CURRENT MISSION

Roadtripping around the States

ABOUT ME

Note: Profile written by wife Gwen coz I am crap at writing stuff like this ( Gwen: he is!)
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Mick is in his early 30s and luckily married to me, Gwen (sorry couldn't help myself :-) Despite the 'unemployed status', he is a very hard worker and career driven - job promotions have taken him to Belgium, London (where we met) and then to Dallas, TX for four years, working for Nokia. Our work visas now expired, we are driving around the US and Canada, mostly camping and visiting national parks, however are looking for the odd respite in a city where we can just chill for a night without setting up camp. Oh, and electricity and an indoor bathroom would be great too!

Mick is sports-crazy, and has taken a real shine to American sports. However, conversations about computers or current affairs will also go down well. His wife Gwen (yep me) loves to talk to anyone about anything, and loves to visit cities and check out architecture.

We met in London in 2001 and got married in 2004; and once we travel around North America we are going to return to Australia to settle down (I am originally Tasmanian). We have had a fantastic time living in America and found the people here to be some of the most friendly on earth! We hope to add to our experiences and travel stories back in Australia by meeting people through Couchsurfing.com!

PHILOSOPHY

Mick's philosophy would probably be 'do unto others as you would have others do unto you'.

Gwen's philosophy would be based around some scripture called Desiderata. It is long, but the first two lines go like this:
'Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
'As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all people...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

While we are new to Couchsurfing.com, we fully intend to have our home open to fellow surfers in Australia. In fact we will probably be dying to hear American accents after so long here, and to argue the finer points of the NFL or baseball! We lived in the UK for many years in house-sharing situations, and fully participated in the 'backpacking culture' over there which means that your couch is always available for backpackers passing through. Loved every minute of it. Please come to Australia- we can show you the best times (or just let you do your thing if that is what you prefer).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Both of us have lived with other people for years, and have also traveled and couchsurfed in the UK and Europe. We also made many great friends in Dallas during our 4 yrs there, and we often couch-surfed when a drink or two made driving unwise.

Our apt in Dallas had a spare room and two futon couches, we once slept 10 the night before leaving for a New Orleans Mardi Gras party; and we also put up 8 Mexicans/Englishmen who were flying a microlight airplane from Canada to Mexico to raise awareness of the Monarch butterfly migration.

Last New Years we hosted a party where 8 friends couch-surfed and stayed for a lovely long breakfast, which became lunch, etc!

Interests

Mick is interested in travel (obviously!), his wife Gwen (obviously! :-), rugby union, cricket, NFL, Baseball, new technologies (especially cool gadgets), eating and drinking well, current affairs and just about anything else.

Gwen is interested in all of the above, plus photography, advertising, movies, keeping fit, architecture plus lots of other girlie stuff. Also crazy about Mick.

• culture
• writing
• architecture
• photography
• mardi gras
• breakfast
• partying
• drinking
• flying
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• backpacking
• camping
• sports
• baseball
• cricket
• rugby
• working visa
• parks

Music, Movies, and Books

MICK: Anything that is long and laborious e.g. Don Quixote, War & Peace, Moby Dick etc. I love movies of epic proportions and anything that is Post-apocalyptic!!

GWEN: Love almost all music, especially songs that really tell a story. Movies are a tough call, there are so many I love my list next week might be different next week. Action - Indiana Jones, Predator and Highlander; Drama - Sophies Choice, The Big Chill, Gone Baby Gone; War/Politics - Apocalypse Now, Syriana; Romance - On Golden Pond, The Notebook; Four Weddings; Comedy - almost anything as long as it is well written and doesn't totally rely on slapstick.
Books: Lots and lots please, favorite genres = sci-fi, historical, fantasy, horror.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

All our adventures have been amazing for different reasons, too many to list here.

Teach, Learn, Share

Gwen : As you may have figured by now, I am the chatty one! Mick is my rock, and we have a great relationship where we complement each other, love each other dearly but do not depend on each other - I think that we are lucky enough to have a truly stable relationship which will last forever. Maybe we can pass some of this on?

The other thing that springs to mind is that we have both traveled the world extensively - I have been to 32 countries and lived and worked in 4 continents - Australasia, Europe, Africa and Nth America. Mick is not far behind. Both of us could offer advice on what worked for us in 1st, 2nd and 3rd world countries, both professionally and as travelers. Even on the hardest part of traveling - leaving home!

Countries I’ve Visited

Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Grenada, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Belgium, United Kingdom, United States

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