******I am leaving my current flat on August 30th as the building is to be demolished and replaced with "affordable housing". I am looking for a new place for September onwards but I cannot guarantee hosting anyone after August 30th until I have found somewhere to live i guess******

I have been living in London for the last three and a half years while occasionally travelling around Europe/South America/North America.
I work weekends and spend weekdays wandering around, taking pictures, painting, making short films, decorating my new flat, volunteering at a Foodbank, a non-profit cinema, and in local parks as a gardener, going to art galleries, cooking, watching classic films on my new projector. I'm easy going, relatively sarcastic, occasionally charming, generally tolerable, and do my utmost to amuse. I have a good knowledge of what is hit and miss in London. I've been to pretty much all the galleries, night clubs, music venues, museums, cinemas around. Finding affordable but good restaurants can be tricky nowadays, several of my favourites have closed down recently but there are still a few knocking around. Also many pubs are turning bland now but there are still a few decent ones which I can recommend.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I was using couchsurfing while travelling around South America for 5 months with my friend Kabeh. Now I'm back home I would like to contribute by offering up my bed/couch. I'm living in Poplar which is in East London near Canary Wharf. I am a couple of minutes walk from East India DLR Station. My flat is a has two bedrooms and is pretty spacious and I try to keep it pretty clean. My flat!ate is a lovely fellow and is very accommodating. He is often away so his bed may be available at times. My kitchen has everything you might need except an oven and washing machine but the local launderette isn't too far and my friendly neighbours should be okay with you using their washing machines. The area is yet to be 're-developed' so it still has some 60s 70s brutalist/modernist charm to it. For those interested in architecture there are several buildings of interest nearby such as the Balfron Tower. Otherwise there a not too many bars that close but everything is easily accessible on the dlr or by bus. I should be able to offer you use of my 2nd bike if I haven't got rid of it by the time you come along with helmet lights etc. Cycling around east London is pretty east especially with the Cycle Superhighway being 100m from my flat. I obviously have plenty of tips for stuff to do while you are hear and I only work weekends while volunteering during the week so I am able to show you around if you like. I have been slowly creating a Google Map of all my favourite places that you could download to your phone. If you simply want a place to stay and prefer exploring by yourself no worries that's fine. My bed is pretty comfy and can fit two people comfortably. I am happy to sleep on the sofa most of the time if you are 2 people. If you are travelling sola perhaps we could swap bed and sofa each night. There is also enough space in the living room for a blowup bed which I can provide with good notice. I have a good quality projector in my living room if you want to watch movies from my collection

Interests

Old movies, buildings/housing, walking, people, some animals, photography, volunteering, cooking

• animals
• arts
• architecture
• photography
• cooking
• walking
• clubbing
• pub crawls
• movies
• traveling
• painting
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• volunteering
• parks

Music, Movies, and Books

Adrian Belew, John Erik Kaada
Celine and Julie Go Boating, What's Up Doc, To Sleep With Anger
Decker, Fishing With John, The Larry Sanders Show, Mad Men
The Ecology of Freedom, Philip Roth

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Havana, Cuba. Cannot recommend enough.

Teach, Learn, Share

I was learning Spanish intensively while travelling South America and was decent at Italian. I would love to help others improve their English. I am a decent cook and would be happy to cook and share meals with guests. I could give you a quick lesson in guitar. You can use my Tate Britain/Modern and V&A cards which allow you to get into all the pricey paid-for exhibitions for free. I can take you myself as they are +1 cards or you can go alone. If you fancy a bit of painting I have watercolours acrylics available. you can paint on my walls if you so wish.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Travel advice, shared cooked meals, general friendliness, free entrance to v&a, Tate Britain/Modern, projector to watch films on, use of my bike.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, Malta, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom