CURRENT MISSION

Smile, taste, explore, laugh, meet, love and be loved. Maybe save the planet too it there's time.

ABOUT ME

Owing to my massive smile people call me Smiley Joe!

I hail from Brighton in the UK, a pleasure-seeking seaside town where quirkiness is the order of the day and we all consider ourselves pretty easy-going.

Since university I've split my time between working with international development NGOs and making (pretty damn tasty) cocktails, a couple of years ago I decided to change path and go into Environmental Law... getting a skill but keeping my soul intact!

I currently live in Tilburg, the Netherlands where I'm doing an internship in Environmental law between years of studies in the UK. Using this opportunity, living in Europe and within reach of so many cool places I'm keen to see as many places as possible! Previously saving for the next big trip always suffered in place on more instant gratification and funding my studies.

PHILOSOPHY

If this isn't the first morning you've woken up thinking "I don't want to do this" then do something different! Do what you love.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm new to CS but I'm a pretty versatile person so I guess I'll participate in anything that new, interesting and exciting (and some things that aren't too!)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

In Brighton my housemates were avid hosts, both on CS and more informal networks. In the two years I lived in that house on Over Street I met an fantastic array of people courtesy of our sofa bed. There were spiritual hippies, political crusaders, artists and young professionals, but in-amidst that I can only remember a tiny handful of bad experiences. People cooked food from all over the world, fell in love with people we introduced us to and introduced us to unseen wonders on our own doorstep which we fell in love with! It was an enriching experience I took for granted because my housemates would find the next surfer... I just hung out with them!

As I said though I'm new to using the site myself, my only experience of surfing has been with generous people I've met in bizarre situations! I've always enjoyed it though....

Most of my friends travel with CS and all have extolled its virtues!

Interests

Where'd you start! Anything that's interesting and anything that's fun and anything that's new! I'm always interested in a proper belly-laugh, and a tasty meal, and good company.

My biggest passion in life is food - growing it, scavenging it, searching for it, cooking it, preserving it and eating. Lots of eating! I've thrown my oar in with some community gardening, guerrilla gardening, foraging, skipping and local sustainable food projects. I like good craft beer and a tasty cocktail, given a choice I'd sip on a Little Creatures or a Negroni.

The things that can divide even good friends are religion and politics but being politically involved I do enjoy a good political discussion! I won't elaborate any further on my personal beliefs though.

When I haven't hurt myself (which is unfortunately often!) I enjoy rock-climbing, volleyball and cross-country running. I love being outdoors and anything that involves beautiful mountains or relaxing beaches, I'm there!

• animals
• insects
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• cocktails
• vegan
• running
• gardening
• politics
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• camping
• surfing
• rock climbing
• volleyball
• law
• religion
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Favourite authors at the moment are Huxley, Orwell, Camus and Murakami. Basically I have a soft-spot for anything surreal, existential and/or political.

Music's the harder one to pin down - saying I like anything good is hackneyed but I'll list my favourite broad areas of fancy:
Blues, particularly more modern, Black Keys, Hillstomp or Devil Makes Three variety;
African music, from more traditional Cheikh Lo, Miriam Makeba through to more modern stuff like the Owiny Sigoma Band;
Down-tempo electronic, of which there are too many subinterests and focuses to list;
Reggae! Nuff said;
Dub. Ditto
Jazz and anything that fits the middle-of-the-night on a summer's evening, hanging-one-leg-out-of-an-open-window vibe!
Big Brass Bands of a New Orleansean pursuasian
Pyschadelic 60s.... hip-hop... gypsy... funk... a sprinkling of classical... I could keep going but I'll leave it at that!

My choice in films varies from the most cringeworthy artsy through to a good action film or a documentary... you know it really depends on my mood!

It's hard not to be vague with a question like that

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbing through cloud forest on a rarely climbed, jungle-covered mountain in Malaysia the din of insects and animals suddenly stopped, the soil dissappeared and the terrain became one massive, intertwinned bonsai tree... we were inside a cloud, on solid ground but it was like we were climbing the highest reaches of a magical tree. When we got to the top, to where we were camping, we stopped in the clearing by the peak. I'd just kicked off my pack and lit a cigarette when the clouds which enveloped the mountain parted, for about 10 seconds, and a view, right down the mountain into the junglous valleys below was exposed. I experienced a visceral feeling of awe that I've never had before or since.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach people to cook and make cocktails. I know basic bike maintainance and I have decent IT skills. I'm getting better with the law, but mostly I'm still learning.

Its funny, most the things I know fit into the category of random, largely useless and likely to inspire the response 'god, why d'you that shit!'

Interestingly a friend of mine is trying to build a website to make a similar skill-sharing community in Brighton. I like the idea but I had the same problem when he asked me to enter my skills... I don't know anything I said and I want to learn everything!

It's a little obvious given what I've said above but the things I want to learn most are food-related... can someone teach me how to make the ultimate sushi rice, Ethiopian curry or a vegan mousakka?

Countries I’ve Visited

Antigua and Barbuda, Belgium, Cambodia, France, Italy, Laos, Malaysia, Morocco, Poland, Spain, Thailand, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United Kingdom