CURRENT MISSION

Learn, see, experience!
Hosting: "Come forward, lonely searching soul... Share with me."

ABOUT ME

Single, with quite a few relationships (hetero) behind, and perhaps ahead - although getting broken-hearted more than I used to so I'm not so sure about this idea any more. :-)
Still crazy after all those years, definitely, driven to go and explore, learn new things, see new places, meet new cultures and people. The travel bug is a hopeless, incurable disease.

Fond to explore different cultures, languages... To go beyond the new simplistic CS categories, there are languages I'm not fluent in (nor learn) but can speak - Polish and Spanish - while the ones I can understand broadly but generally avoid speaking are German and Italian... Some Russian still there, too, thankfully (after having been forcefully fed it for so many years in those bad old socialist/Soviet times - nothing against the tongue of Pushkin and Dostoevsky, of course).

PHILOSOPHY

Enjoy life. Don't despair, there's (almost)always a new day coming. Don't fix what ain't broken! :-))
No man is an island...
Live now, you might not be able to do it later.
No shame in stepping back... only bulldozers always charge ahead.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I experienced my first Winter Camp which happened to take place in Prague, so I naturally hosted and attended the New Year's party. A great gathering, wonderful people, a whole new world to discover!

3 years later, my gains in Couchsurfing totally overshadow regrets and disappointments... with people, that is: my biggest recent disappointment - as reiterated below - rests with the indiscriminate and thoughtless overhaul of CS design. What ain't broken...

Having earned my references and trustworthiness, and thanks to my good location in the heart of a popular city, I am forced to screen and cull guest requests - and the new, "simplified" CS request form certainly doesn't make it easier. I still strongly favor guests who know what they can offer to me, and why they want to meet me.

Now, in a new, far less popular town, a clean slate. Not expecting to get swamped with requests, rather just few and far between. But that remains to be seen.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

After having a real bad start trying to get a couch in Turkey, very good experiences so far: several people stayed with me after last Christmas, quite a few in the summer.

Numerous, very nice couchsurfing experiences during my spring journey around Iran, home of one of the friendliest people on earth.

A month discovering the exciting, romantic Istanbul, thanks to CS.

Morocco, the following spring - frankly, not the best CS destination if you are a male (rather, business is the king). That said, friendly people abound as well as famous Moroccan hospitality.

A very good hosting season 2013 coming to the close now. Cheers to all my dear guests - now I'm finally ready to hit the road & couches as well. Up to Southeast Asia!

My 6-week Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia trip finished, and what an uplifting, redeeming, eye-opening experience it was! Lots of crazy stories, silly all-out losses & outweighing, rewarding finds called simply "people". Big thanks to all of them, with their broad smiles and welcoming generosity.
Yet... Almost zero on the CS front (my male's lament as usual, but the developing world doesn't seem to be as opened and ready for this superb concept, as yet) - with some notable exceptions in Vietnam, and hooray for them!

To Indonesia beginning summer, not using CS, but still, visiting my CS friend. So I can't tell how it works in this country but judging from super-friendly, free-spirited people I met there everywhere it should not be any major obstacle.

A rather slow pace of my CS hosting through the summer and fall - but the quality certainly made up for the relatively small number of guests.

*** VERY DISAPPOINTED ***
WITH THE NEW LOOK AND DESIGN OF CS PAGES!!

AND NEEDLESS MESSING WITH WHAT WAS GOOD CONTINUES IN 2016: see DISCLAIMER later on...

With the year 2014 coming to an end, and last accepted guests pending, I'm closing off my third Couchsurfing season - and since my extended Indonesian stay starts in January, my couch will hibernate till spring. Happy New Year, my dear old friends and guests... may it be a real good one for all of us! :-))

Spring 2015 - starting accepting guests again.

Still hating the new "cleaner, simplified" look of CS now - which, IMHO, actually just encourages people to get lazy, to copy & paste in abandon, not bothering to get personal or any deeper than stating their need for overnight space. Arrrgh! Please be warned... read on.

