CURRENT MISSION

to see and meet the world and regret nothing

ABOUT ME

In a nutshell: US naval officer, navy pilot after college. Moved to Colorado after the military. Traded the stock market and taught snowboarding part time until I decided it was time to get out and see the world again. Travelled from April 2005 until fall 2006; deep sea fishing and scuba diving the Florida Keys, Bahamas, The Sea of Cortez, Mexico and the big island of Hawaii, motorcycling SE Asia, then finishing up in eastern Europe before getting back to the U.S. Went back to school to get my MBA at the Univ. of Denver, and change career paths.

My 18 mo RTW trip was a better education/ experience than anything I've done in my life.

my username is also donvangilder on hospitalityclub.org , Don Van Gilder on LinkedIn.com and Donnie Van Gilder on facebook.com

PHILOSOPHY

"Many die at 25, but aren't buried until 75." Benjamin Franklin

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

learned about cs while travelling eastern europe in 2006. had some wonderful experiences and met some great people.

Interests

fell in love with non-planned travel. bought a one-way ticket to bangkok and winged it from there. love snowboarding, surfing, kite surfing, wakeboarding, dancing, scuba diving, fishing, motorcycling, hiking, camping, scavenger hunts, pub crawling and last but not least, flying, when i get the chance... you name it, i'm probably up for it

• dancing
• education
• pub crawls
• flying
• traveling
• fishing
• hiking
• kite surfing
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snowboarding
• wakeboarding
• teaching

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

my RTW trip in 2005/06 was one of the most amazing experiences i've ever had. a few other amazing sights/activities: flying a navy fighter jet, grand canyon, alaska, bali, angkor wat, berlin love parade just to name a few ...

Countries I’ve Visited

American Samoa, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Laos, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.S.

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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