We are a well travelled couple with a fun loving and considerate outlook on life. We hitched around Europe together in our late teens, travelled behind the "Iron Curtain" shortly after getting married and we've recently taken early retirement (Theresa was a teacher, Arthur a charity consultant) specifically so we can travel again and properly connect with people from different cultures and backgrounds. We are currently living in Turkey.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We are new to Couchsurfing, but not new to hosting travellers or to being hosted.
We have hosted people from all over the world for many years. This ranged from hitch-hikers we gave rides to and reciprocating for those who opened up their home to us on our travels. So once our daughters told us about Couchsurfing we thought we'd join and carry on hosting travellers using the world-wide connectivity the internet affords. We have also done a lot of house/pet sitting. We have always tried to avoid using soulless hotels where possible, preferring to stay with people in their homes or at least pop up a tent on low-key camp sites. We are always seeking to be exposed to and inspired by new ideas, philosophies, learning new ways of caring for our planet/living sustainably, to exchange stories and humour. For us, there's been no better way than meeting people where they live and opening our home to travellers. Some of those we ave met along the way have become life-long friends.

NOTE: We have only recently joined CS and we are in the process of getting verified as we currently travelling. So in the meantime, if being verified by CS is important to you, we are happy for potential hosts to ask us any questions before accepting us as guests and/or check our passports on arrival so that you feel confident about hosting us .

Interests

Obviously travel, but also:

Arthur: photography (nature, wildlife, marine), hiking (our home in Turkey is right by what is considered to be one of the top 10 coastal trails in the world - the ancient Lycian Way in Turkey - come experience it with us), snorkelling, cycling, basketball, sledding, skiing, reading, theatre, music, art, ceramics, bird watching (top of my wish-list is to see the birds of paradise in PNG), politics, current affairs, volunteering, social justice.

Theresa: reading, art, ceramics, swimming, snorkelling, hiking, cycling, sledding, skiing, card games, up-cycling old bits of furniture and found objects, music (took up the clarinet recently), current affairs, volunteering, social justice.

• pets
• wildlife
• birds
• arts
• culture
• photography
• dining
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• pottery
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• snorkeling
• skiing
• basketball
• swimming
• teaching
• emergency services
• tourism
• volunteering
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Theresa:
Books: Too many to name. I love and studied the classics at university. I enjoy well written contemporary books. Ones which recently gripped me: Gone Girl, The Farm. Girl on a Train. Anything by Gillian Flynn and Joanne Harris.

Music: Classical, Blues, Jazz.

Movies: In Bruges, Django Unchained, Little Miss Sunshine, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Shawshank Redemption, Chocolate, foreign language, especially French, Turkish.

Arthur:
Music: Indie, Reggae, House, Blues, Jazz, Bluegrass, Classical.

Movies: In Bruges, Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction (and any Tarantino), Harold & Maude, Little Miss Sunshine, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Shawshank Redemption, Borne Trilogy.

Books: Thomas Hardy (if I'm feeling too happy), Bill Bryson (if I need cheering up - which is usually after reading Thomas Hardy), The Gormanghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake and such like (if I need to 'escape'), nature and science journals (to reduce the speed at which my brain cells are dying off).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Moving to Turkey.

Teach, Learn, Share

Culture, laughter, food, fun, music, stories.
Guide you along our section of the stunningly beautiful coastal/mountain trail known as the ancient Lycian Way.
Take you to some of the local sites:
Ancient sites: Patara, Xanthos, Tlos, kayak over the Kekova Sunken city.
The longest stretch of unspoilt sandy beach and dunes on the Mediterranean (20km) where Loggerhead turtles lay their eggs is close by. Saklikent Gorge, Trek the Akdag Mountain Range (11,000 feet).
Turkish cuisine.
Snorkel/dive in the crystal clear sea right by our house.
We would LOVE to share it all with you.
Or if you prefer to do your own thing, we can make recommendations....
Plus, we want to be enriched by your travel stories and insights.

What I Can Share with Hosts

A sense of humour.

Weird and wonderful travel stories: which include getting arrested behind the "Iron Curtain" by the secret police, nearly getting kidnapped in Portugal, inadvertently sharing a hostel room in Israel with someone claiming to be the 'messiah' (that was a long night!).
How did we escape the secret police? How did we narrowly avoid getting kidnapped? Did Arthur become a disciple of the 'messiah' guy? For the answer to these questions and more weird and wonderful stories, you'll just have to host us! (Don't worry, we have some "normal" travel stories to share too!)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Turkey, United Kingdom, United States