Recently relocated to small city in Ontario, hoping to get the new home unpacked and organized and be able to host. We are a laid-back household with clutter and cats, and we smoke. Big house with spare bedrooms; can accommodate four or even six people at once, once set up.

We would like to start by hosting, to build some cred, before expecting someone to take us on sight unseen if we do manage to organize time for travel ourselves. My work keeps me at the beck and call of clients and it's hard to get away.

Forgive our abbreviated names. Of course personal info would be exchanged with any prospective guest or host, but I am an internet privacy fanatic and do not put personal info on line.

NOTE: "Profile not verified" is FALSE. This profile/address WAS verified and payment was made; we were then required to pay yearly to maintain verification. This is a pure user fee. We do not use the site at present to find hosts, i.e. for our own benefit, so we have opted out of paying for now. Our messaging capacity is also limited as a result.

K

UPDATE spring 2020: As of spring 2018, when we both suffered some medical setbacks, nobody smokes in the house. And as of this spring, there is one fewer cat. I did pay the user fee demanded earlier this year when the site suddenly became inaccessible without payment, without notice. Kinda leaves a bad taste, eh? Especially because who on earth is looking to stay with strangers, or have strangers stay with them, in this time of coronavirus, anyway? Not us; we're at too high risk, and one family member who had the virus at the beginning of the pandemic is enough. When the lights go on again, we'll be thinking about hosting again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzlFaY0s_QI

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

Extension of hitchhiking days many years ago: share resources, meet people.

We qualify for senior cits' fares on Greyhound and do have discretionary income, but not enough that several days in a hotel in a city would be a wise expenditure as we approach retirement and after.

My idea of travel is to get to know the places I visit and the people who live there. In my younger days, travel meant sleeping on the couches of friends, acquaintances and strangers I met - and offering my couch to friends and acquaintances visiting my city from around Canada or abroad--and later, when I had a car myself, to the occasional hitchhiker. And, of course, youth hostels on the road tour of eastern Canada in the great hitchhiking summer of 1971. My several trips to Cuba were mostly to stay with expats there and bicycle and bus around the island, meeting people from rabbis to rock musicians.

As guests, we are not partiers or nightclubbers, unless you have a favourite jazz club or the like, to recommend or go to with us. We look for genuine local grub (in increasingly short supply off the interstate highways of the US, sadly) and local events. For example, I have attended a Memorial Day ceremony in Portland, Maine (where the caretaker in the old hotel admired the Remember *O* Harbor brooch I had coincidentally just bought at an antique shop in New Hampshire--"Not enough people remember Pearl Harbor!"), and a Remembrance Day ceremony in Flagler Beach, Florida (where I explained what the old guys in uniforms were doing in the park to a young woman with a baby stroller).

As hosts, we would treat guests like old friends, free to hang out or head out as they chose.

We have no preconceptions or preferences when it comes to race, ethnicity or sexual orientation and welcome differences, and would love to share them with guests or hosts.

Interessen

Politics, politics and politics. If you are not left of centre and feminist, we might not have much to talk about. ;) My partner and I are interested in the social and political situation and the history of wherever you live or come from!

If you tend to the right wing of your local political spectrum (but are not a raving loon), you would probably be comfortable staying with us if you can take the heat ;) but we probably would not be comfortable staying with you for fear of offending.

Oh, and genealogy. I'm an enthusiast and a whiz at that, and find the connections to people and places and times that my own and other people's family histories offer fascinating.

• human rights
• politics
• music
• genealogy
• history
• law

Musik, Filme und Bücher

We are fans of quality dramas on the teevee, from police procedural to period. We also never miss Coronation Street. ;) We are magazine readers: The Economist, the London Review of Books, that sort of thing.

My partner is the musician and his taste/appreciation covers nearly everything, with the usual demurral when it comes to country and rap. Folk and jazz are my preferences, as well as local specialties: driving through Kentucky with the all-bluegrass NPR station on the radio made for a very pleasant afternoon.

Today (Jan 2019) we are off to the bigger city to see Vice!

And I'd rather see a local theatre production than a big Broadway show anytime.

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

Run for Parliament? Not really amazing, but neat. Meet the Maharishi? Hm. Organized a lot of social and political groups and events, including being one of the main organizers of the first ever counter-G7 (as it then was) summit.

My partner was in a rock band. :)

Lehren, lernen, teilen

Local history, local beer.

I have taught law to both law students and community groups, so if constitutional/human rights law is your thing, I'm your woman.

My partner is unfortunately no longer able to play his instruments, but is happy to talk music shop with musicians or anyone with an interest.

Was ich mit Gastgebern teilen kann

You pick your favourite restaurant or cultural event/institution, we'll treat.

Everything you'd ever want to know about Canada's political institutions and culture.

And we do dishes.

Länder, die ich besucht habe

Canada, Cuba, Jamaica, United Kingdom, United States

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

Canada