CURRENT MISSION

To get some solid skiing time in this season!

ABOUT ME

I have recently returned home from an 18 month journey in Europe. I had an incredible time, just drifting along, without much of a plan, open to anything that may have presented itself as an opportunity.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

While I was travelling, I surfed and attended meetings/events as much as I could, because it lead me to so many interesting people, places and experiences.
Now that I am back home, I hope to host people here and there and slowly repay the generosity shown to me by so many others.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I LOVE COUCHSURFING!
I feel so fortunate to have met so many wonderful people through CS. It was absolutely been the highlight of my travels and I can't imagine travelling any other way. I really appreciate seeing a city etc from a local's perspective and I love that I can instantly feel at home in a destination I have never been. I have had the opportunity to do and see a range of amazing things, which I otherwise would have missed out on. It's great, just so great.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE HOSTED ME!!!

Surfed with...
Ivan - Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Sebastian - Innsbruck, Austria
Natalie - Salzburg, Austria
Erik - Bergen, Norway
Astrid and Jan Rune - Bergen, Norway
Julia (and Matt) - Voss, Norway
Luis - Dublin, Ireland
Amauri - Dublin, Ireland
Benny - Cork, Ireland
Natalie and Victoria - Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nine - Edinburgh, Scotland
Jana - Inverness, Scotland
Alba - Paris, France
Laura - Paris, France
Sylvie and Cedric - Paris, France
Javier - Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Catarina - Porto, Portugal
Raft - Braga, Portugal
Barbara - Coimbra, Portugal
João - Lisbon, Portugal
Frederico - Lisbon, Portugal
Giancarlo - Lagos, Portugal
Joan and Aitor - Barcelona, Spain
David - Barcelona, Spain
Aoife - Rome, Italy
Davide - Florence, Italy
Daiga and Artis - Riga, Latvia
Tadas and Asta - Vilnius, Lithuania
Cesar - Warsaw, Poland
Mateusz - Gdansk (Rumia), Poland
Magdalena - Poznan, Poland
Izabela - Krakow, Poland
Cameron - Prague, Czech Republic
Robert and Cornelia - Linz, Austria
The Waldhans Family - Krummnussbaum, Austria
The Holler Family - Orth, Austria
David - Györ, Hungary
Peter - Budapest, Hungary
Chris - Warrimoo (Blue Mountains), Australia

Hosted...
Radi - Varna, Bulgaria (in Norway)

Activities...
Raft's friends - Geres, Portugal - Hiking
Rob - Lerderderg, Australia - Bushwalking
Micha and Jerry - Mt. Stirling, Australia - XC Skiing

Meetings/Events...
Dublin, Ireland - St. Patrick's Day Festival
Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Meeting/Drinks
Braga, Portugal - Meeting/Drinks/Dancing
Geres, Portugal - Hike
Lisbon, Portugal - St. Antonio Festival
Marrakech, Morocco - Meeting/Drinks (of tea!)
Barcelona, Spain - Gracia Festival
Kernave, Lithuania - Kinderis Entertainment III
Poznan, Poland - Meeting/Drinks
Krakow, Poland - Meeting/Drinks
Prague, Czech Republic - 'Beer Tasting'

Interests

Chocolate and coffee: they can change everything.
Design: quirky, unusual, often simple design, with true originality and a lot of thought.
Craft: I like making things and doing things with my hands.
Trashy TV: I don't want to be one of those people but I get hypnotised by TV. But since travelling I've almost kicked the habit, so that's good!
Hiking: I used to do a bit in Australia with my family. In Europe, I walked the Camino Santiago which was amazing. I've also been on a few great walks in Portugal {Geres}, Italy {Cinque Terre} and Morocco {High Atlas and Riff mountains}.
Cycling: I haven't done too much but I enjoyed cycling the Curonian Spit in Lithuania and to the moving dunes in Leba, Poland. I cycled along the Danube with my Dad from Passau to Budapest. I don't know if I'm really a long distance cyclist. I'd like to try mountain biking one day.
Snow: I like cross country skiing and snowboarding. I worked as a ski instructor in Norway for 5 months.
Photography: I really enjoyed taking photos as a way of easily staying creative on the road. I had two cameras break and spent some time using a disposable camera.

• design
• photography
• festivals
• dancing
• chocolate
• beer
• coffee
• instructor
• partying
• drinking
• tv
• traveling
• knitting
• cycling
• hiking
• skiing
• snowboarding
• rock climbing
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

This list will be revised and updated...

Movies: Quills, Donnie Darko, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Amelie, Trainspotting, Zoolander, Away We Go, A Clockwork Orange, Run Lola Run, Orlando,

Music: Cat Power, Okkervil River, NIN, Ladytron, Modest Mouse, Smog, The Shins, The Postal Service, Johnny Cash, Regina Spektor, Aronas, I suspect I'm about to fall in love with Leonard Cohen,

Books: Catch 22, The Dice Man and Tristram Shandy (which regretfully I can't concentrate on, but I'll get there, one day), Oscar and Lucinda, The God of Small Things, A Clockwork Orange, ahh, so many...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

First and foremost... Couchsurfing!!! It has been the most incredible thing I've come across in my life so far. I first really fell in love with couchsurfing in Dublin when I had the chance to meet and party with so many wonderful people for St. Patrick's Day {my birthday!}.
I walked the Camino de Santiago which was amazing. I walked 889km over 40 days, from St. Jean Pier de Prt to Finisterre. It was filled with so many new, interesting, challenging experiences and the people that I met along the way were so so beautiful. It's hard to describe, so I suggest you do it yourself!
Other memorable things on my trip have been going for a night time ski in Norway, climbing a mountain sized sand dune in the Sahara at midnight, sleeping alone in a haunted prison in cell no. 13 and on a night with a full moon!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you to finger knit!

I'd like to learn to knit, with knitting needles. But if you can teach me that, you probably know how to knit with your fingers and therefore my skill becomes redundant.
So perhaps I can teach you to weave if you have a loom. If not, we could get strips of paper out, old school 6 year old style.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, China, Norway, Portugal

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