Hi there! My name is Alex, or Ali, whatever you prefer.

Just came back from a year of traveling around Australasia. Adjusting back is quite the time ain't it?

I'm honestly pretty busy with school and working at the local outdoors store but I'm always happy to lend a bed to a traveling stranger. Bonus points if you climb

PHILOSOPHY
Give and receive generosity. Life is goodness

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
I love the language of generosity that couchsurfing creates. Rather than travel involving mostly monetary exchange, couchsurfing allows it to be a cultural exchange, a sharing of ones home and ones self, an opportunity to receive and offer generosity. It also allows for the creation of global friendships, and I am always looking to create more. There is nothing more fun than being able to go anywhere in the world and get to stay with a friend! Everyone I've met through couch surfing has been fantastic and many I would now consider to be some of my best friends. For the most part I've acted as a host on couchsurfing but I am excited to get the opportunity to be a couchsurfer once again. When I'm traveling I like to couchsurf as much as possible (unless I already have a friend that lives wherever I am) as I love getting a glimpse into other people's lives and I find it the best way to travel.

Couchsurfing host highlight: Once we had 5 couchsurfers on the night of 4th of July, two from Germany, one from Israel, one from Australia and one from New York all here on the same night. It was awesome!

Couchsurfing highlight: Staying with an incredibly kind and fun entrepreneur in Copenhagen who had the most massive vinyl collection and an incredible ability to make anyone feel at home and welcome. Runner up: Having a party on a Yacht in Seattle, Washingotn and jumping into the freezing cold ocean in autumn.

Interests

Man oh man I got lots but enjoying the nature on our beautiful earth is probably the highest up there. I’m a passionate climber, backpacker, highliner, snowshoer, skier, caver, over all outdoors person. I’m also mad into arts and crafts, sustainability, ethical entrepreneurship/business, science, health,

• breakfast
• wine
• reading
• traveling
• live music
• outdoor activities
• backpacking
• kayaking
• whitewater rafting
• snowshoeing
• rock climbing
• neuroscience
• mountains
• learning languages
• museums
• vinyl records

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Fleetwood, MacFather John Misty, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Matt Corby, Ray Lamountagne, Fleet Foxes, The Weepies, Delta Rae, Daughter, The Beatles, Andrew Bird, Lo fang, The Civil Wars, Bright Eyes, Villagers, Frank Ocean, James Blake, City and Colour, Nick Drake, Punch Brothers, Beck, Iron & Wine but please give me suggestions! I always want to find more!

Movies: City Island, Moonrise Kingdom, Lion, the Big Sick, 180 South, Napoleon Dynamite, my attention span is too short for full movies much of the time

Books: Dharma Bums, the Evolution of the Human Body, The Alchemist, Woman, The Tiger's Wife, Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, Lolita

Quotes:
"The best way out is always through"
"The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you didn’t even think to ask"
(On climbing) ".You get to the top of a wall, there’s nothing up there. Lionel Terray, the great French climber called it ‘The conquistadors of the useless.’ Yeah, the end result is absolutely useless, but every time I travel, I learn something new and hopefully I get to be a better person.” -Yvon Chouinard
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." -T. S. Eliot
"The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." -Lily Tomlinson
"Action is the antidote to despair"
"You are always exactly where you need to be."
"Life is full of goodness"
"Embrace the suck" -My dad after my campervan got stolen

Briefing for Entry Into A More Harsh Environment By Morgan Hite

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Walked all the way across Spain, from the French border to the ocean (550 miles/880 kms), alone the age of 18 (it took 35 days)

Went caving in the deepest vertical shaft in New Zealand, Harwoods Hole

Got my van along with everything I owned in it stolen & just kept going

Teach, Learn, Share

We all have something to teach each other whether we know it or not! That teaching can be intentional and straightforward (I'm happy to help someone learn guitar or Spanish or how to backpack Western Europe on a budget) or that teaching can be accidental and less obvious, (I have learned from couchsurfers how to be considerate, how to make friends, how good it feels to listen to music on vinyl). I love couchsurfing because we get to honestly share ourselves with awesome different people. We get to share our homes and our stories and our suggestions.

What I Can Share with Hosts

As a surfer, I try to be the way my ideal couchsurfer would be. I keep clean, I am considerate and thankful and I try to give back, whether that be a bottle of wine or cleaning the kitchen or sending a postcard.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Laos, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, England, India, United States