Hello!! My name is Bia. I grew up in London and lived there my whole life until recently. Though I loved my job and was surrounded by close friends, comfort and predictability began to make me feel understimulated and dissatisfied. I’ve always loved travelling and seeing life in other places so I made the choice to quit my job and travel indefinitely.

So far I have explored Georgia for around two months, with a pause to hitchhike all the way to Montenegro. Now I have been in Armenia for around three weeks and looking forward to exploring more.

I love love love people. I strongly believe that any two people can create a meaningful connection when both are earnest and honest in their communication. I’ve worked in hospitality my whole life for this reason, there is nothing more precious and important to me than two people from different contexts bringing the world closer together by connecting and sharing.

I have many interests that I love to discuss - art, history, politics, urban design, philosophy, social issues etc. My interests are broad because I am interested in anything regarding people, which is everything. I am also a massive nerd about Eastern Europe and socialist and post socialist states. Learning more from people directly about this is also a massive purpose of my travel. I care that my understanding isn’t limited to books and that I see the places I want to learn more about and learn from seeing and talking also.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Building trust between people and making friends from strangers is very important to me. We are constantly encouraged to distrust eachother and I believe couchsurfing is a wonderful way for people to experience that there are kind, interesting, intellgent and honest people everywhere if you allow yourself to meet them.

Interests

I like learning about different people's perspectives on social matters and their relation to the history and social structures around them, as well as learning their life experience and perspective

Music, Movies, and Books

I love folk music, rock music, especially balkan. I love simple music with a lot of emotion with interesting lyrics.

My favourite authors are Svetlana Alexievich, Dubravka Ugresic and Olga Tokarchuk. Though I am not in the habit of going deeply into one author. I enjoy reading books by my authors across genres and places, but the main thing I look for in a book is this feeling that you've met in an incredibly interesting person who has given you an insight to some aspect of life that would otherwise be unfamiliar to. To feel like you are entering someone elses subjectiveness, rather than follow a story.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Spending two hours writing my couchsurfing profile

Teach, Learn, Share

I am a native English speaker, and can help with developing language skill if you would like.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love cooking, and would be very happy to create a delicious meal for us! I find sharing a home cooked meal is a wonderful way to connect.

Naturally, I am also happy to help with anything that is needed around the house.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom