Recently retired after serving 23 years in the US Air Force & Army. I have an 18 year old that is off to college in the fall of 2018 and really no more responsibility :-). I have traveled extensively through Europe, the Middle East and of course North America. Im ready to explore the southern hemisphere. Most of my travels have been short trips to see the highlights and now that I have the time, I plan on going at a snails pace and immersing myself into other cultures.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Im old :-) well maybe just too old to do the party thing night after night. Id like to meet locals that are closer to 45 than 18 and that crowd can get a little thin in the hostels. Not that I dont love young people, every time I hang out with one they inspire the hell out of me to throw on my backpack and stay young but I do need a good nights sleep without the temptation to "have just one more" With that said, my true objective is to immerse myself and learn spanish so it would be much more beneficial to have a local friend opposed to another gringo by my side when I hit a new city/country. An ideal situation would be to connect with people that are actively trying to learn English as I will have my TEFL certificate and another avenue to continue my travels and find places to put my head at night.

Interests

tried to hit a bunch of diverse topics but Im interested in just about anything long enough to hold a decent conversation. Maybe our time together will be an inspiration for one of us to go down a new road of interest.

• music festivals
• motorcycles
• baseball
• urban exploration
• new experiences
• making friends
• teaching english
• playing chess
• military history
• learning spanish

Music, Movies, and Books

A hard rock guy first but can find something I like in just about any genre of music. been on a kick with asian spa music as of late so you can see the diversity in that alone compared to my rock/metal upbringing.

Mostly a drama/thriller/suspense type when it comes to movies. I have a soft spot for post apocalyptic flicks to the point where i can watch the unwatchable and nothing beats a laugh so hard you cry comedy but they seem tough to find lately.

Not a big book person although I read about 3-4 hours a day, just prefer shorter reads like in-depth articles. If i do pick up a book, its usually something auto biographical.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Not sure what qualifies as amazing so Ill go with something that I never thought I would do as I was scared shitless but threw caution to the wind that day...scuba dive in the red sea! Yea, you were expecting something with WOW factor but that might have been the most intense moment of my life and ive been skydiving a bunch, bungy jumped off some insane stuff back in the day and think nothing of hitting 200mph on a sport bike.

Teach, Learn, Share

Im no where near a high competitive level chess player but Ive always loved the game and figure its something that Id like to pursue more of in my travels so teaching others, learning from those that are better, building sets from items I find on my journeys and sharing them with others rank high on the travel bucket list.

What I Can Share with Hosts

if you want to learn, Im going to teach you how to cook the greatest hamburger on the planet :-) Aside from my occasional beef indulgence, Im a closet vegetarian :-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Aruba, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Belize, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Martin (French part), Saudi Arabia, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Iraq, Kuwait, Spain