CURRENT MISSION

My wife Christie resigned from her job, and is taking some time off to explore new opportunities and travel. My role - the husband 'in-tow.' I am able to work from wherever I am, so we are travelling throughout most of 2019, and want to use Couchsurfing to meet and experience local cultures and people as we go.

ABOUT ME

I am energetic, passionate, and adaptable. I like learning about the world and having a genuinely positive impact on people I meet and the world around me. I believe life is filled with choice, and I feel fortunate to be from a country with many of them.

I also love what I do for a living! I work with a consulting firm that helps businesses that offer problem solving products and services in developing economies like Kenya, Nicaragua, Indonesia, and about 40 others. The solutions many of them offer include: clean energy products, environmentally sustainable waste management services, agriculture solutions for rural farmers, education technology, etc. - and we help them scale what they do. So a bonus as I travel with my wife - is to meet others that are involved in similar 'development' work!

PHILOSOPHY

Balance - I believe one of the keys to life is having balance in everything you do (i.e. work/life, social/downtime, diet, etc). I think too much or not enough of just about anything isn't a good thing ...

Also, I believe to truly live is to get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. I still remember my first couple hours in Nairobi, finding my B&B on a dark street, it was my first experience in a developing country. If it wasn't for that slightly unsettling "we're not in Kansas anymore" feeling, it wouldn't have been the same. I live for that "out of the box" feeling in just about every context imaginable.

If your not testing yourself and learning, your not living!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I gallivanted throughout the globe staying in hostels as well as couch surfing for most of 2014, and no I get to do it again (more or less), but this time with my wonderful wife! I like to use CS to meet new people, learn about their culture, and I also try to make sure my hosts feel inspired by my visit with them. I mean why host or surf unless there is something "in it" for each right? Its a two way street, not a free hotel service.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Every couch surfing experience has been incredible so far, from homemade Moroccan couscous to a night in rural Ireland to a sustainable farm in the Congo, every experience has been a treat, I only hope my hosts have enjoyed my presence as much as I have enjoyed theirs!

Interests

Travel, learning about other's cultures, renewable energy and sustainability, craft beer, trying anything and everything at least once, hiking running and all other outdoorsy stuff, anything technical (like say how stuff works).

• culture
• books
• beer
• marathon
• running
• partying
• traveling
• hiking
• surfing
• bungee jumping
• skydiving
• business
• genealogy

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
Depends on the mood. Something that makes you think or that has an ending you NEVER saw coming, those are great. Although sometimes I'm known to be an action movie junkie - like perhaps something with Jason Statham or with the word "Bourne" in it.

Music:
Anything on 89.3 the Current in Minneapolis - stream it at thecurrent.org and you'll understand

Books:
- King Leopold's Ghost
- Its Our Turn to Eat
- The Power of Now
- Into This Air
- The 5th Discipline
- Blink
- The Alchemist
- Pandora's Seed
Pretty much anything that gets you to think (nonfiction)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Its impossible to come up with only one so:
1) Eating the still beating heart of a snake in Hanoi
2) Motorbiking Vietnam for 5 weeks
3) Running Lewa half-marathon in Kenya, through a wildlife conservancy with the big 5
4) Visiting the tiny town of Lipusz Poland to find my ancestral roots, only to meet a priest who is now looking into my family genealogy for his next book
5) Standing in a wedding in Slovenia for a guy I met 6 days prior at a party hostel in Budapest (which led to meeting my current employer and my wife!)
6) Staying with a H'mong family for a few days in the hill tribe area of Vietnam, teaching their daughter some English, and attending a rice harvest party with the village
7) Going to Afrikaburn in South Africa
8) Holding a balloon in the thanksgiving day parade in Hollywood
9) Co-running a start-up business venture in southern California
10) Skydiving and bungee jumping in New Zealand

Teach, Learn, Share

Mot Hai Ba Yo - cheers in Vietnamese

I can make some killer Guacamole

Need something done around the house? I'm pretty handy ...

What I Can Share with Hosts

I like to cook, and I like to buy the beers.

Good conversation and mutual learning is always a perk.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, England, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Kosovo, Laos, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Oman, Panama, Poland, Rwanda, Scotland, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, United States