Hey, I'm Benedikt, a 25-year-old solo traveler from a small town in western Germany called Ennepetal. My passion is traveling, and I always put all my effort and financial possibilities into it whenever I'm able to. Even as a very young person, I tried to expand my horizons with travel. I consider myself a very open-minded person who loves to try new things. During my travels, I have met so many amazing and lovely people from all kinds of backgrounds and cultures. It's amazing to learn about everything and everyone. I have also learned about so many different behaviors and ways of doing things, because I believe that no culture is perfect, and every culture has its advantages and disadvantages. As travelers, we should learn from all the different cultures and pick out their advantages to try to become better people and maybe show our own culture what can be done in a different or even better way. Maybe in this way, we can create a slightly better world :)

As I said, I just love meeting new people and learning about other cultures. I'm also a very active and sporty person and try every sport. Additionally, I love cooking every day. Food is a very important part of my life, and a big part of traveling for me is trying new things from all around the world. I'm that person who tries literally everything and loves everything related to food. When I'm not able to travel, I bring the kitchens of the world into my house to handle the fact that I'm not able to travel at this time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I grew up traveling a lot and it has become my most time-consuming hobby. Already at a young age, I wanted to explore the whole world. I was the whole year already super excited for the summer family vacation. And I got into traveling more and more. At some point, I just think I got addicted to it. I think traveling is sometimes just like a drug. But the thing is that there is no medicine in the world to cure that addiction :D

I was fortunate enough to live in Michigan with a host family for a year when I was still in high school. They've become like an actual family to me and I visit them at least once a year. That was the first experience where I traveled and really got to know the culture. Because it was the first time in my life, where I spend time in a foreign country time with locals. I learned in a very short time so much about the culture and the people. That was the first step where I acknowledged that traveling or staying with local people in a foreign place is so much different and better, than traveling while staying in a hotel. After that, I decided that I want to explore more countries while interacting with locals. It's just so much more fun.
I also got in touch with the concept of hosting people from different cultures because my parents had exchange students from Italy, China, Thailand, Japan, and the US. While they stayed with us I developed my interest in different cultures and different people from around the world, even more.
I also love traveling because it lets you escape from all the daily tasks and challenges and it gives you sometimes new perspectives.
I am an open-minded person, so there is nothing better than seeing and learn as much as possible as often as possible.

By now I haven't had the chance to host somebody in my home. I would love to do that but I live quite outside of the city. Because of that reason, nobody was able to stay with me. But I hope in the future I will have the chance the Host people! :)

Interests

• photography
• movies
• traveling
• music
• hiking
• soccer
• tennis
• table tennis
• adventure travel
• food
• jogging
• gym
• adrenaline
• meeting new people
• spicy food
• mountain bike
• hookah
• table soccer
• risk
• low budget

Music, Movies, and Books

I would say I really don't have a favorite movie, book, or even music.
I listen doing the day to a lot of music but my Spotify playlist is like a shake of every kind of music genre.
I love to watch documentaries of any kind. Sometimes I also love to watch some Hollywood movie :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveling with almost no money at a very young age.
Traveling 3 months through Pakistan with only staying with locals.
Traveling 1 month through Iraq with only staying with locals.
Road trips on a bike.
Half marathon.
A 250km trekking bike trip in under 14 hours.
Riding a camel in the desert.
Spending a year abroad.
Snowmobiling through the tracks in northern Michigan.
Skydiving.
Indoor skydiving.
Bunjee jumping.
And so on...

In my opinion, I've done already so much amazing things in my life that I'm not able to list them. I am so glad and thankful that I had the opportunity to do such things! But I hope, there are 1 million more amazing things to do in the future.

Teach, Learn, Share

Traveling is a process of continuous learning. Every person can learn from everyone. Even if we think the last conversation with the person on the opposite side was not important, it definitely was. Every conversation can teach us so much and it develops your own personality.

I can teach you a different perspective about my culture. Because Germans live with the stereotype that we are not smiling and we don't know how to have fun. But I'm and a lot of people in my country are quite the opposite. We definitely know how to smile and how to have fun :) And I think I already convinced some couch surfing friends and changed their opinions about Germans :D

I want to learn as much as possible. I want to learn about opinions, religion, behavior, and how people manage their daily tasks.

I can share my travel experiences and my travel stories. I can share with you what I have learned while traveling.
And also I can share whatever I'm able to share :D

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United States