I grew up in the British countryside (although I spent my final year of primary school at a German grundschule, besides two years of infancy - which I sadly don't remember - in Papua New Guinea), and after finishing school I spent three years intermittently working and travelling before going to university. During this time, I worked in pubs and factories, did a grape harvest in France, taught English and Maths in India, and spent several months backpacking around South America, before studying International Relations at university, including one fantastic term living in Tokyo.

After graduating, I found work in the Caribbean fixing and maintaining boats, something which I had no experience whatsoever but which I now want to learn a lot more about, and which provided a welcome change after years of reading political economy.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I like to travel (far beyond my means) and to see and experience as many places as possible; since I can't actually afford to do that for much of the time, I have hitch-hiked around for years, taken the cheapest possible public transport, stayed in grimy hostels or camped etc. I have never actually got around to using Couchsurfing before, despite setting up an account years ago and leaving it to moulder.... But the richest and most rewarding times I have spent abroad have often been when staying in people's homes. So for someone who already hitches, freecycles and dumpster-dives, it just makes sense.

Interests

Even though I swapped it for manual labour, I do still find political economy fascinating and I have always enjoyed academia a lot. Besides reading in my own time, I also like both journalistic and creative writing. Photography has always been a hobby, and I have used SLRs since high school. I cycle - and generally tinker with bikes - and run and walk a lot, and enjoy most outdoors activities, like trekking and climbing. I play squash and table-tennis and am a rugby fan (which is sort of compulsory if you have Welsh family); I played rugby throughout my entire childhood, but stopped years ago. I feel that I gain a lot from learning and practicing foreign languages, even though it can be draining, especially in fully immersive environments. I play guitar badly, but much prefer listening to other, better musicians.

• writing
• photography
• beer
• coffee
• running
• pub crawls
• reading
• traveling
• guitar
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• backpacking
• rock climbing
• tennis
• rugby
• racquetball
• international relations
• languages
• mathematics
• squash

Music, Movies, and Books

Too many to list

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Cycled from the UK to Morocco

Teach, Learn, Share

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What I Can Share with Hosts

I can put people up if they need a place to crash - but it would mean sharing a room, so you might want to look elsewhere furst; it's more of an emergency provision, as you might find Sweden isn't the most hospitable land...

Countries I’ve Visited

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin (French part), South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United States, Uruguay, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands Antilles, Papua New Guinea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom