half Irish and half Italian (but raised in England - I know, nobody's perfect!), I spent most of my youth hopping among these 3 countries. At 18 I started travelling on my own and since then I haven't stopped, although I still enjoy going on holiday with friends. I love meeting new people, hence reason why I always stay in hostels or at airbnbs even when I travel for business. I adore (in random order) going to concerts, reading books (of all kind), photography, last minute plans, social drinking and conversations with open minded people that have great sense of humour...if that is you I am talking about, I suppose you can crash at my place. And yes, I'm a guy with a girl's name, although I have to say that Andrea derives from the Greek word andrós (which means "man"), so I guess the Italians didn't get it that wrong after all! ;-)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

After travelling for so many years it's hard to switch back to normal life...it's almost impossible. You return home and you are not the same person anymore. Your best friends all of a sudden turn to be boring, you hang out with them but you don't enjoy it anymore as u used to do in the past. You realise that you have met amazing people around the world and you have shared with them the most awesome experiences of your life. It's when you go back home that you understand that you have changed for good and home is too small for u. They call it post-travel depression and it hits everyone. some can't cope with it and decide to go back travelling again until one day you eventually stop, doesn't matter where, but u stop and it could be for various reasons, mine purely because I have found an amazing job, so I have decided (for the time being) to quit my travels. Don't get me wrong, I will continue going on holiday with my backpack pretending (to myself) that I am travelling, although I have a return ticket booked 20 days after my departure...so when I am at home I love sharing my apartment with other travellers. I know how it feels to be on a low budget and besides, the experience with the locals is so much more interesting. I have been lucky to have met the most generous people around the world that have changed me in a better person and have made me want to be the same with other travellers. things in life are too beautiful for not sharing them with someone else!

Interests

in random order: trail-running, ipa beer, tennis, movies of the 70s, swimming, guinness, reading, cooking (and eating), red wine, art, snowboarding, free-climbing and (of course) travelling around the world.

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: One flew over the Cuckoo's nest; The Godfather I & II; Apocalypse Now; A Clockwork Orange; Doctor Zhivago; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Goodfellas; The Deer Hunter; Taxi Driver; Reservoir Dogs; Pulp Fiction; Fight Club; True Romance; Point Break; The Usual Suspects; Trainspotting; Sugar Man; The Commitments; The Shawshank Redemption; Shindler's List; Amarcord, Blow-up, Zabriskie Point; Snatch; Amores Perros; Lock & Stock; The Beach (just cause every time I watch it, I crave to go back travelling again).

Books: Classics like Anna Karenina; Wuthering Heights; Heart of Darkness; Candide; To kill a Mockingbird; Perfume; The Idiot; Decameron; Slaughterhouse-Five; Dubliners; The Picture of Dorian Gray + more recent novels like Shantaram, Eureka Street; Mr Nice, A Star called Henry, Round Ireland with a Fridge...

Music: Pulp, Pixies, Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, Primal Scream, Suede, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Massive Attack, Cake; The Chemical Brothers; Franz Ferdinand; Kasabian; Mano Negra; Ska-P; Rage Against the Machine; Stereophonics; Jet, Lou Reed, Otis Redding, Kaiser Chiefs, Groove Armada, Guns 'n' Roses, The Stone Temple Pilots, Pink Floyd, Queen, AC-DC, Metallica, Ramones, Pearl Jam, The Doors, Rush, Foo Fighters...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

This is a difficult one, but if I had to choose I would say the time when I followed the Tarahumara men of Chihuahua (Mexico) when they went searching for peyotes. When we got back after 3 days of never-ending walk (and, believe me, they do walk pretty fast!), the shaman told me that I had become one of them, he called me "rarámuri" (literally, a plant that can run)...and since then I have never stopped!

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Northern Ireland, Norway, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Colombia, England, Italy