Current status (late Nov 2024): digital nomad-ing in New Zealand. Sri Lanka + Europe for Dec. Then maybe Africa.

Ecclectic person. I've had some pretty wild and wonderful adventures throughout a whole bunch of chapters, and am prepping for more. Done my fair share of hitch-hiking and stealth camping and gotta admit, that's still my prefered mode of travel (though age is making me lazier). I also like to sneak bits of journalism into my journeys. Case in point: would rather spend the day interviewing Kashmiri shepherds than relaxing on a beach or traipsing through museums (unless they are art museums, of which I am a huge fan).

Happy atop a horse, skis, or a bike. Enjoy strange films, good books, and sunrises. Music is important. I like to travel alone, collecting kindred spirits along the way. I get way more joy from small surprise discoveries than major attractions. Minimum social media! Very frugal! Love 'strange' foods. Curious about people and all the myriad ways there are to live well out there.

Feel obliged to add: I ain't no hippy.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

As Anais Nin said - "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

As Bokonon said, "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."

I started Couchsurfing in 2007. So many of my best friends and life experiences have been facilitated by it. I've gone through intense periods of hosting (mainly in Auckland, Saigon, and Phnom Penh), and have surfed everywhere from snowy Moscow to the Western Sahara.

Interests

• architecture
• photography
• reading
• music
• camping
• skiing
• journalism
• eating
• horse riding
• theatre
• biking
• hitch-hiking
• scuba
• diy endeavours

Music, Movies, and Books

Patti Smith, Nick Cave, Ali Farke Toure, Dhafer Youssef, Nirvana, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Chinese Man, and more.

Arandhati Roy, Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, a bunch of Russians, Nabokov, Hemmingway, and more.

Jim Jarmusch, Emir Kusterica, Lars Von Trier, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, and more.

Mad Men, Bojack Horseman, It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia, The Office (US), Archer.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Here are four favourite travel experiences:
- Spending time in an Egyptian jail with Syrian refugees,
- Reporting live from a cyclone in Tonga,
- Winning a silver medal sailing in Chechnya, despite not being able to sail,
- Hitch-hiking all over Israel and Palestine.

Teach, Learn, Share

TEACH: Everything you can do with a rabbit carcass.
LEARN: I want to learn Russian!
SHARE: monopoly deal and backgammon.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, France, Georgia, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, Oman, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tonga, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Wales, Western Sahara

Countries I’ve Lived In

Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Cambodia, Egypt, New Zealand, Viet Nam

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