I am an American in my late 30's who moved to Texas in the summer of 2016. Prior to Austin, I lived in Palm Beach, Florida for pretty much my entire life. I decided the world is too big and beautiful to live in one place forever, so I left everything behind and moved halfway across the continent to central Texas and I couldn't be happier. Austin is now my favorite city in the world! I live about 5-10 minutes drive from downtown Austin, and the city bus can take you from the greyhound station downtown and drop you off very near my condo. Austin is not incredibly walk-able as far as cities go, but it has a very good bus system and you can use it all day for about $5. My work schedule is M-F 8-5 so I am typically best able to socialize weekends and evenings.

One pet peeve of mine is surfers who request to stay with me and then cancel at the last minute or even worse, without letting me know at all. I have had this happen numerous times and it's very frustrating because I put quite a bit of effort into preparing for guests, and will often pass up other guests, or pass up on social events with my local friends to make sure I am home when my surfers arrive only to find out they made other lodging arrangements and never bothered to tell me. I understand that sometimes life happens but please be respectful of my time and give me as much notice as possible when your situation changes. Thanks!

Watch this video for a pretty good overview of what to expect from Texas as a state:

https://youtu.be/ZYLkjljplDg

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

One of my biggest passions in the world is learning about and experiencing other cultures. My work in the medical industry doesn't provide me a lot of time to travel outside of the US, (my only experience abroad was a month long trip to Russia back in 2005) so couch surfing gives me a small chance to experience the world vicariously through the adventures of others. Also, since I am still fairly new to Austin, couch surfing gives me a cool way to explore the city often doing things I would never think to do on my own. As such my preference is to host surfers that are open or willing to spend a bit of time with me, whether it's drinking tea discussing your country's politics or adventures abroad, or hiking the Green Belt bright and early on a Saturday morning. I also prefer my surfers to be international in nature, either born abroad or Americans with experience living or traveling abroad. That's not to say I won't consider domestic travel requests, but I get a lot of requests, so I am a bit more likely to hit yes if you've got an international hook.

I am fine with last minute requests; I know emergencies happen and plans fall through. I can't promise I am always available but when I can I do try to be accommodating.

Interests

I am fairly intellectual and love discussing history, culture, world events, global and local politics, economics, philosophy, and pretty much any topic under the sun.

• culture
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• business
• economics
• languages

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveled with one of my couch surfers to Chile!

Teach, Learn, Share

My Chihuahua Ratty from many of the reviews has passed away but now I have two lovely Pomeranians who would love to meet you!

Countries I’ve Visited

Russian Federation

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States