CURRENT MISSION

To experience what the earth has to offer, and to get a better picture of what it's all about.

ABOUT ME

Erik - I live with my wife in what I think is the best place in the world... Kelowna. I also have a daughter, son in law and grandson who live in Auckland.

I view myself as a fairly level-headed person who tends to think before putting his mouth into gear. On the other hand I'm not sure I'm all that mature.....I still feel like I'm mentally in my 30's or 40's. I find it hard to believe how old some of my peers have gotten.

During my married years I have lived in 4 different houses and landscaped all of them, which involved a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I think I'll stay in this one a bit longer and watch it mature. I'd like to put a bit more effort into exploring more distant destinations.

During the past few years my wife and I have made a couple of trips to Europe. We found ourselves particularly attracted to Provence, in southern France. Both times there we rented bikes for about a week and explored the countryside. One of my hopes is that we can we can develop some CouchSurfing connections before embarking on our next journey.

Barb: And here's my two cents worth. I have two adult daughters and a teen son who splits his time between his Dad, and Erik and I.

I am a recently retired elementary school teacher who is looking forward to having more time to travel, cook, stay fit, and enjoy life!

I consider myself to be a pragmatic idealist and most see me as a bleeding-heart socialist. :)

PHILOSOPHY

Erik - I think you have to experience things in order to understand them.

Barb - It's never too late to be who you might have been. My favourite quote by George Eliot

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Erik - I just joined this site so I'm going to assume, at this point, that this refers to interactions with travel and travelers. Back in the good ol' days I took a year off from university to get my mind adjusted and headed off to Europe for half a year. Since then I have visited Tahiti, Mexico, England, Denmark, France, Italy and various parts of the US. My wife and I tend to go on short driving distance honeymoon trips quite often as well. As we are involved with the running/biking/triathlon community,we have recently hosted athlete friends who have come to visit or compete in the Kelowna area.

Barb - as a kid, I travelled across Canada twice by car with my parents, 3 siblings and a dog, camping for 5-6 weeks each time. I've spent many years camping with my own family as they grew up but now Erik and I usually prefer a warm, dry bed when we travel. We particularly enjoy staying at B&B's which is why we think that couchsurfing might be a good fit for us.

Interests

Erik - Aside from the obvious (my wife is fantastic and the most wonderful person in my life), I am immersing my mind and body into an ongoing experiment. I want to determine how long I can keep improving, specifically in relation to biking and running. Less intense interests include continuing to conquer the guitar, enjoying food, wine and beer, figuring out what my dogs and cat are thinking, working in my garden, and generally being amazed by just about everything.

Barb - I am a late bloomer triathlete and a runner, I've done about 10 sprint triathlons, two half ironmans, and one full marathon. These days I'm more laid back and don't want to compete any more. I prefer to stay fit thru activities I enjoy.

In addition to the travel that Erik mentioned above, I enjoy music (listening and playing), reading, gardening, and technology - I'm an avid social media fiend - Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc, and I also produce a podcast about travelling and staying fit into retirement.

• cats
• dogs
• dining
• wine
• beer
• triathlon
• marathon
• running
• athlete
• sprinting
• clubbing
• gardening
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• camping
• skydiving
• communications

Music, Movies, and Books

Barb - Jack Johnson, Jeremy Fisher, anything from my youth in the late 70's, dance music, and classical.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Erik - Sometimes we try to see too much, and end up seeing very little. I find that when you slow down and observe your surroundings closely, it's very easy to be constantly amazed. That being said, I tried skydiving once and that was a real blast! Another amazing moment was bike racing down mountain trails in the middle of the night. And then there was the amazingly devastating time when I was 13 that I senselessly shot a small bird with a pellet gun. I have never had the inclination to hunt since that moment. Life never ceases to amaze me!

Barb - Erik and I walked the Camino de Santiago in May 2016. What an adventure!