My name is Alex, I am a 30 year old traveler and content creator from Germany!

Throughout my entire life I was very blessed to have various opportunities to travel abroad.
During my Bachelor Studies I had the chance to particpate in a short exchange program in Novosibirsk, Russia and later on doing an exchange semester in Seoul, South Korea.
This opened my horizon and sparked my curiosity about the entire Asian continent and traveling the world.

For my Masters, I decided to enroll in a 100% online university, which allowed me to do my entire studies on my laptop while backpacking through East & South East Asia for 1.5 years straight. It was a life-changing time of growth, new friendships and learning so much about the world.

Near the end of my studies I also started content creation, back then I didn't really thought about doing it full-time one day, but now my Instagram channel (@alexweldertravels) has grown over 130,000 followers, and through my other channels on TikTok, Facebook and Youtube I can now call traveling my full time job! (Alex Welder Travels)

Since then I have repeatedly visited and traveled across the Asian continent, I love the diversity in people, cultures, food and religions and I am always looking for the next adventure, next interesting story and more inspiring people to meet! :)

As for my preferences, I have a passion for trying out new dishes and tasting every local food! I can eat (almost) everything but most of time I might go with something spicy 😁
I also absolutely love food cultures that involve sharing your dish, like in Korean barbecue, Middle Eastern Cusine, Spanish tapas and many more! But I'm always challenging myself to try something new.

Another hobbies of me are languages, going for a hike and going out and socialize with people. I love having a chat with local people and getting close to them since I have the belief that this is the best way to really dive deeper into the local culture!

I’m always down for small talks and discussing about all different topics and traveling experiences. Just ask me anything!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am always looking out to meet people from all different kind of places and sharing stories with them about all different kind of topics. While hostels are great for meeting fellow travelers from my home country or similar cultures, I often feel a little bit disconnected to the local culture of the place I visit after a while.

So for me, I see Couchsurfing as the best experience to truly deep dive into the local culture since you stay with people who call the place they live their home. This results in a very unique experience compared to other methods of traveling and I hope to get the most authentic experience where I can learn a lot and return from the place I visit as a more humbled and knowledgeable person.

I believe that people who open their place for stranger people and helping them travel the world are people with a big heart, and I am genuinely interested and exciting to meet and connect with these people. :)

Interests

• socializing
• hiking
• languages
• food
• going out

Music, Movies, and Books

I would describe myself as very open minded when it comes to music since I'm listening to basically every music genre there is, depending on my mood and the situation:
Old School rap, 90s/2000s pop, J/K-pop, Reggae, Techno, House, Hardstyle, Jazz…

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Riding motorbike for 5 days on the Ha Giang Loop in Northern Vietnam.
The scenery and the beautiful people and locals I met on the way is something I will never forget

- Walking the Camino Santiago in Galicia, Spain for 9 days for the last 150 kilometers.
Arriving at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela accompanied by the sound of some guy playing Amazing Grace on his bagpipe was one of my all-time travel highlights.

- Hitchhiking for the first time in Japan. I could not put the unbeliveable hospitality of the Japanese people I received into words.

- Holi Festival in the Braj Region India: Crazier than anywhere else in the country.
Certainly not an experience I would recommend to everybody, but an unforgettable one for me nonetheless

Teach, Learn, Share

I am always curious about different languages !!
My goal is to learn some basic sentences and some food vocabulary for every country I visit.
I think it's the best way to connect with a new country you are visiting and showing respect to the culture the same time

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can teach you some German for your travels if you plan to go there :D

Also I can share some knowledge and advice from my trips to different countries

I am also always keen to help in the household like washing dishes or cleaning, if you need some help :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Mongolia, Myanmar, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, South Korea