing has always been about the people... and putting faces to places.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, Tonga, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, United States, Vanuatu

Old School Badges

  • 19 Vouches

Join Couchsurfing to see Lily’s full profile.

My Groups