I have traveled to 28 countries & 19 states in the US. I have tons of stories to share & recently got home after a 2 year journey abroad. :)

However, since I have been receiving many requests lately, I need to set some parameters up front as well as be up front about my own availability.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ BEFORE MAKING REQUEST:

1) I do NOT use CS as a dating website. I will respect your boundaries and expect you to do the same! I've heard many women's horror stories about male hosts hitting on them so it's important to be upfront that if you're looking for an easy hook up you should hit up Tinder, not me.

2) If you don't have pictures of yourself on your profile, I will not accept you. Since this is a site based on trust, it's only fair we both get to see each other upfront.

3) I live in a TINY 420 square foot 1 bedroom house AND have 2 cats. I sleep in the bedroom and you'll sleep on the couch in the living room. You should love cats if you'd like to stay with me.

4) I need to receive your request at least 1 week before your requested date of arrival. I cannot accept last minute requests.

5) I prefer to accept requests for total nights stay with me no longer than 5 nights (but will consider up to 7 nights maximum).

6) Please do not put in a request for a date more than 30 days from the day you place your request. I simply cannot commit that far ahead.

7) As I am on a tight budget right now, I am more than happy to give you a couch and a clean place to stay but you must chip in for the cost of your food. We can shop together OR you can bring food with you OR you can chip in for the food I buy.

8) Please do not make a request for more than 1 person. I only have 1 couch to offer.

9A) I prefer hosting guests from out of the country who are world travelers. If you're from the US, I will give preference to foreigners first.

9B) I give preference to females over males. If you are a male and are new to CS and don't have at least 3 reviews, I will NOT accept you (for safety reasons).

10) If your account is not "verified" with Couch Surfing, I will NOT accept you. Please understand this is for my safety. It's easy to verify your account so please take the time to do so before making a request. It makes you more credible.

11) Smoke/drugs/alcohol:
I do not accept smokers (that includes anything you smoke, not just cigarettes). And no drugs please. Alcohol is ok but if you come home sh*t faced I'll have to ask you to leave.

12) I love sharing stories and enjoying your company but I will not accept additional friends in the home. If you come home with a friend, I'll have to ask you to leave.

13) I am a very light sleeper, so if you're a loud snorer, please do not request me as I'll have to ask you to leave after the 1st night.

14) Also, since I'm a light sleeper, sudden noises wake me up very abruptly so I ask that once we agree it's bed time there's not a lot of moving about, no talking on the phone (texting is fine obviously) & please silence the volume on your phone. Sorry, if this sounds petty, but sleep is precious and since I'm sound sensitive, a quiet night time environment is essential.

15) Please note that I am located in Altadena, CA. That is the north end of LA (just 2 miles north of "Old Pasadena" - one of the top 10 most walkable cities in the United States). Please make sure you check a map of LA to know where that is & to check out how spread out all the areas you want to visit in LA are. Altadena doesn't have a ton of restaurants or shops in it as it's near the mountain and more geared toward nature (tons of amazing hiking trails near by). And it's just a short hop down to Pasadena from here (check out the transportation options I've listed). PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU'VE CHECKED A MAP OF LA AND THE LIST OF TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS I'VE LISTED TO MAKE SURE THIS IS A GOOD MATCH FOR YOU. As always in LA, since it's so vast and spread out, I suggest renting a car over public transportation. But it is possible to get by with a shuttle or Lyft/Uber from LAX to downtown and the Gold Line into Pasadena. :)

16) Last but not least, once I accept your request, please remember to confirm it on your end so we can both review each other after your stay. And please remember to touch base with me again shortly before your stay so we can coordinate. I leave that up to you as I have a busy schedule. Btw, if you're stay is not confirmed within 3 days of my accepting it, I will assume you've moved on and I will cancel. :)

I APOLOGIZE IF MY REQUESTS/RULES SEEM INUNDATING, BUT I'M SIMPLY OVERWHELMED BY THE AMOUNT OF REQUESTS I HAVE BEEN RECEIVING LATELY AND HAD TO SET THESE GUIDELINES TO FILTER OUT SOME OF THE REQUESTS. IT'S THE LEGAL EAGLE IN ME. ;)

Note: I don't give keys to my home and do not leave guests in my home unattended (for safety reasons). Please see my schedule below and if that works for you, WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME.

MY SCHEDULE:

Monday - I'm off work. I'm happy to spend the day with you on that day.

Tuesday- I spend the morning to afternoon on Tuesdays with my mom so I can only offer to have dinner with you on Tuesday.

Wednesday thru Sunday - I am working as a driver so my schedule varies quite a bit and we'd have to coordinate when I'll be home but I likely can't spend much time with you on those days.

Friday/Saturday evening - I usually work until midnight on these 2 nights and come home exhausted. So you'd need to have plans for the evening and meet me at the home at midnight (not much later as I'll quickly be going to bed).

