ABOUT ME

English guy, occasional traveller.

If you are planning on coming to London, get in touch. Sadly I can't host this year, but I have a laid-back student lifestyle which means I can show you around. I know some people who could possibly host you, too. When I'm not in Oxford I could be away travelling, or at home in Cambridge (my parents' house, so I can't host there)

I have been travelling occasionally and hosting couchsurfers for a pretty long time now - When I was 18 I went to Cuba to see the people, the famous cities, the music and the politics there. About half of the cities that I visited that summer had fiestas or carnivals going on, which meant I could party pretty much constantly for about three months - rum, socialism, and reggaeton - heaven! And then I went around Mexico in a big loop from Cancun to Mexico City - the route everyone does, for good reasons! San Cristobal de las Casas and Mayan pyramids

My other great adventure was a trip inspired by a friend when we went through Central Asia from Pakistan through China and Kyrgyzstan to Almaty in Kazakhstan. The diversity and experiences we had along the way were unforgettable, especially in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan. The other two countries we didn't actually get to see much of - just one city in each of them. I try not to travel too fast, and also I have decided now it is best not to have too many set ideas about what you're going to do. This can lead to disappointment if you don't fulfil everything you wanted to see / do: on the other hand, I try to get a good knowledge of the culture and history because whatever happens, you'll enjoy it more and find more interest if you understand what's going on!

PHILOSOPHY

When in doubt, play Stevie

Что привело меня на Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting and staying

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I hosted a lot of people over about a year in a student house in Oxford, and we've been hosting in London for about a year. We've had some fantastic groups, and are usually happy to host but sometimes we are too busy to look after people... Also, we occasionally have extra people living in the house, which makes space an issue.

Интересы

Broad! Travel, literature, learning Russian, pubs and beer, music - 2% jazz, 98% funky stuff - art, playing piano, cycling, travelling, international affairs, politics, social sciences, philosophy, climate change

• arts
• culture
• literature
• beer
• partying
• pub crawls
• politics
• traveling
• music
• jazz
• piano
• cycling
• history
• social science

Музыка, кино и книги

My all-time favourites are funk and soul: Stevie, James Brown, Parliament, Herbie, Al Green, Wilson Pickett, Aretha, Doris, Marvin Gaye, Ike & Tina Turner, MJ, The Apples, Sly, The Meters, Charles Earland, Otis Redding, Donald Byrd, Sweet Inspirations, Candi Staton, Ann Peebles, Diana Ross...

I also enjoy a lot of jazz, blues, soul, reggae and classical. Sixties rock & roll - Beatles, Who, Stones, Kinks, Small Faces, Bowie, Beach Boys

But after a while a genre becomes too familiar to you, and you need the excitement of discovering new ones. At the moment these are dubstep and hip hop - The Roots, Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, some of NWA

Reading-wise, I'm much more Catholic. Mostly English literature, but anything from Hardy to dystopias....Waugh, Balzac, George Orwell, Milan Kundera, China Mieville, Dostoevsky, Noam Chomsky, Aldous Huxley, Jane Austen, Lisa St Aubin de Teran.

Классная вещь, которую я сделал(-а)

Palenque, Mexico... Baracoa, Cuba... Berlin, the Pakistani Himalayas

Где я побывал(-а)

Bahamas, Belgium, China, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United States

Где я жил(-а)

United Kingdom

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