I like to think of myself as a pretty diverse dude. I've lived many places throughout the United states and traveled all over, thanks to my wife. The first year we started dating, she forced me to go on a five-day hiking trip up the Inca trail in Peru and she hasn't stopped planning vacations for us ever since!

Music (specifically the tuba) was my career for over ten years. Then, in 2014, I decided to switch careers and follow my second passion, which was in the automotive world! I currently help run and manage a mega auto dealer group here in the Memphis area.

Laura is currently working as a UXR (User Experience Researcher) for a firm out of NY. Which means she's obsessed with qualitative data and spreadsheets.

I started this profile way back when. Laura and I both love meeting new people, learning about different cultures/countries, and are always eager to hear folks travel stories.

Don't be afraid of the reply rate, I didn't check this site at all during 2020/2021 due to Covid, but I am back on now. Speaking of Covid, we are looking to host folks who have been vaccinated/boosted.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW WE PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING:

***PLEASE READ THIS DISCLAIMER*** Laura and I CAN NOT host during the week, due to our busy work and training schedules, but if we have a free evening we would love to show you around Memphis. Laura grew up in Memphis and I moved here in 2010, it's a pretty great city!

WHEN WE CAN HOST:

We are open to hosting folks Friday and Saturday nights (between 5:00pm Friday - 8:00pm Sunday) most weekends.

Please do not request to stay outside of those times, we wish we could host during the week as well, but as I said above, Laura works 100% remotely from our house and we both have really strict schedules during the week (we generally get up at 5:00am and get to bed before 9:00pm). We have tried hosting outside of the schedule indicated above and, unfortunately, it doesn't work out.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE:

We have both hosted and surfed.

I am trying to convince everyone that I meet to try Couchsurfing, it is awesome!

Interests

Marcus's Interests: Salsa (both the food and the dance), Opera, Ballet, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA, music, spreadsheets, cooking, woodworking, F1, running, and training (currently, I'm training for a Spartan Race).

Laura's Interests: Training her horse/dressage riding, throwing pottery, our fat man (the cat), baking, research/qualitative data, spreadsheets, and an unquenchable urge to collect house plants...

We both also love hiking/backpacking and, of course, traveling!

• humanities
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• baking
• running
• technology
• pottery
• music
• opera
• hiking
• backpacking
• jiu jitsu
• travel
• dressage
• uxr

Music, Movies, and Books

Marcus: Everything under the sun for music, I will listen to it all, Country, Salsa, Jazz, Blues, Classical, Rap, R & B, Techno, etc. Movies = basically anything that includes at least one explosion.

Laura: Music = Indie rock (The Killers) or classics (like The Beatles or some solid 80s Dad-Rock!). Favorite movies range from Monty Python and the Holy Grail to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

That first time Laura talked me into traveling outside of the USA and we hiked the original Inca ancient trail through the Andes up to Machu Picchu. That was pretty amazing!

Teach, Learn, Share

I used to teach music for a living and loved doing it. If you have any desire to learn the classics (Mozart Bach Beethoven...) ask and I will tell.

We would both love to learn a second language someday. So far, we have both tried multiple times and failed.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm a HUGE FOODIE! I love cooking for friends/family/guests.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, England, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Peru, United States, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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