CURRENT MISSION

A wise man once said: "life is just a ride".....I'm testing the theory out

ABOUT ME

Aged 27, I decided to leave the world of the routine, which consisted of working, eating and sleeping during the week and football and binge drinking at weekends. I quit my job, then went travelling and luckily it snowballed into my current situation. I'm now a freelance travel writer for several newspapers, magazines and websites, and I spend much of my life on the road (or so it seems!). Luckily, I rarely get bored. I daydream a lot, but I also try to turn these daydreams into realities....

PHILOSOPHY

The traditional, but important ones: treat people as you'd like to be treated yourself; you only live once, so try and make the most of it; don't just follow convention because that's the way 'it has to be done'

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm keen to meet up with people for coffee, drinks and stuff like that - although maybe sometimes a couch or spare bed would be cool! My job is great but it can get dull at times if you don't know anyone in the places you visit, so I'd love to make friends in all parts of the world...rather than visiting every museum and ruin possible (which I've done my fair share of for work), I'm more interested in hanging out in cafes/bars, going for walks around town and just mingling with people.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Met up with a few people for beers/coffee and enjoyed it, and I hope to get more involved in CS over the next year...

Interests

Travelling, writing, reading, photography, sports, keeping fit, history, art, food, coffee, good TV/films, socialising, learning what makes a place tick, meeting decent, cool people

• arts
• writing
• photography
• beauty
• dining
• wine
• red wine
• beer
• coffee
• running
• drinking
• movies
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• cycling
• sports
• soccer
• business
• freelancing
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

Everything from Guns n Roses/Oasis/Kasabian/Kaiser Chiefs/Supergrass to The Prodigy, 1990s rave DJs and 21st century dance music. Also like some classic 80s tunes, especially after a few beers. Love reading about places that I've been to or are planning to visit, whether it be Lonely Planet guides, first-person accounts or fictional books set in these countries. Paul Theroux is a particularly brilliant travel writer and tells it how it is most of the time - the good, the bad and the ugly. Also fascinated by the work of journalists and academics like John Pilger, Noam Chomsky and others whose work is often marginalised by the mainstream media. I can be a film slob at times and like most genres - apart from half-hearted Hollywood trash.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Slept in a tin shed with three girls and a monkey in Malaysia (no monkey business occured, however)...or maybe doing the 134 metre Nevis bungy jump in NZ. Volcano sand-boarding in Nicaragua; standing a metre from running lava in Guatemala; cycling down the 'World's Most Dangerous Road' in Bolivia; eating the world's biggest steaks and drinking some its finest red wine in Argentina; witnessing the natural beauty of Switzerland, New Zealand and Patagonia; travelled overland from bottom to top of South America; I've been lucky to have seen many things and gathered great memories; I hope there's more to come :)

Teach, Learn, Share

Every day you learn something different - whether it's by your own experience, reading or talking and listening to others.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, United Kingdom