CURRENT MISSION

After a long year travelling with my backpack around the world, I am back home for Summer. Now it's my time to welcome and host people!

ABOUT ME

I am Chris, 26. I am a French traveller and I'm trying to travel as much as I can, with always the purpose to meet and share with local people.

I am nice, funny (at least, I hope so) and quite adventurous. I really like experiencing foreign cultures and food as well as sharing with people. I want to make the most of my trips so I'll try to see as much as I can of the different cultures and landscapes. As most people I like to see the “must-see”. But I equally like experiencing the “not-famous” stuff.

Regarding CS, I am not very demanding; I can sleep on couch, carpets, straws, woodplank, or directly on the floor, in gardens, tents, barns… Well, I also enjoy sleeping in soft beds… :) I always take a tent with me so a small piece of garden always fits me perfectly.

When I have a home to offer, I am very happy to host travelers and do what others did to me.

PROJECTS :

With my lovely Slovak girlfriend Andrea, we have started a long adventure around the world for several months. In May 2017, we took nothing else but our backpacks and a tent and started hitting the roads of Europe, only hitchhiking and walking. In order to fully live a sincere and uncertain adventure, we never take any public transport or any hotel, and suceeded in our challenge.

From Estonia and the Baltics we went down to Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland, before heading to France. Then we walked accross the Pyreneas to enter Spain and later arrived in Portugal. Once there, we jumped from boats to boats and sailed along the coast, down to Madeira, then Canaries Islands, and Cape Verde. 133 days later our first "boat-hiking" experience, we arrived to... Brasil!

From there, we continued our trip and hitchhiked to Paraguay where we bought two very cheap bicycles and started to cycle. We cycled across Northern Argentina and over the Andeans mountains (up to 4800 m!) and went down to Chile before heading to Bolivia. We cycled across the Salar de Uyuni and finally gave away the bicycles to a very lovely family. We continued, and once we arrived to the Titicaca lake a new project had come : with the help of a Bolivian, we built our own canoe with nothing else but wood planks, nails and euchalyptus resin... We then rowed across the lake for two weeks and entered Peru where we sold "our" canoe.

And we continued with a complete autnomous trekfor several days up to the Macchu Picchu, before heading to the coast and Ecuador.

Now? We are back and are taking some time with our family and friends, while we ar estill thinking about our future plans. Maybe, we'll go back and hit the road again!

If you want to know more about our trip, we have a small website (although it's difficult to update it regularly) : www.be-my-trip.com
or the Facebook page : www.facebook.com/bemytrip.blog

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I discovered CS during my trip in Asia in fall 2014 where I was traveling with a friend of mine.

I wanted to host people when I went then back home in France but actually I never really went back home, as I am always trying to be on the move. As soon as I have a home, I try to host people back. And I keep the promise that once I settle down, I will get a spare room where couchsurfers, random travelers, strangers, friends and friends-to-be will feel confortable.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

So far, I used CS in Asia, and some big cities in Europe but I must admit that I am trying not to use it too much (I have many reasons why, that I would be delighted to share with you).

Most of the time, I travel in a similar way. Usually I ring at people’s door and ask them if it’s possible to sleep in their house/garden. This is actually a great way to discover a different culture, share with strangers, learn new things and skills and meet people you would never meet otherwise. I particularly like the spirit of this way of travel, and the idea that my hosts never expect to spend the night with strangers but eventually are always happy to have opened their door (and sad when I leave… ).

Many long friendships begun like that. We keep in touch, and I am of course ready to welcome them back in France, or somewhere else in the world !

Interests

Travels (of course!). Communication and Languages. Other cultures and history. Food. Sport. Enjoying life.

• culture
• dining
• traveling
• socializing
• cycling
• sports
• rugby
• history
• law
• adventure

Music, Movies, and Books

I like music (all kinds) and cinema but I'm not an expert at all. I used to read a lot but I stopped for a while because of my studies (actually, I read a lot of boring law stuff...). Now I am starting again and I really re-enjoy it.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I have been lucky enough to do many amazing things so far...

Boat-hiking 7 different sailing boats and sailing across the Atlantic.

Travelling throughout Europe with nothing but a bit of bravery and a big smile.

Buying a rubbish bicycle in Laos and cycling throughout the Cambodian countryside and sell it back in Bangkok.

Buying a rubbish bicycle in Paraguay and cycling across Northern Argentina, the Andeans, Chile, and Southern Bolivia.

Camping in the middle of the Salar de Uyuni for an unforgettable night.

Experiencing the darkness, the -35 degrees of Lapland, and its beautiful northern light show.

Kayaking in the Ha Long Bay.

A spontaneous night expedition with a girl I met 3 hours before on a glacier in Norway, up to the highest top of Scandinavia to admire the sunrise.

Organizing a charity event in Finland with no money but only cans and bottles to raise financial support for humanitarian actions in Uganda.

Fishing my biggest fish in Lofoten islands... until I fished a tuna in the middle of the Atlantic.

Cycling alone from France to Norway (Tromso) for 2 months (4000kms).

Going down a mountain in Greece for 8 km in a car with no more gas at all. Apparently my driver really enjoyed using the neutral position...

Experiencing the hospitality of Georgians. Gaumarjos!

Building my own wooden canoe in Bolivia and rowing across the Titicaca lake for two weeks.

A trek in full autonomy up to Macchu Picchu.

Admiring the beautiful scenery of Iguazu Falls.

...

What I Can Share with Hosts

Anything! From food culture to language exchange, from sport to philosophy, from new technology to traditional knowledge. I am open to anything and am always glad to share.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Finland, France, Slovakia, United Kingdom