I'm a calm, inquisitive nerd who loves new experiences. For many years I worked as a photographer documenting weddings across the United States. I only do that occasionally now, but I still have a love for photojournalism and for fun I still love capturing quirky aspects of society. These days I do a mix of part-time jobs that keeps me busy; game instructor, dog trainer, delivery driver, caregiver, mentor, plus some random jobs on the side while I try to figure out what I want to pursue next for a long term career. You can see a few of my personal photos at craigvolpe.com.

If you're surfing, make sure to read the My Home section to see if my home is a good fit for you.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Experiencing things I'm not used to and meeting people different than me is probably my favorite thing in life. In my experience, the best thing you can do when traveling somewhere new is to have a local connection. It makes such a big difference if you want to truly see the area rather than just get a superficial view. Fortunately, I've been lucky to have friends in many of the places I've traveled to, but I absolutely love Couchsurfing because it allows me to have similar experiences when traveling to places I don't already have those local connections. I also love that through Couchsurfing I get the chance to see different ways people live. I think immersing oneself in places and cultures one isn't used to can be a great learning experience. I also very much appreciate that Couchsurfing allows me to travel on a tight budget, especially since I don't make much money with my work.

Besides being an incredible tool to help me have meaningful experiences, I like that Couchsurfing allows me to provide the same thing for other travelers. I want to pay it forward all the generosity and kindness hosts have shown me over the years.

Some of my best travel memories have been through meeting strangers and the kindness they have shown me. One memorable one was when I was backpacking through southern Italy in 2003. I was partly on a pilgrimage to find out more about my ancestors and see the village my grandfather was born in. All I had to go by was the town's name "Savignano di Puglia", which none of the Italians I spoke to had heard of or could seem to find on a map. Finally someone helped me figure out that the town stopped using that name when the borders of Italy changed and it is now called Savignano Irpino. Several trains, a bus, a hitchhike, and a long walk later and I finally made it there. It was a small hilltop village that had a population of about 10,000 several decades ago, but had slowly dwindled down to 2,000. I went to the building that had wedding and birth records and they helped me find some records on my ancestors. They also called up the former mayor who came and gave me a tour of the town in his tiny car and then took me to the part of town where the Volpe clan/family was historically based. He took me to Michele Volpe's house, who shared a striking resemblance with my father and I believe is 2nd or 3rd cousins with. Michele and the Mayor took me to the cemetery where they told me about some of my ancestors, then Michele invited me to stay at his house a couple nights. I helped him and his wife make wine and met some more relatives, and just had a lovely time, all the while learning more about myself.

While I don't have grapes for strangers to help me crush, I would love to help other strangers make great memories during their travels.

Interests

Board games and game design, playing sports, philosophy, science, learning, food, backpacking, and video games.

• cooking
• traveling
• backpacking
• anthropology
• philosophy
• learning
• boardgames
• skepticism
• photojournalism

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorites
Books: Middlesex, Slaughterhouse Five
Movies: Amadeus, Life is Beautiful
Music: Miles Davis, Mozart
Board games: Castles of Burgundy, Red Cathedral
Video games: The Last of Us, The Witness
TV: Chernobyl, Breaking Bad

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

While doing an exchange program in Japan, I participated in Saidaiji Eyo's "hadaka matsuri" (naked man's festival) and fought with about 10,000 Japanese men in loincloths for the two holy shingi sticks that are tossed from the temple at midnight on the first full moon of February each year. Coincidentally, it also happened to be my 21st birthday! Serendipitously the small team I joined actually got one of the sticks that year. They had been competing together as a team for decades and that was the first time they ever got one of the shingi. Our captains were hoisted onto shoulders and we paraded through the city showing off our shingi. After the local news interviewed them we ended the night with a pretty elaborate ceremony at the city center involving sake and blessings from what I heard were high ranking priests and politicians. Best birthday ever!

Teach, Learn, Share

I've been into science, reason, and skepticism for quite a long time. I often worry about the harmful effects misinformation has on society and one thing I try to do as a kind of community service is engage in dialogue, debate, and science communication.

I like learning why people believe the things they do, sharing perspectives that encourage people to question their existing beliefs, and especially learning new information and perspectives that cause me to revise my own existing beliefs. I look at constructive criticism as a positive thing and I love finding out I was wrong about something because that just means I'm getting an opportunity to improve my current belief framework.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love to be helpful for my hosts whether that means helping them prepare food or around the house. I've been known to cook for my hosts on occasion as well. I have a simple but great pasta pomodoro recipe that doesn't require many ingredients - maybe we can even make some fresh pasta together if there's enough time :)

I very much enjoy interacting with children and have a lot of experience teaching, babysitting, and working with kids. If you have any children of your own I'm happy to play with them, teach them stuff, or spend some time taking care of them if you want a break from parenting. If you have a dog I can take it for a walk or to the park.

While I usually travel quite light, I usually bring at least one small board game with me. Board gaming is a passion of mine and I always like introducing people to the hobby!

If you're interested, I'm also happy to give photography lessons. I did photography as a career for 14 years and I enjoy teaching. I can teach beginners how to use that fancy camera you always put on auto mode, give some pointers on making more interesting photos, or even critique your work if you're into that.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Hungary, Italy, Japan, United States

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