Summer break now... I'll be back in the fall again.

Indonesia again! Apart from inevitable Jakarta, a short visit to Lombok (boat trip to Komodo & Flores, summiting Rinjani, arguably the most beautiful Indonesian volcano... It is!!]

Don't ask for Christmas and NYE 2015, please. I won't be available. And mid-January - off to my winter (working) holiday in Thailand.
Winter of early 2016: a warming exploratory trip to Thailand and Myanmar.
Unexpected private guests later on, a trip to Lanzarote followed...
In Maybe mode/mood now...

Another summer break now, off to Indonesia again (Bali this time, and some Java exploring).

Only limited Maybe window opened... Sorry, not in the mood.

UPDATE: Sorry for being closed almost whole year... Fully open now, but accepting guests only between Nov 2 - Dec 6, 2016 now, before departure to Aussie! Please don't flood me with other dates' requests, ok? Hope you understand... :-)

My Prague window closed now, in December 2016: wrapping up this (hosting) year. Big thanks to you all, both the guests I've accepted and all those interested ones I couldn't find time for. :-)

Heading to Australia, a huge unknown/adventure/experience-in-waiting for me. My personal and situation has changed too - suddenly losing my beloved mate of 40 months, and most of income source of 15 years - so this move seems to be just a thing to do, right now. :-P What else would you bring a new hope than the amazing, unpredictable and ever-changing life itself!

Will be looking for CS hosts along South and East Coast, starting with Melbourne - let's see how I'll fare at this end of the deal. :-D

Spring 2017. Back from Aussie - just one CS experience, intense, good, staying three times, longer than planned due to problems and mishaps...
Ready to accept interesting guests while at home (approx. till June), before hitting summer paths/roads/rails again. :-D

Summer 2017: mid-June - a 2-week trip to Georgia. Back beginning July.
Busy till August, then a trip to Italy. Eventually accepting requests for September and on... But getting off radar soon now, too many people don't read just want my couch any possible time...

Fall 2017. Slowly, tentatively starting to host again, but really choosing a lot. Please make your request personal, nice, interesting or you won't be accepted.
UPDATE: Weekends are mostly off-limits, I'm busy. THROUGH CHRISTMAS AND FIRST WEEK OF JANUARY I'M AWAY (enjoying warmer climate in Tunisia) SO DON'T BOTHER TO REQUEST COUCH for that time, I won't respond. Thanks! May you all have Merry Christmas, happy NY celebration - and let's get excited about what the new year 2018 might bring us, ok? :-)

Winter 2018. After spending 2 comfortable weeks in a Tunisian resort (haha, so unlike me, always an independent traveler and backpacker) I've mostly stayed home, wrapped around my heater - strangely (although not so uncommonly), with age I support cold winters less and less. Very light hosting at this time. And getting ready for my big African journey, the real sub-Saharan Africa this time, quite a chunk of the continent to be covered in 6 weeks, me and my longtime Go buddy (and guru)... an intrepid male duo ready to face the challenges and possible dangers of rough travels. No couchsurfing planned or expected there, haha.
Back in spring, to open my couch again.

Summer 2018. Back from Africa, back from an unexpected commercial trip to India as a guide, but also back to my other commercial activity: Airbnb & Wimdu. Sorry, folks, one needs to make money too and last summer renting my place became my life-savior after the totally money-draining and debt-accumulating Australia (yes, I overstretched there, but no regrets...)
So, tentatively opening my couch again for non-prime dates and time windows (again, sorry for that), mostly selected week days. Still, interesting people, ladies or couples are welcome to send their requests. :-)

Fall 2018 - MY LAST SEASON AS A HOST at current address!

Yeah, I know, it's kinda sad... But life goes on, doesn't it? It's been a long ride, 7-years almost exactly, and so many happy experiences later I can say it was GOOOD. Thank you, all my guests who passed through my flat, through my couch, through my kitchen, who shared stories, food and drink, your free time and thoughts, your smiles, laughs and emotions. Even you, the few not-so-fitting/clicking ones, are excused, forgiven, pardoned, exonorated :-D Perhaps we meet again, at one place or another, sooner or later... And if not, live well, guys.

