CURRENT MISSION

Understand urban fabric. Tackle urban challenges. Spread good cheer, peace and friendship.
Find out which part of the globe will agree to take us in and nurture us for the long term.

ABOUT US

Justin: I am a tck: third culture kid. a composite of various cultures. i grew up in Germany to American parents, went to university in both USA and Bulgaria, where I graduated from, have done a stint in Prague, make my home in Budapest, but am equally at home in Berlin or Istanbul.

Monika: I am Polish, through and through :) but okay I also chose Budapest as a place, a home away from home. I've also spent a lot of time in Italy.

We: After living in Budapest and Tunisia together, we are now in the Netherlands, where Justin is pursuing and advanced degree in Urban Management.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have hosted when i lived in Prague (Justin) but life (and apartment) circumstances have meant it was difficult to host much after that.
In Tunisia there was a big and vibrant couchsurfing community which we took part in.

Rotterdam update: we now have an extra mattress and are able to finally host again! :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We have been hosted by great and lovely people from Italy to Serbia, Iraq to Israel, Poland to Austria, Germany and Hungary. The list just keeps getting longer :)

Interests

walking the entire length of large cities, going up wherever possible, looking out the window, riding my bike, learning obscure or less obscure languages, games of all sorts, learning (or dreaming about learning) new hobbies, sports, yoga, fitness, films, books, art, zentangle, photography

• arts
• culture
• books
• photography
• fitness
• yoga
• walking
• movies
• cycling
• sports
• languages
• hitchhiking
• mountains
• nature
• spirituality
• sustainability
• cities
• interculturalism
• carfree living

Music, Movies, and Books

Milan Kundera, Salman Rushdie, George Orwell, Franz Kafka, John Barth, Friedriech Dürrenmatt, Arundhati Roy, Fjodor Dostoejevski, Mikhail Bulgakov, Kurt Vonnegut, R. Kapuscinski, Mario Vargas Llosa,

We enjoy music of many styles and from all over the globe. Feel free to share any music that you like that you bring with you.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

slept under a merry-go-round on the outskirts of Vienna while hitchhiking (in the summer) then getting my ride first thing in the morning. (Justin)

Balkans cycling trip: I met the mayor of Istanbul, while cycling across Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia. While riding - at a relatively high speed, in the middle of nowhere - in Bulgaria, one contact lens fell out of my eye. These were the days of hard lenses, and I had no spare one. Miraculously, I spotted it on my arm, I gently slowed down, and happily reunited with it. (Justin)

climbed straight up the east flank of the Eiger mountain in Switzerland with 2 friends and no gear, probably until half-way or so ...until fog set in and it got late. we then ran straight down the glacier (4 hours up became 40 min down, luckily missed all the crevices) (Justin)

I hitchhiked in 41 hours from Warsaw to Barcelona (Monika)

We got decked out in US military gear ... for getting roles on set in an Italian film being shot in the desert in Tunisia.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Tunisia, United States