CURRENT MISSION

To see the world with fellow couchsurfers, and to have fun and spread the couchsurfing message.

ABOUT ME

Hi, Mike here. I am a 38 year old gay guy living in rural Ireland but have lived in cities in Ireland, the UK and Europe in the past. I am a part time blogger and writer and am also a student of Metaphysics & spiritual psychology and have also just started to study counselling and psychotherapy, but my background is of being self employed in retail and also working in banking and finance, a great tale over a drink sometime. I love the great outdoors but moreso in company so my ideal day would be spending it hiking and visiting somewhere I have never been before with another outdoors person and than chiling out at night watching a good movie, or good documentary or cooking some great food in good company or hitting a local pub or club, just basically doing whatever my host would like to do etc. I have a passion for all things outside the box and love anything mind, body & spirit related, as well as ancient civilizations and history, ufo's, sci fi, quantum physics & Biology etc, anything like that is what I am into. I am a very friendly, social guy and very much a people person and love meeting and chatting with people from all walks of life.

PHILOSOPHY

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain, this is one of my favourite quotes and one of my ideals in life.

Also lifes too short to disagree and fight, I learned that the hard way when my dad died suddenly 5 years ago. Its always better to agree to disagree, as a friend of mine once said to me "I only realised now we can still be friends but dont have to agree on everything".
I want to experience life through other peoples eyes and get a degree in life travels and experiences, the world is a big big place and we all should try to share ourselves and our stories and fun etc with as many people as we can and vice versa, every stranger in the world has the potential to become one of your best friends, you wont know until you try!!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am now in a position to be able to host so am looking forward to showing irish hospitality to many different people from all around the world, to share each others stories and basically enjoy life together whilst they visit with me.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have couch surfed before in Europe and found it a brilliant experience and have only recently returned to using the couchsurfing site, so would hope to couchsurf and host much more in 2012/13.

Interests

Travelling either alone or with another couch surfer, Volunteer work, fundraising, holistic medicine, complementary therapy. Cooking, gardening, surfing the net, watching documentaries, anything mind, body & soul related, always up for doing courses and classes in that area but love it even more if I can find someone to do them with, I am an open book so feel free to ask me anything in relation to my interests and hobbies. Love festivals too, and am heading to Festival of Fire, Body & Soul and Spirt of Folk this year in Ireland, so would be great to get some company to go with too, and always looking for travel buddies for weekend and holiday fun, cheers.

• writing
• books
• documentaries
• festivals
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• coffee
• drinking
• clubbing
• pub crawls
• gardening
• traveling
• eating out
• volunteer work
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• surfing
• sailing
• boxing
• biology
• history
• medicine
• physics
• psychology
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Lord of the Rings loved them. All sci fi and fantasy type movies. Moulin rouge, Stealing Beauty, a beautiful movie, lars and the real girl, great film about acceptance in a small community, the kite runner, love indie movies and foreign subtitle movies especially asian films, feel they always have a great story to tell.

In terms of music I will listen to anything, it just depends on my mood.

The last book I read was "the perfect Hostage" about Aung San Suu Kyi, but my interests in books range from self help to biographies mostly.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbed Meesapulimala in Kerala, India the second highest peak, south of the Himalayas in the Western Ghats in India and getting hit with a Monsoon whilst on top of the mountain and trying to make it down alive, its amazing how your perspective on life changes when you don't know if you are going to get blown off the side of a mountain or make it down to the bottom.

Stood 3 foot away from the Dalai Lama and had the honour of bowing down before him and having him smile directly at me, it was the most peaceful and beautiful experience ever.

Also got to see Aung San Suu Kyi in person this year on her trip to Ireland which was also a very humbling experience.

Walked 100km in San Francisco to raise money for a childrens hospital, very rewarding.

Spent a night chatting with a homeless guy in Dublin many years ago, and that was one of the biggest eye openers and experiences I have had, really opened my eyes to how lucky we are at times and dont realise it.

Lots more wonderful, real and sometimes whacky life stories to tell, but even better over a coffee/tea pint or wine or drink of your choice.

Countries I’ve Visited

Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Ireland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

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