I was born and raised in south-west London in a town called Twickenham (home of English rugby!) and frequently visited the centre of London growing up. It's one of my favourite places in the world, no matter what time of year but I've been living in Brighton on England's south coast for two years now (for university) and I love it here too.

I know a fair amount about London and Brighton should anyone need a guide round either :) as I'm currently living with friends in Brighton it's difficult for me to have guests, but let me know if you'd like to meet up :)

As a quick intro, I am a: frequent writer, confused poet, passionate photographer, old dancer, newly established blogger, constant bookworm, eager traveller, dedicated scout, musical lover, standard camper and an all-round perfectionist.

My blog: http://alittlesparkofmadness.com/

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

As a Guest:

I'm hoping to experience a different side of travelling by couchsurfing.
I'd like to gain more of an insider's perspective of the places I visit and have it feel like the road is my home rather than feeling like a tourist, especially in the bigger cities.
I would also like to gain friends with which I could travel or host in England later in life, or whichever country I end up living in!
Half the experience of travelling is the company you keep and I'm hoping to make some great memories by couchsurfing my way around.

As a Host:

As I mentioned, I can't currently host but once I can it will be for similar reasons as I stated above. Gaining friends, memories and experiences from pure strangers.
I'd also like to host because I think we can take our home towns for granted sometimes; I know I do. Because I live here every day, I sometimes miss the astonishing details and beauty of what I walk past so often, and having guests would remind me to look and appreciate my surroundings as I show them around. Although I could be a guide to a city, a guest could be a guide to a new perspective.

Interests

Literature, poetry, photography, dance, musicals, camping, hiking, nature, cycling, exploring, campfires, travelling, friends, history, discovering, preserving the environment, cooking, motorcycles, yoga, the stars, tea, films, rugby, people, scuba diving, the universe, eating, psychology, teaching, chocolate, self-preservation and development, saunas, learning, interior design, archaeology, organisation, making memories, spontaneity, dream catchers.

Music, Movies, and Books

Constantly changing so I'll try and update this every so often with the current favourites:

The Lumineers, Ludovico Einaudi, Imagine Dragons, Ben Howard, Chet Faker, John Mayer, Passenger

Toy Story 1, 2 and 3, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, The King's Speech, Big Fish, Shutter Island, Iron Man, Se7en, Gone Girl, good Will Hunting
(almost anything that stars Leo, Tom, Colin, Ewan, Mark or Robin)

Jane Eyre, Small Island, Frankenstein, The Secret Life of Bees, The Happiness Project

- 2017

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

*Taught English in a university in Thailand for three months.

*Overcame a fear and learnt to scuba dive to Advanced Open Water level - during which I dived the wreck of a sunken US navy ship from WW2 off the coast of Koh Tao, Thailand.

*Swam and played with elephants at a sanctuary on Koh Chang and again in Chiang Mai, both Thailand.

Teach, Learn, Share

Yes, yes, yes.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Being new to this I'm not really sure what kind of things hosts would like me to share!

Unfornately I have not had the pleasure of learning any other language fluently but if a host would like some help with their English, I'd be more than happy to assist. I taught English at a University in Thailand for three months when I could barely speak ten words of Thai, so I'm practiced in visual explanation and have a lot of patience with teaching it!

If your English is already pretty good, I'm happy to lead a poetry workshop with you if you'd like. I'd like to think I'm a fairly creative person, I could also teach you how to use a camera manually or share my experiences from previous travels if you're interested. One thing I do like to do for my hosts is cook, so as long as you're happy with that, it'll happen :)

I hope that's given you some idea but if all you'd like is help decorating a room, someone to watch a film with or just play some cards with, then that would be great :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

England, Thailand