[Tl;dr] I've had a lot of time to complete my profile and write more and more over the years. You don't have to read all of it before writing a request to me, but do read everything under My Home, because the practical information is important to know. If I accept the request, it would be nice to then read my whole profile before arriving, (unless it's super last minute).

I don't care if you are looking for free accommodation because you don't have much money or if you mainly want new cultural experiences. The number or references from hosts and surfers is not important. What's important to me is that you have al least the intention and motivation to also host people in your turn or you are willing to help out people in need whenever you can some other way.

Since I can only host in our common livingroom now, 2-3 nights is usually the maximum stay. Unfortunately I don't have the time to answer messages asking for advice about Finland or how I am doing. Hosting is how I participate in CS atm.

CURRENT MISSION
Experience. Dare. Accomplish. Provoke. Take responsibility. Dream. Live.

PHILOSOPHY
Not a criminal, not a saint - not taking refuge in the purity of extreme positions.

I'm an old couch surfer, 2019 was my 10th anniversary in CS. In a decade both couch surfing and I have changed. I'm an engineer by education but a humanist at heart. I'm politically leftist, an environmentalist and increasingly worried about the course of the Earth and the human race on it (the planet will survive, but maybe people won't). I'm also increasingly conflicted, even ashamed of my own contribution to climate change and environmental destruction by flying around the globe and travelling to destinations destroyed by mass tourism like the Great Barrier Reef.

I've learned so much by traveling and only now I understand how very privileged I've been. Most people in the world never have the chance to travel outside their own country or even county, and all those who have, simply cannot do it anymore, or we will surpass the capacity of this beautiful planet whose wonders we are rushing to marvel. We have to learn to respect other cultures and different kinds of people without physically going everywhere. It's a challenging change of mindset to people like me, old school travelers, but we can do it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Originally, I started couch surfing to save money, to be able to travel more with a small budget, and I still use it for that. You read it right, I think couch surfing is and should be foremost about free accommodation, getting it when you need it and giving it to people in need.

In the recent years I am seeing increasingly more of these profiles where people state CS is not about money, that if you're just seeking free accommodation, then go away. "Couch surfing should be about meeting people, learning about new cultures and sharing experiences." I ask everyone who reads this to take a moment to think about how ignorantly privileged that statement is.

Anyone who can afford to say "this is not about saving money" either has enough money to say that or is ashamed to admit that they don't. Everything in this world is run by money. Most people in the world can't afford to travel at all. Many people wouldn't be able to travel otherwise but couch surfing makes it just about possible for them.

If couch surfing makes it possible for someone to travel who otherwise wouldn't be able to do that, then it is meeting it's main purpose. For me couch surfing has enabled me to travel much more than I ever could have paying for hotels or hostels. I'm super grateful to all the people who hosted me for a night on my way somewhere, without asking for a lot of my time or "cultural exchange" in return. I have also hosted quite many people that way.

Don't get me wrong, of course meeting people and learning from locals where ever you are traveling is great, an enriching experience. Through CS I've met a crowd of amazing, curious and open-minded people and learned so much about the world from them. But that is something that follows from being able to travel in the first place. Accommodation first, and then getting to know people comes along as a plus.

Now I do recognize that praising couch surfing as an enabler for more people to travel is in conflict with what I said above about the planet not being able to carry increasing amounts of travelers. If we, the privileged people from rich countries, had our chance to enjoy traveling the world then who are we to say that others shouldn't do that? Like I said, it's difficult, it's conflicting. I have more questions than answers.

If you're reading this as a potential surfer at my place and got this far, I don't care if your profile is brand new in CS, and I don't care if you are looking for free accommodation because you don't have much money (Helsinki is expensive for anyone coming from outside Nordic countries). Sometimes the timing, the setting and the people match the way that couch surfing brings people together to make friends, sometimes it's just a person giving another person a place to stay overnight. Both are fine, both meet the purpose of couch surfing. What I do want is you to express that you have the intention and motivation to also host people in your turn, if only you can.

Life doesn't always work the way we expect or wish it to. I didn't host for years because of my chronic illness, sometimes because I lived in a tiny apartment without a couch or a place for a mattress. Sometimes you can't host because you simply don't have many people coming to where you live. The number or references from hosts and surfers you've hosted is not important. What's important to me is the mindset, that you are willing to help out people in need when you can, be it through couch surfing or some other way.

Interests

• music festivals
• dancing
• environment
• human rights
• politics
• painting
• electronic music
• history
• languages
• psychology
• science
• hitchhiking
• art
• social justice
• diving
• taekwondo
• neurology
• psytrance
• drinking wine
• the brain

Music, Movies, and Books

Bands and artists I listen to through the years and decades are Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Boston, Scandinavian Music Group, Movits, Sting, Elton John. Nowadays I listen to mostly post-punk/new wave/new romantic/synth wave type of music. Also in the more recent years I've developed a whole new liking to electronic music, with preference in tech-house/melodic techno/bush prog/zenonesque and discovering more.

My favorite authors are Mika Waltari, Milan Kundera and Gabriel García Márquez. Some of the greatest movies I continue to like through years are Dead Poets Society, Le Grand Bleu, Forest Gump and The Butterfly Effect. Also I'm a great fan of Hercule Poirot and Agatha Christie in general.

The truth is that I am too lazy to really update this section.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The Zermatt marathon: 42,2 km in distance and 1,9 km ascent at Swiss Alps.

Skating on the Baltic Sea or Näsijärvi lake at sunrise.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach any of the languages I speak better than you do and learn any that you speak better than I do. I can give hints for hitch-hiking, packing light and cheap traveling in general. I don't usually cook something that would be considered "Finnish food", so I'm not going to cook something traditionally Finnish, but I might cook a common dinner if we all have the time and interest for that.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Finland, Iceland, Spain, United States

• 

•