CURRENT MISSION
Backpaking the World. We started in December 2014. Our plan was to cross Americas from North (Starting at Montreal, Canada) to South (Buenos Aires, Argentina, where we will learn Tango for few months). Than we plan to cross the Pacific Ocean until New Zeland or Australia and to cross Asia until Europe and North Africa, to Tunisia. In September 2015, we had to come back to France because one of us was sick. So we habe been there for several months, then a little trip to Central Africa for a humanitarian mission and now we are backpaking India for three months, from Kerala to the North.

WHY BACKPAKING?

This way of travelling is the best way to meet people deeply, learn about their culture and make friends.
We are free to go wherever we want, do whatever we want and whenever we want.

GOALS:

1) Meeting people, making friends and share with them our lived, our travelling's experiences and our philosophy.

2) Improve our Spanish and English.

3) Learning more about spiritual ways that people from different countries and communities are following and be closer to nature.

4) Voluntary work in Health programs and humanitarian missions of countries we cross.

5) Participating in scientific expeditions.

ABOUT US

We are a couple:

- Benjamin Fouillen Marcel, geographer, grew up in Africa (Senegal, Zimbabwe) and Middle East (Syria and Lebanon).

- Faten Fouillen, a general practitioner (Doctor), grew up in Turkey and Brasil.

When we travel, we like taking time. We hate Tourists packages, we hate being conditionned by a tourist program, we travel to meet locals. Of course we like touristics attractions because they are most of the time very beautiful, but we always try to visit and go as soon as we can. We are like Turtles ( With our Backpack moving forward slowly).

We have a lot of NGO's activities, the most important ones are the humanitarian and cultural activities.

OUR PHILOSOPHY:

We believe that life is really very short even if we live for a very long time,. Every day is a new day and another gift. So we live with passion. We believe that love is everywhere as human solidarity. We know that our home is earth, and our richness is our sharing. We respect a lot Gaia which is the living earth and our source of life.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Because of our work, we didn't have enough time to meet local people when we travelled. We were like real tourists, just visiting the touristic places, slept in touristic hotels, ate in touristic restaurants and we didn't really get the essence (soul) of the country. We believe that people who are living in the country are those who are making its essence.

When we were backpaking North America, we didn't couchsurf because we were meeting people every where and most of the time, they invited us to their house for few days. Before India, we had to go to Paris for the Indian visas and we had to wait for them and we tried to find a host from couchsurfing. And... It was an AMAZING experience. It confirmed to us what we were thinking about couchsurfing and so we decided to travel this way.

And, it's always better to go in a place where someone is waiting for us. Couchsurfing is a very good way to make friends, to know more about the culture, the gastronomy, the spirituality and to discover how the locals live.

Most of the time, couchsurfers bring with them their backpack and an open window into their lives. The hosts bring their help by facilating the traveler's trip.

We deeply believe that we can share a lot with couchsurfers and hosters.

Interests

We like ADVENTURE! And...
1) Learning about countries' history and culture.
2) Observing the Wild life and enjoying the landscapes by photographing and drawing.
3) Outdoors activities: Camping, diving, hiking, fishing.
4) Cooking
5) Just ENJOYING LIFE!

• culture
• perfumes
• tango
• cooking
• traveling
• socializing
• drawing
• outdoor activities
• fishing
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• scuba diving
• history
• medicine

Music, Movies, and Books

1) Music: Spiritual music, Tango music, opera, classic music, etc.
2) Movies:Adventure moovies, seul au monde (Tom Hanks), Le Grand Bleu (Luc Besson), Blood Diamonds, Danse avec le loup, l'Enfance d'un chef, Into the wild, Wild, etc.
3) Traveling and adventure books: The Alchemist, Amin Maalouf's books, Paolo Coelho's books,Explorators' books, Greek philosophers' books, etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Making our backpacking trips ;)

Teach, Learn, Share

We can teach french and Arabic language, share our interests. Learn about everything possible.

What I Can Share with Hosts

All we can share with our hosts.

Countries I’ve Visited

Algeria, Brazil, Canada, Central African Republic, Egypt, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Qatar, Réunion, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, France, Lebanon, Senegal, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, Zimbabwe