CURRENT MISSION

To see more of the countries close to home.

ABOUT ME

I would say I am a relaxed but active person, easy going, outgoing, well rounded and low maintenance. I work as an accountant which sounds pretty dull but I hope that doesn't say a lot about who I am. I definitely work to live rather than the other way round and like to enjoy myself as much as I can in my spare time and say yes to as many opportunities as possible. I enjoy meeting new people and experiencing new things.

A little about my past:

I'm originally from Bedfordshire in England (1hr North of London) where my family is from. After school and before I went to Uni I spent 6 months living in the USA in a place called Bremerton near Seattle and had an awesome time.

On returning to the UK I moved to Birmingham for university (a massively under rated city) and stayed on for 3 years after completing my degree. I then went travelling for 14 months which was an unbelievable experience. I wrote all about it whilst I was away, so see the website link if you want to know more about any of the places I have been (or the type of things I got up to). Feel free to ask any questions if there is anywhere you are thinking of visiting that I have been to. Towards the end of my trip I was introduced to couch surfing and had some fantastic experiences as a result.

After travelling I moved back to Birmingham for 6 months whilst arranging a transfer with work to London where I am now based.

PHILOSOPHY

"Treat others how you would like to be treated yourself"

"The risk of failure is the chance of sucess" Winston Churchill.

A poem copied from a friends profile relevant here.

ANYWAY….by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some genuine enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you;
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world your best anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

As I mentioned I was only introduced to the idea while travelling and therefore at present my involvement has been fairly one way. I'm currently working on changing that however.

Through Couchsurfing I hope to continue to meet new and intersting people, both to better experience new places and cultures whilst travelling, and to help people enjoy their time in England.

I do however participate selectively. I am never adverse to staying in a hostel (hostels can be a lot of fun). As a result each time I have sent out a couch request it has been because I genuinely want to couchsurf with that particular person. In fact about 50% of the time I have sent out requests I have ended up meeting or staying with that person. As a result I've not had a bad experience yet and each time the couchsurfing experience has been fantastic. I have not stayed with anyone who I would not gladly take a week off to show around England should they be visiting (providing I have enough holiday :>).

I would expect the same selectivity in reverse and would therefore suggest that if you are requesting a couch or want someone local to help you enjoy your time in London then you let me know why you have specifically contacted me and why you think we would hit it off.

The way I see couch surfing is staying on a friends couch who you haven't met yet.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

When I have couchsurfed I have done so with a felxible attitude in that I would generally be more than happy to do whatever is suggested with an open mind(locals know best). I would generally only have a couple of must do things in the city, which I am happy to do alone or with new found friends. Over and above these I would much rather act on random suggestions from hosts than plan anything.

A good example is surfing with Cecilia in Mexico City we decided in the morning to go for a cycle ride in the woods on the outskirt of the city. By the time we got to the outskirts of the city we couldn't find any bikes to hire but went walking and found loud Electronic music, fun people and plentiful alcohol. It was an awesome night but not great preperation for a flight the next day getting back home in the early hours with a flight in 3 hours time. Definitely an amazing night though and one I wouldn't have changed even when enduring US immigration for 3 hours the next day on only 2 hours sleep.

There are also loads more examples e.g.

# going straight to JFK airport from a NY couchsurfing meeting at 3am in the morning,
# cycling to the tulip fields in the Netherlands,
# NY house parties over the Christmas period
# Searching for a hosts car for over an hour when she forgot where she parked it in the rush to get a pre match beer before a basketball game. Being driven around in a golf buggy by security trying to find it.
# eating some fantastic meals in places I would never have found
# having beers in some quirky bars
# staying in and eating olives and cheese, drinking wine and altenately playing favourite songs on the stereo.

Surfed: Cecilia, Mexico City - 4 days
Surfed: Kevin, Memphis - 3 days
Surfer: Liz, Dallas - 2 days
Surfed: Seth, NY - 4 days
Surfed: Neil, NY - 4 days
Surfed: Kim, Leiden (Netherlands) - 3 days
Hosted: Kim, Leiden (Netherlands) - 4 days

Interests

I would say one of my main interests is trying new things (if you can class that as an interest).

I love travelling, sports (especially football AKA Soccer), socialising, music, good foods and anything else that makes life interesting or is a bit fun.

• wine
• cheese
• beer
• walking
• partying
• drinking
• house parties
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• electronic music
• cycling
• surfing
• scuba diving
• sports
• basketball
• soccer
• golf

Music, Movies, and Books

Music > 2 Many DJ's, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Ash, Bloc party, Boy kill boy, Cake, Clap your hands say yeah, Foo Fighters, Goldie Lookin Chains, Green Day, Idlewild, Joy Division, Kings of Leon, Maximo Park, My Chemical Romance, Mystery Jet, Oasis, Razorlight, Scissor Sister, Snow patrol, The Cribs, The Futureheads, The Go Team, The Killers, The Kinks, The Rakes, The Streets, The Hours, The Strokes, The Subways, The Zutons, Third Eye Blind, Turin Brakes, We Are Scientists.

Books > Dependent on mood and what people recommend. A good recommendation is always the best way to pick a book in my opinion.

Have read a lot of travel guides, autobiographies of people/bands, poker related books (trying to improve so I can win some big money for a trip :>, military hisory and books specific to the country I am in at the time.

Two highly recommended books;

# Surviving the Killing Fields about the previous atrocities in Cambodia.

# Marching Powder (about prison life in Bolivia)

Movies > Varied taste! Rounders, Fight club.

Comedy films such as Waterboy, Anchor Man and Old School.

Serious films such as Hotel Rwanda, The killing fields

Well acted films such as Shawshank redemption and a Few Good Men (Jack Nicholson not Tom Cruise)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Lived with awesome families in USA (6 months) and Guatemala (1 month), Sky Dived (twice), Bungeed, Scuba Dived and lots more. Have done some pretty amazing things and I am incredibly grateful to have had these opportunities.

Teach, Learn, Share

If you rub shaving foam in to a mirror it won't steam up when you have a shower meaning you can shave after and see what you are doing.

A hot water bottle on the dash board of your car 10 / 15 minutes before you head out defrosts the windscreen (pretty useful in England).

But on a more serious note, I've listed the places Ive visited and for many of these this was on my most recent trip for which I kept a blog site. Take a look, read a little about the areas you fancy visiting and then fire away with questions. The blog site is

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Andy_C/

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom, United States

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