CURRENT MISSION

To seek out the traditional and mingle with the modern

ABOUT ME

So currently I'm sharing this page with my fellow travel companion and boyfriend Dan with whom I am traveling Asia with for a year.

We are both 24 and taking a break (or rather prolonging entry into the career route) from the mundanity of working life to wander around Asia for a bit. We've ticked off 4 months in India, a month in Nepal and are now attempting China with not one word of Chinese, which is proving just a tad difficult...

I've been freelancing for the past couple of months in the fields of graphic design and journalism whilst also working on a blog (Wandering Threads) after finishing up my degree at Central Saint Martins last year, whilst Dan has recently left a job at the BBC to gallivant around the world.

We're both very creative people: I'm obsessed with photography and traditional culture so you'll most likely find me snapping away in local markets or down old winding streets. Dan's passion lies in film production which he can talk to you about endlessly if you happen to share the same interest (he's also originally from Manchester so if you like football you won't find a better guy to talk to). Whilst traveling we've been lucky enough to combine our interests and put together short films/interviews with artists, designers and other people we meet around the world, some of which you should hopefully be able to see soon at wandering-threads.com

So that's pretty much what we do and what we're interested in. We both love learning about new cultures, religions, art and ways of thinking or approaching the world.

PHILOSOPHY

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.Discover.” – Mark Twain.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Neither of us have Couch Surfed before so we hope you won't look at this profile and look over us as we'd love to get on board.

As we've both realised, a lot of the time traveling just results in hopping from place to place without really getting into or under it. We're both a bit fed up of tourist filled hostels, religiously relying on 'the book' to get around and being regarded as an ATM rather than people!!

We're looking to learn and experience as much as possible from this year away and so far we've been able to communicate with very few locals or residents due to language and various other things (as mentioned) - that's where our desire to Couch Surf comes in.

We're both very chatty and sociable people and not demanding in the slightest. We're used to roughing it so we don't mind where we sleep as long as we feel safe. We're used to staying in hostels and being mindful of shared facilities and comunual space. We don't steal, we won't touch your stuff and we'll clean up after ourselves.

As we're away for such a long time we're happy to sit and converse over a coffee or a beer or help cook or teach some home skills to our hosts. Traveling together means we're happy to entertain ourselves if you don't have time for a chat or to show us around, but at the same time we view the CS experience as a chance to learn from or impart our own knowledge to our hosts - as well as to have a good time!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None... yet!

Interests

Art, culture, travel, photography, film making, graphic design, journalism, football (dan!)

• arts
• culture
• books
• design
• graphic design
• photography
• film making
• cooking
• beer
• coffee
• movies
• traveling
• blogging
• sailing
• soccer
• freelancing
• journalism
• religion

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Samantha:

Seeing the sun rise over the Guatemalan jungle to the soundtrack of its inhabitants stirring from sleep.

Sleeping open-air on a rice barge in the middle of the Mekong River.

Eating lunch made by a tribal community in Thailand out of a banana leaf on a decent from a hill tribe trek in Northern Thailand.

Watching the sun rise over the Himalayas (albeit a cloudy sunrise)

Teach, Learn, Share

Motivated, ambitious people with conviction and confidence in their ideas and goals. People who have a passion for something and are keen to teach their skills to others but also calm, patient people who take in a different approach to the world, people who you can just sit and chat to about the world for hours.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Belize, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Spain, United Kingdom, United States