Hello lovely people, my name is Chelsea and I'm from London, England. I grew up in the suburbs of London and studied Illustration at University in the city. Since graduating back in 2012 I had a dream, a wonderful plan to leave home and go traveling for 18 months. It's not been nearly 24 months, and that dream and those plans just keep getting bigger and bigger!
My travels have taken me to magical and wondrous places where I would of only imagined to see in magazines and on postcards. The people I have met along the way all have been so friendly, hospitable and amazing both locals and other travellers. I wouldn't recognise myself if I had known how traveling would influence me and change me as a person .
Since April 2015 I have been to Australia on a working holiday visa one year, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and currently I am doing my working holiday in New Zealand. I like to travel back to Australia to reconnect with the people I met during my first working holiday visa, I have truly made friends for life here. That is the greatest investment that traveling has given me, meeting international like-minded people that I will be contact with for the rest of my life.
So the dream continues where I have planned a trip to Nepal with my brother to climb to Everest base camp, after which I will return to New Zealand and work until my second visa runs out. And then...Canada!
As you can tell I do not plan to be back the U.K for a long time but when I am home I will be such in awe of what I have achieved. I already have such great stories to tell and with many more to come.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is the perfect way for a traveller to really travel and understand their environments. Meeting local people and sharing stories is such a wonderful experience where culture and understanding intertwined with each other.
I am also very interested in becoming self sustainable one day when I have my own place and to talk more about this and learn what other people think is such an insight to me. To share one anothers ideas and experiences about life is a fantastic and very effortless way to gain knowledge and understanding

Interests

I love being outdoors: going on hikes, hula-hooping, poi, driving through mountains, swimming, star gazing, camping, kayaking, festivals, going out for drinks and dinner, meeting new people.

I enjoy being indoors too: reading, drawing, painting, socialising, discussing, listening to music, dancing to music, hula hopping, cooking and baking

Learning new things, meeting new people, listening to stories and telling some of my own, trying crazy new things that scares me, living a happy life

• illustrations
• festivals
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• baking
• yoga
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• drawing
• music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• backpacking
• kayaking
• camping
• swimming
• agriculture
• mountains
• discussions
• laughing
• hula hooping
• self sustainable

Music, Movies, and Books

I like to listen to anything and everything from trance to the classics from the 70's and 80's. Depending on my mood what I listen to but I have my friend 'Spotify' to provide me with hundreds of different tracks.
I am a movie lover, there is nothing better than watching movies when its raining, or you feel a bit down or just up to have a laugh! My favourite genre would be comedy and fantasy. Occasionally a good horror movie, but it's not everyone's cup of tea! But if I had to pick then Harry Potter!
I read anything that passes into my hands, being a backpacker I take what I can get! But I have recently enjoyed reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series which I could not put down!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Swimming with Whale Sharks in the Philippines. A truly amazing experience which I can tick off my bucket list. They are such gigantic but majestic creatures, very much underrated.
I was able to swim with them for half an hour in the ocean. They were being fed so it was the great circumstances, but still we saw around 5 of them swimming all around us.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: Hula - Hooping, Poi, Painting, Sewing, Drawing, Tye - Dye
Learn: Surf, Cook, Bake, Yoga, Self Sustainable, Meditate
Share: Stories, Happiness, Laughter and Opinions

What I Can Share with Hosts

My experiences that I have gained have been priceless and to be able to sahe them with people is also worth while. I love to tell my stories and influence others to go and visit some of the places where I have been. Also I want to learn about people and how they have lived their life so far.
I like to have fun, laugh...a lot and share that.

Countries I’ve Visited

Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Barbados, Cambodia, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom