I consider myself an easy going, friendly person. I love the outdoors and exploring new places but also enjoy quiet moments at home. I moved to Vancouver in 1986 for what I thought would just be a summer job and never left. I think I live in one of the prettiest cities in the world if you want to have city (ok a small city) and a lot of incredibly beautiful nature at your door.
I am divorced and have a 19 year old son who has just about finished his gap year in Europe and now at University in the fall of 2016. When I quit my job a number of years ago to go back to school I decided to rearrange my house and rent out furnished rooms to young travelers on work visas (and sometimes just travelers and even an odd Canadian here and there :-). I thought this would be a good for my son, my financial situation and for me and it has turned out to be just that. My son and I have met some lovely people in the process.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I heard about couch surfing from one of my visitors from Prague a few years ago and thought it sounded like a great idea but wasn't sure it would work for me with all the people in my house - not fair to give out the couch when it doesn't just affect me. I still love the idea though. I also find accommodation can be the most expensive part of travelling and I would rather have the personal experience of meeting people from a place I visit and spending that accommodation money on doing something with the people I visit. Still haven't plucked up the courage to use this medium yet but then I haven't done a lot of traveling on my own for years - now that my son is grown up that just might change :-).

Interests

As I said above, I love the outdoors - bicycling, walking, hiking, swimming, kayaking, sailing, camping. Probably hiking and biking are my two main pursuits. I love to travel and hope to be able to do more once my son is on his way with the opportunity to meet like minded souls out there.

• walking
• traveling
• socializing
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• surfing
• sailing
• swimming
• working visa

Music, Movies, and Books

I like quite a wide range of music but am always terrible at remembering who I like. Not really a big fan of country or full-on rap though.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hmmm - well probably getting to the top of Kilimanjaro (years ago!) but life is pretty amazing and sometimes small experiencing can be amazing ones too - just maybe not as impressive to other people :-).

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bolivia, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Peru, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

England