〽️ CURRENTLY stuck in Europe in March after I visited for the weekend and now can’t return due to the war! Alas, I’m excited for this opportunity and adventure — I’m not worried at all. 〽️
💛 Please understand: I travel FOR Couchsurfing. I ONLY visit places where I have a host, and I will come just to enjoy time with you. Thus I try to be flexible and change my travel dates to suit you, because in my mind I’m visiting you (not the city). Equally, I love adventure, and I usually go out exploring all day (so I won’t be stuck at home doing nothing). I usually stay only a day or two. 💛

🇦🇺 Originally Australian, but now….
✈️ I’m currently living in Amman in Jordan.
في اللحظة أنا أدرس اللغة عربية في عمان، الأردن 🇯🇴
🫆 My Instagram is spencer_bmd for safety and verification.

🌍 I’ve met and stayed with many amazingly good (and also not so good) people around the world — from religious Imams in Iran, to families in Iraq, to a priest in Bosnia, to the most inspiring couples, to those without clothing, to people with stories I’ll never forget. Nothing surprises me anymore, yet every experience is wonderfully new and exciting! One thing CS has taught me though is that….
🙄 Your ‘open-mindedness’ is RELATIVE, with drastically opposing interpretations. For some hosts, open-mindedness means allowing me to wear shorts in the same room as their wife, for others it’s chatting with someone from another religion or political view, or for some it’s about what you wear or not wear, or who you hookup with or not. Thus the term is often based on convenience, hypocritical, and meaningless!
✌🏽 All [something]-phobic people are still welcome (I don’t know why we should reject others based on fear).

💼 I work with refugees through my own project that I developed. Back home, I worked in a university and as an English teacher, and built a dating app before that.
🏡 I’ve been living in Jordan since early 2024. Prior to that, I moved between Istanbul, Turkey where my home was setup for refugees, and Melbourne where I studied.
🏫 Completed my Masters in International Development at The University of Melbourne, with my background in International Politics & Anthropology.
📝 I am a writer and poet: https://link.medium.com/6NkRXNmQTeb
🐦 I am also pretty active on Twitter too: https://mobile.twitter.com/spencerbm98
📚 My Goodreads profile is: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/122793608

✈️ I try to travel as much as possible. I love connecting with different people and learning from experiences, which give me practical knowledge for life and my passion in anthropology.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏽 Volunteered in aged care in Australia, a cat shelter in Malaysia, or in Indonesia as an advocate and assist the health rights of the kids and also improve the economic development of a village.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

💭 MY PHILOSOPHY:...
📝 There shouldn’t be too many expectations, but, “the currency of Couchsurfing is REFERENCES”. I put a lot of effort into writing my references for people I meet, so I really hope they can do the same.
👐🏽 Otherwise, I love Couchsurfing because it’s all about becoming a part of and spreading the human chain of kindness :)
👩🏼‍🤝‍👨🏽 Foster true and rich cultural awareness, that is not just superficial, but relies on the depth of stories and experiences that challenge different worldviews.

Interests

• cats
• culture
• humanitarian relief
• running
• traveling
• cycling
• hiking
• anthropology
• philosophy
• hitchhiking
• last minute travel
• social justice
• learning new things
• doctor who
• trance music
• apple

Music, Movies, and Books

🎶 Classical piano and trance.
🎥 ‘Arrival’, ‘Cloud Atlas’ and ‘Moonlight’.
📖 Non-fiction books to fill my brain with different perspectives on reality, especially philosophy, theology, politics, and academic articles.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

1️⃣👑 Met the Royal Sultan of Brunei.
2️⃣💥 Went to Ukraine during the war! And stayed on the border of Yemen and Saudi Arabia with bombing at night.
3️⃣🏜️ Hitchhiked along the three largest deserts in the world, and also 1,200km in Oman in one day.
4️⃣🏔️ Hiked 70km in the Andes of Peru!
5️⃣🛌 Traveled the Middle-East for 6 months and relied solely on Couchsurfing! (Didn’t get a hotel.)

Teach, Learn, Share

🧠 I am fascinated by cultural differences around the world — as I travel and meet more people I am eager to share and learn more about this, so that hopefully I can become a more empathetic person.

What I Can Share with Hosts

🌐 A unique perspective and am willing to break stereotypes.
👥 I am a genuine Couchsurfer. I only visit cities if I have a host, because I learn more about the culture by being with a local person than visiting places alone. The philosophy of Couchsurfing is about kindness, human connection and cultural experience.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Western Sahara

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey, Viet Nam