The reason is simple. Selling my flat. Kinda sad since I was practically born there, lived thourgh the good and the bad, keep memories of my dear late parents and all friends and dear ones who blessed me with their visits.

Several reasons for it. One is financial, no hiding it. It gives me freedom to roam awhile, to live a nomad life when and as long it pleases me. At least till spring. In a warm spot on this Earth somewhere, naturally. Then I'll decide if and where I'm gonna settle again.

And the second big reason is, Prague center is so damn overcrowded, overtouristy it makes one worn out and tired. Especially when you can compare those deserted, Kafka-like shabby lanes and corners of yesteryear (not that I miss the communist disrepair and abandon but the solitude yes) with the madness of today's interconnected world of cheap flights. Many popular cities have screamed Enough by now and Prague - perhaps not on par with choking Barcelona or Venice yet but getting there fast - so well located, so picturesque and so affordable compared to her Western siblings - is slowly filling her lungs for that desperate/angry shout as well.

Getting away now. First Taiwan - hoping to get some nice CD experience there, as a guest for a change. :-) And, after New Year, Sri Lanka and India. Traveling, roaming, brooding, enjoying the land, the people and sunny weather.

Enough said. Thanks for understanding, dear couchsurfing mates, take care, keep in touch. :-)

PRIVILEGED TO HAVING SERVED AS A HOST DEC. 2011 - NOV. 2018...

Most of 2019 spent traveling in Australia (West, North and Center this time), Sri Lanka and Southern India - houseless, carefree, independent with just a few of my possessions locked in storage - before, sigh-sigh, committing again, urggh! Yes, you guessed it: a new town, new place, new beginning. I bought a flat in a small North Bohemian town of Teplice - a quiet spa town close to Erzgebirge mountains forming a border with Germany. A nice, mid-sized, comfortable apartment high up above town with a fine view will be my home from now.

End of 2019 through 2021 - extensive remodeling: bathroom, new floors and doors, opening space and furnishings - luckily finished just by the arrival of Covid so I could spend the long, long extensive seclusion in my homey comfort, at least. Shorter summer travels this year (Switzerland by train, Austrian mountains and ferratas by car) and...

FINALLY, October 2021 -

BACK TO HOSTING in my new location. :-)
Excited, curious and doubting at the same time who on Earth would fancy to come to visit this relatively unknown, modest backwater of a place! Sure, Prague it ain't - but that was the whole point. It was time for a change and I did make that move. And I'm glad I did, I'm happy here and ready to share now. So, welcome, potentional guests, give it a try. You might even be the first.

Interests

Apart from traveling it's photography, hiking, some running and easy climbing, the game of go. Reading, movies etc. etc.

• photography
• running
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• hiking
• camping
• rock climbing
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Too many to list.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Most amazing for me is life itself: always brings you something unexpected. So it's things I've seen and experienced rather than what I've done, good and bad (from the fall of Eastern Europe's communist regimes or the Arabian Spring to the rise of the Daesh or the gloomy results of Climate Change). But really, what have I done that could be classified as amazing, huh? Perhaps nothing... yet! So there's always hope, haha.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach English, certainly, as something truly practical and useful. And the game of Go the queen of board game (sorry, Chess, no contest:-)), to list something impractical and useless, but thoroughly enjoyable. And always willing to learn, ready to share.

What I Can Share with Hosts

It's simple - whatever we decide to share! :-) Views, thoughts, passions, mostly... Food and drink, very likely.

PLEASE.....

1. Get personal in your requests, no thoughtless copy & paste.
2. Don't make it sound you just want a free hotel room; that's not what CS is about.

Thanks a lot... Now you're welcome to try me with your request. :-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Cambodia, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Laos, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Peru, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Viet Nam, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, New Zealand, United States

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