DISCLAIMER

Dear Couchsurfers!
Before you read any further, please be aware that we are a family with two children (11yo and 6yo) and our house is located about 25 minutes from downtown Charleston by car with no public transportation options (approximate location: https://goo.gl/maps/HKtVg). The kids are in bed by 8PM, and wake up around 6AM. So if you want to spend the night out and/or sleep in late without being bothered, you might have a more enjoyable stay elsewhere.
Also, we like to share supper with our guests, at least on the first night, so we would appreciate if you could arrive to our house around 6:00PM.
Now, read on! We'd be happy to have you over!

ABOUT US

We are a Russian-Canadian-American family of five who loves to travel, both to far-away countries and close to home. When we are not travelling, we are exploring our own city. When we are not doing that, we are making good memories with friends and family. We are no party animals, but enjoy staying up late from time to time for conversations with interesting people, or a round of Settlers of Catan, or Carcassonne, or Ticket to Ride, always with cup of tea in hand. And cookies. We are open-minded, creative, and energetic.

We lived 8 years in Russia, 17 years in Montreal, Canada, 4 months in Barcelona, Spain and 11 years and counting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

So far, we've hosted over 300 people from over 20 countries with ages ranging from 9 months to 78 years old. Why do we keep hosting? Because every one of these guests brought us so much excitement that we want to keep experiencing it over and over again. Hosting is a bit like a drug really... We were lucky enough to host amazing people with wonderful stories to share and unforgettable cooking skills. :)

We surfed for the first time during our two-week trip to Japan 🇯🇵 in 2012 and had a blast with each and every one of our hosts!

In April 2015, when Nina was 17 months, we toured the U.S. Pacific Northwest for 10 days staying almost exclusively with couchsurfing hosts.

In May 2016, we did a three week roadtrip to Montreal 🇨🇦 and back. At the time, Nina was 2.5 years old and Alex - 5 months old. It was a great trip made even greater by all the couchsurfers that hosted us along the way!

In 2017, we made several short trips around the southeast and tried to stay with couchsurfing hosts as much as possible.

In 2018, we did a road trip through Colorado and Wyoming during which we stayed with some couchsurfing friends in Colorado Springs and were lucky to find a host in Victor, ID that hosted all six of us (we were traveling with Dima's parents).

In 2019, we road tripped through Costa Rica 🇨🇷 with all three of our kids and Dima's parents. We were lucky enough to get hosted in San Jose by a wonderful family that were not opposed to host all seven of us!

In 2020, we did not travel much like the rest of the world...

In 2021, we did a roadtrip through Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. We were hosted only once, near Knoxville, TN, but it was a very pleasant stay!

In 2022, we road tripped to Montreal 🇨🇦 and back, spent a week in Puerto Rico and Christmas break in Brazil 🇧🇷 with family!

In 2023, we did not couchsurf much, but we were fortunate to spend two weeks in Iceland 🇮🇸 with Dima’s parents.

Interests

Tania is a crafter. She likes to glue, paste, crochet, paint, and make a mess around her while doing all that.

Dima is a runner, balalaika player, and DIYer. He also likes to clean up the mess that Tania makes.

At 11 years of age, Nina likes books, puzzles, tree climbing and drawing. We also recently acquired two bunnies - Sirius and Albus - all thanks to Nina’s constant asking and perseverance. They are now running around the house acting like they own the place.

Anna is 6 years old. She likes to steal treats from the upper shelves, ride her bike (no training wheels!), dance, play with dolls, get in trouble and then redeem herself with her cute smile.

Together, we like to swim in the ocean or in the pool, ride our bikes, read together and explore new places.

We are also very interested in sustainable living, growing at least some of our food, reusing, repairing, recycling, composting... and constantly learning to be better stewards of our planet.

• books
• cooking
• running
• partying
• reading
• traveling
• crochet
• puzzles
• painting
• cartography
• languages
• biking

Music, Movies, and Books

G:\Music\
Chico Buarque, Tim Maia, Nara Leao, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton!!!), Antonio Carlos Jobim, Pat Metheny, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Queen, The Beatles, Pink Martini, Auktyon, Glen Miller, Nikki Yanofski, Mikhail Scherbakov, Bobby McFerrin, Alex Pangman, Patrick Watson, Sagapool, Pink Floyd, Bit Kvartet Sekret, Galt MacDermot, Pomplamoose, AJR, Les doigts de l'homme, Renaud, Emir Kusturica, Yann Tiersen, Astor Piazzolla, Earth Wind & Fire... and other random songs

Wall\Bookshelf\
Ann Patchett, Sergey Dovlatov, Milan Kundera, Viktor Pelevin, George R. R. Martin, J. K. Rowling, Mikhail Bulgakov, Peter Mayle, Ray Bradbury, Vladimir Nabokov...

TV\Movies\
Anything by Wes Anderson, the Harry Potter series, Les Intouchables, Amelie, Shawshank Redemption, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The deserts of the American Southwest and Eisriesenwelt in Austria... beautiful!

Saw a total solar eclipse from our back yard and hosted 16 couch surfers for that occasion.

Saw a second total solar eclipse on Dima's birthday,

Teach, Learn, Share

We believe that everyone has something to teach. But of course learning from open-minded and enthusiastic people is the best!

What I Can Share with Hosts

A cozy home, a good meal, energetic kids, a jamming partner, a warm bed, board games, tea with chocolate, thoughtful conversations and more!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, United States, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Russian Federation, Spain, United States