Hi! I'm Juan Andrés!

During my travels I tried to integrate into cultures as much as possible by staying with locals, using local transportation, hitchhiking, eating local food, living on the local daily budget, and just trying to meet as many people as possible. I had a great experience and found that overall, people are kind and will surprise you if you just trust a little. Couchsurfing was great, so I am hoping to give back to the community by hosting people at my place when possible.

About me: I'm from Venezuela but have lived in the United States for quite some time now. These days, I own my own businesses — a hostel and a mobile dog grooming service. It’s been quite an adventure shifting from traveling and engineering into entrepreneurship, but I love the freedom and variety it brings.

My interests include sitting at the beach, hiking, swimming, playing football, discussing life in general, and complaining/laughing about how human beings follow made-up rules.

I’ve had a lot of random jobs and experiences throughout my life, so I have plenty of stories to share and things to teach.

If you are coming to Houston, I’ll just warn you it’s not the best place for tourism, but my house is centrally located and near the light rail metro — so this will be as good as it gets for public transportation in Houston.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words... My Instagram: j_andres235

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To learn as much as possible from people from all over the world

Interests

• technology
• traveling
• investing
• hiking
• beaches
• entrepeneurship

Music, Movies, and Books

The Alchemist, 4 Hour Work Week, The Innovator's Dilemma, The E-Myth

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Have been to 7 FIFA World Cup matches including one final

Teach, Learn, Share

My travel philosophy:

A lot of people preach to be a traveler as opposed to a tourist. But what does this really mean? From my travels:

Find the extremes and dig deep into them. They all give you perspective. Whether that's really local, really hippie, really conservative or really liberal. They all give you equal insight into life. Ignoring any one of them would be trying to solve a huge puzzle without a piece. Even if the people at the extremes make you uncomfortable - they are the passionate ones - the ones that will help you understand their beliefs. To go in the middle is traveling for leisure (pleasure) and marks the difference between a traveler and a tourist. And to ignore the other experiences only reaffirms your beliefs making you a closed minded person while traveling, seeing the world as you want to see it, which defeats the purpose.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can teach you English and/or Spanish. I cannot cook very well but I can Google some good recipes of traditional Venezuela food for you and we can attempt them together. In Houston I can show you all my favorite spots and give you a tour of the city.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kosovo, Latvia, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Venezuela