ABOUT ME:
I grew up in Los Angeles, then moved to Chicago for 7 years, then traveled abroad for 2 years (see details below), and I've recently returned to LA settling into a lovely little home at the foothill of the mountains in Altadena (just 2 miles north of the most walkable city in the USA called Old Pasadena). The gold line is nearby and connects you from Pasadena to Downtown LA (aka DTLA). There are TONS of amazing trails nearby me in Altadena, so if you love hiking and nature grab your good shoes and come on over.

As many of you may know, Los Angeles is VERY large and spread out. Why is that? Well, because when you speak about other big cities in the US you speak about that city only (not the entire "county" which would encompass many more cities and suberbs). When people reference "LA" they are refrencing ALL of "LA County" and that is very vast. But there are so many amazing cities to visit in LA, so why would we only include downtown and not all the rest (LA includes Altadena, Pasadena, Hollywood, Korea Town, China Town, Los Feliz, Griffith Park, Echo Park, Silverlake, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and so much more). Check out a map of LA County to get the big picture.

So given that it's so spread out you need to give yourself a good amount of time to see it all! Consider if you're staying for 1-2 weeks, splitting up half your time on my side near the mountains and possible the other half of the time on the west side near the beaches.

Or, if possible, simply rent a car so you have the best flexibility to get all over LA without being stuck trying to use our public transit which has been known as being miserable in the past but is just finally starting to move into the new millennium connecting Pasadena to Downtown and they've finally connected downtown to Santa Monica (but that hasn't officially opened yet but should happen within a month or so - around May 2016). There's also talk of connecting downtown to LAX (but I'm certain that's still years away).

So you can see when looking at a map of LA County, that a car is the best way to go. Otherwise look to split your time up like I suggested above.

2 YEAR TRAVEL JOURNEY

I quit my career in Nov 2013 and by Dec. 2013 set out on my mission to volunteer and travel to 5 countries and visiting a few more. I taught English in Peru, S. Africa, China, Sri Lanka and Thailand (I also visited Bulgaria, Cambodia and Singapore).

Then I returned to the US, sold my home and embarked on a new one year journey, this time not volunteering, but simply setting out to bicycle in many cities around the globe. I cycled through parts of North and South Thailand. Then I completed my longest cycling journey ever down the coast of Vietnam (from Ha Long Bay to Nha Trang) 700 miles/1,100 km. From there I went to Bali then Australia! I spent 3 months in Australia and absolutely fell in love! I even did a lot of campervan trips (2 one week trips around Tasmania with 2 different tourists & 1 week down the Great Ocean Road with another tourist). I also cycled all over the Sunshine Coast then left my bicycle there as I continued to explore tons of cities in the east and south coast of lovely Australia (and even to the center, Uluru). Then I was off to New Zealand with my bike in tow. I rented a campervan for 6 weeks and hoped to meet up with other fellow travelers but the timing was miserable as I was there in the brunt of the winter. Nonetheless I made the best of it & circled both the north and south islands but sadly my bike only made it out 2 days out of those 6 weeks (it was very cold and/or raining most of the time).

After New Zealand I flew back to LA for a couple months then grabbed mom and we were off to Europe for 5 weeks covering the major cities in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and France (ending with a 12 day tour by car up from the south of France to Paris). And then alas, my current travels ended.

ABOUT ME

I'm outgoing, adventerous, love to travel, willing to try just about anything once, will eat most every type of food on this planet at least once and love to LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!

PHILOSOPHY

Live life too the fullest, it's too short not to live each day like it's your last!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

HOSTING:
I have traveled to 28 different countries and still counting (btw, though my list says I have been to Serbia, it was actually former Yugoslavia that I visited back in 1983).

While I was living in Chicago still, I hosted a lovely couple from Colombia for a week and also a very nice girl from China for a week.

Now that I resettled back in LA, I'm ready to host again. In fact I recently took in a surfer who had a last minute request for someone to take him as his prior host flaked. Now I'm ready to host more surfers as long as they're ok with having a host who has to work too (but I set my own schedule so I'll do my best to make time to cook with you, hopefully hike with you too and take you around town when I can).

*Please note: You should love cats and not be allergic as I have 2 cats that share my lovely little home with me, Princess Fifi and Mr. Mur Mur (who loves to cuddle with anyone who will let him).

SURFING:
I stayed with hosts in Peru, S. Africa and a couple different ones in Australia too. I was supposed to stay with a girl in China but she unfortunately disappeared, so I stayed at a hostel. I only turned to couch surfing 5 times during my 2 years traveling as my first year had a rigid destination plan filled with my volunteering locations while the 2nd year was the exact opposite, I traveled with my bicycle and often made plans to visit the next city just a day before leaving (not very conducive to hitting up CS hosts). And I stayed in tons of AirBNBs all over Europe.

