I'm a thirty-something traveler, taking a hiatus from Real Life(tm) at a desk job to travel and work on my dreams of writing. I bicycled alone across the Midwest from Milwaukee to Washington DC and then bounced around the train and bus network of the Northeast; this summer has been spent taking Amtrak about 7,000 from Florida to New York and Boston and Quebec, then to Chicago into Seattle, down the coast to So Cal and back up. 90% of my time is spent contemplating either (a) where to go next, or (b) how to make/save money to keep traveling. (The other 10% is usually berating myself for not writing or looking at pictures of cats.)

Update: have saved enough money for a bare-bones journey around Europe, and would love to meet locals!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To meet people!

I'm a hardcore introvert, and have been working on getting myself out of my comfort zone. I'm totally fine alone on my bike in the middle of nowhere, but instinctively avoid social situations... wow, I'm really selling myself as a guest here, aren't I? I'm very, very nice, I swear! and I like to believe my social awkwardness is more endearing than creepy.

And obviously , with limited funds, I'm trying to make my savings last.

(I know people are more likely to host guests who also are hosts, but with my transience, it has not yet been logistically practical. I hope to someday.)

Interests

Travel (duh) -- bike & train being my favorite (I'll extol the amazingness of train travel even here in america all day), but also road trips, cheap flights, you name it.

Reading, writing; reading about writing; writing about reading. Writing about writing, perhaps. Pretending that I read more than I actually do, if we're being honest.

Photography, mostly nature and cityscapes.

Scifi/fantasy pretty much anything.

Convincing myself it's okay to not want an apple-pie life.

• pets
• cats
• dogs
• writing
• books
• photography
• athlete
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• cycling
• languages
• road trips
• science fiction
• fandom

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
not gonna lie, my musical taste is kind of stuck somewhere around 2002 or so; my favorite music is mostly like 90s-era U2, Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, some early '00s techno/electronica. though recently I have discovered that I actually quite like Taylor Swift & Lorde, so take from what what you will.

Books:
all things Neil Gaiman
Ursula K. LeGuin - The Left Hand of Darkness
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
...let's see, I DO read things other'n scifi/fantasy, I swear...
Infinite Jest
Emily of New Moon
any Zilpha Keatley Snyder young adult books
Wrinkle in Time series

Movies:
uh, I honestly don't watch many movies -- on the rare occasions I'm convinced to try, I end up completely zoning out and winding up with no idea wtf I just watched.

Three of the last four movies I watched in the theaters were The Hobbit trilogy. Hell, honestly, I'd guess that six of the last ten movies I saw in the theater were LotR + The Hobbit trilogies.

Lost in Translation is probably my all-time favorite, though. Otherwise... Super Troopers, Ghostbusters, Wayne's World, Chocolat, Serenity, Cool World (shut up it's amazing)...

TV:
Firefly, Supernatural, Sherlock, Community, Stranger Things, Jessica Jones

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I think cycling 1,000 miles alone on my bicycle counts, especially since I am *very* much not an athlete or outdoorsperson.

I went up a mountain for the first time recently, which felt pretty amazing to me, but probably less impressive for all the people out with like their six year olds and dogs for a casual Sunday stroll as I'm trying to not die.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Good company, exchanging fun stories -- I love to share my own, but I also love to hear other people's!

If we happen to share similar interests I will nerd the hell out with you all day about, like, which Doctor is the coolest, or the best/worst instances of WoW. I'd welcome hanging out with my hosts and would love to make friends, but I'm also completely cool being left to my own devices.

I will love on any and all of your pets and promise not to steal any, and am totally not crossing my fingers behind my back when I promise that.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United States