ABOUT ME

I am a photographer from Vilnius, Lithuania. I was pursuing a career in professional figure skating for most of my teenage years, studied TV production in London and later cinema in Prague, and learned Persian in a language institute in Tehran. Since my late teens I started traveling by hitch-hiking. Summer trips around Europe soon evolved into a full-time nomadic lifestyle with travel routes criss-crossing Africa, the Middle East, India and South East Asia. I used to travel on a very low budget or no budget at all. Always by hitch-hiking, picking up random jobs on the way, busking or selling my pictures in the streets. In the past 10 years I hitched over 200 000 kilometres in 3 different continents.

As I am getting older my approach to travel and adventure is changing too. I am looking for more meaning and purpose in my travels. I move slower and look closer. I tend to spend more time in one place and understand it better, learn something, become part of it. Photography is now the primary reason why I travel. It is my passion and my job.

After spending two years in Lithuania working as a photojournalist and production manager for foreign TV crews I am back on the road this time exploring South America.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surfed quite a few couches even before opening CS account. Haven't had a chance to host anybody yet. For now just trying to be a guest worth hosting:)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

From the most amazing to the most unpleasant.

Interests

photography, electronic music, rock n' roll, movies, travel, languages, revolutions, art, love, dance, wild camping, taking risks, riding freight trains, hitch-hiking, people, nature, maps, countries, cities, villages, desert...

• arts
• photography
• dancing
• movies
• traveling
• juggling
• music
• hiking
• camping
• cartography
• languages
• religion
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Angelopoulos, Kubric, Tarr, Welles, Lynch, Hitchcock, Kieslowski, Scorsese, Copola, Forman, Fellini, Antonioni, Parajanov, Bunuel, Wilder, Malick...

La Teta Asustada, The Turin Horse, La Grande Bellezza, Ashes and Snow, The Hunt, Apocalypse Now, Soy Cuba, Come And See, Irreversible, Ulysses' Gaze, Double Indemnity, Psycho, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Los Olvidados, Stalker, Les Diaboliques, The Conformist, M, Rififi, The Fall, El Mariachi, Koyaanisqatsi, The Trial...

Tinariwen, Kouroush Yaghmaei, Tamikrest, Yemen Blues, The Beatles, Tom Waits, Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Queen, Prince, The Doors, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Genesis, Jackson C. Frank, Led Zeppelin, Simple Minds, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Phil Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Cure, Joy Division, The Black Keys, Elton John, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Bill Withers...

Snow [Orhan Pamuk]
Crime and Punishment [Dostoyevsky]
1984 [George Orwell]

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Rode a 2.5-kilometer long freight train to the depths of the Sahara desert in Mauritania from Nouadhibou to Zouerat and back... 5 times!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach:
*photography
*juggling
*ice skating
*hitch-hiking
*traveling low budget/no budget
*farsi.

I would love to learn:
spanish
how to DJ
percussion (darbuka, tam tam, jambe)
developing negatives

I can share:
*my stories and experience about traveling, visas, border crossings, hitch-hiking, places worth visiting and places to be avoided.
*my knowledge about photography, cinema and music.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Western Sahara

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, Georgia, India, Iran, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom

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