I'm a Malaysian-Swiss entrepreneur with 3 young boys on a mission to visit every country in the world.

I grew up in Malaysia, left home at the age of 11 (boarding school), left Malaysia to study in the UK at the age of 19 (which was when I started to travel extensively) and have lived abroad ever since.

My chance meeting with Kenshi, a Japanese guy I met at the hostel in Tallinn, Estonia who had then visited 63 countries was the impetus of my initial goal to visit 100 countries before 30.

I traveled for six months after my Masters when I met my ex-husband who is Swiss in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I moved to Switzerland in 2010 after spending 6 months with my sister in Arlington, Virginia.

I started working in Zurich, Switzerland and traveled at every opportunity I got, finally visiting Kuwait my 100th country at the age of 28.

I‘ve since traveled alone, as a couple, with friends, as a family, alone with my kids (to the jungles of Nicaragua and Cape Verde, etc.) and am on a journey to visit every country in the world.

My oldest son visited 32 countries in 6 continents by the age of 3. Unfortunately his country count has not progressed much since Covid (he is now 8 and has been to 38 countries as of Dec 2023). His two younger brothers have both been to more than 25 and 30 countries respectively.

I love living in Switzerland thanks to the nature and have done many solo hikes in the Alps.

As I studied Japanese Studies, Japan feels like one of my homes and I speak some Japanese apart from English, Malay and German.

I love food and I miss Malaysian food. It isn‘t surprising to find me in the many Malaysian restaurants in London and watching a musical in the West End or in NYC. Neither is it surprising to find me eating street food across West Africa and Asia.

Some of the things I love most about traveling is connecting the dots and finding similarities in our differences. Like how I figured out that the Aromat the Greenlanders use to eat the blubber of the whale, is the same Swiss condiment I love on my potatoes, or when I correctly guessed how a Sierra Leonean mom cooked her hot sauce (the same way we do our sambal in Malaysia) and how rambutan, one of my favourite fruits is called monkey apple in Liberia and mamon chino in Costa Rica.

I update my Instastory on my travels at @travelmusefamily and my travel blog is www.travelmusefamily.com

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Discovering harmony in diversity. It is the reason I love to travel and am on CS. I would like to meet like-minded travelers and locals around the world. I would love to learn more about the people, culture, history from locals, instead of just exploring a country as a typical tourist.

Interests

• architecture
• languages
• travel
• food
• nature
• spirituality

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveled to 141 countries (as of March 2024)
Hitch hiked from England to Morocco
Traveled overland twice in West Africa covering Senegal to Nigeria (with one flight in between from Monrovia, Liberia to Abidjan, Cote d‘Ivoire)
Slept in a tent for a whole month traveling from Nairobi to Johannesburg
Backpacked six months across Africa and South America
Countless backpacking trips across Europe
Climbed volcanoes in Central America
Survived the jungles of Nicaragua alone with 3 kids
Bungee jumped near Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe
Started my own recruitment business during Covid

What I Can Share with Hosts

My travel experience, Love for Humanity

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Wales, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Malaysia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States