Albeit, I would've loved to surf more, I don't regret it as I stayed in many hostels, meeting tons of new travel friends and was invited several times by locals to stay with them and/or spend time with them so it was a very organic and amazing experience!

HOW I STUMBLED UPON COUCHSURFING:

I found out about CS when I was in Egypt in Jan. 2013. They held an event on the rooftop of the hotel I was staying at in Cairo, "King Hotel". I quickly was invited to join the group and danced the night away and made some great new friends.

Interests

Travel, downhill snow skiing, dancing, hiking, swimming, bicyling, jet skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving and my new found passion - traveling around in a campervan with other travelers who want to explore the same places I do,... if I had it my way I'd be doing at least one of these activities every day!

• cats
• fish
• dancing
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• shopping
• traveling
• socializing
• juggling
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• jet skiing
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• skiing
• swimming
• business
• law
• volunteering
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC:
I love all types of music with the exception probably of country music (unless it has a bit of a pop flare to it). I have gone to over 30 concerts in my lifetime. Pick a famous mainstream artist and I've probably seen them: Madonna, Cher, Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, Depeche Mode, U2, George Michael, etc.

BOOKS:
(Read through my travel journies)...
Wild, A Dog's Purpose, Reconstructing Amelia, Wanderlust, The Time of My Life, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes, Down the Nile, Catfish and Mandela, Top Dog, Paris Letters, The Rescue and The Beekeper's Wife and currently I'm finishing up Mariana and, In Love and War.

MOVIES:
(I love and watched multiple times)...
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Twister, Shawshank Redemption, Beaches, Multiplicity, Eddie Murphy Raw and Delirious, Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop, Leathal Weapon, Good Morning Vietnam, Castaway, Big...

I love most movies with: Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Meryl Streep, Harrison Ford and Samuel Jackson.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One, really? There are so many!

Hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, hiking volcanoes in Hawaii and Costa Rica, scuba diving in 10 different countries, cycling down the coast of Vietnam (700 miles/1,100 km) by myself (I met a ton of people along the way and even other fellow touring cyclists), camping in Australia/Tasmania and New Zealand... and the list goes on and on.

There are countless other amazing experiences I've had in my travels so I look forward to sharing and swapping stories when we meet.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have played the clarinet for many years, so I could show you how to play.

I have worked in real estate law for over a decade, so I can share that knowledge too.

But my true passion is communication, both written and verbal. I have no fear of public speaking and have spoken in front of 3,000 people (Mar. 2012 in Long Beach, CA, USA).

I love to use my creative mind, I simply don't get to that often, which is why I took improv classes at Second City (the #1 improv school in the US) and am now traveling the world to recapture my creative spirit and truly enjoy reviving my soul after 21 years of working in a career where I felt it was being torn away day by day.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm very clean and tidy. I love to cook and swap stories. I'm always happy to help around the house in my free time but of course would like to spend a lot of time exploring. I've had several amazing host experiences and unfortunately have heard of many nightmare experiences too.

A good host is kind and willing to give you some tips about their homeland and city. They won't hit on you and will respect your boundaries (apparently this happens more often than one would hope on CS and has happened to me once). If they have time, they are willing to go out with you to show you some local spots firsthand.

If they are working and don't have the time, they are up front about what they can offer. I think it's very fare for a host to tell you that they work during X hours and will not be able to socialize with you but are still offering you a place to stay.

I also think it's very important for a host to be upfront about their situation. If the timing is off and they have too much on their plate, then they should consider holding off on hosting (I had a host convince me to dump my hostel the same day I got there and come stay with her only to find out she had literally just moved into her home that same day. It was miserable timing. While she was a gracious host for doing so, she quickly expected me to chip in with all the physical labor and while I love helping, moving and assembling furniture is far more intense than helping with basic chores around the home so her expectations and situation should've been disclosed up front, in my opinion. Luckily I've never traveled as a penniless traveler so I had the means to politely excuse myself and leave the next day returning to my lovely hostel).

One of my favorite hosts was juggling 2 jobs and a new business in Peru. He gave me a spare set of keys to his apartment and his wifi password and told me I could come and go as I pleased. We did share some meals together and good chats, but I didn't feel like I missed out just because he wasn't able to spend time with me touring his city. I was very shocked by his generosity and trust in me. I don't think anyone in the US would ever hand over their keys to a complete stranger. I knew then we'd get along famously!

I also had a similar experience with another male host in Australia. His front door stayed wide open and unlocked nearly 24/7. His neighbors would come over and cook with him daily and his tenant in the back would bring fresh fish whenever he went out fishing. It was an extremely trusting and wonderful environment!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Mexico, Monaco, Nicaragua, Peru, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Bulgaria, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam