CURRENT MISSION

Expand my tour operator to more and more regions of the Russian North and Far East

ABOUT ME

Crazy about travel, especially off the beaten track. Like languages, meeting and learning from new people, cultures really different from mine, especially tribal / indigenous / nomadic people. Love travel in the ex-USSR too. I Like writing (see my web page). Also like going out to bars, hanging out with friends, etc. Am an outgoing person who tries to see the positive side of everything, which can also be a problem as I never worry about anything.

PHILOSOPHY

"Life is a book. If you don't travel you read only one page." Also I'm a big believer on looking on the bright side of everything. However bad things are in your life, my travels in the third world have made me realise that they could be much worse.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Always couchsurf when I travel and have hosted three times too

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've surfed couches in 1) Vladimir, Russia, 2) Guam, 3) Beijing, China, 4) Ulan Bator, Mongolia, 5) Kaunas, Lithuania, 6) Vilnius, Lithuania, 7) Polotsk, Belarus and 8) Vitebsk, Belarus, 9) Kiev, Ukraine 10) Krasnoyarsk, Russia, 11) Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Russia, 12) Salekhard, Russia, 13) Labytnangi, Russia, 14) Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, 15) Lviv, Ukraine, 16) Rzeszow, Poland. I've hosted three times in Moscow, Russia.

Interests

See "All about me section"

• writing
• books
• dining
• traveling
• snorkeling
• languages
• sport
• diving
• indigenous people
• bird watching

Music, Movies, and Books

"Ishmael" and "The Story of B" - Daniel Quinn
"Confessions of an Economic Hitman" - John Perkins
"Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Collapse" - Jared Diamond
"Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace" - Tolstoy

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveled with reindeer-herding nomads in the Siberian Arctic, taken frog poison with a tribe in the Amazon, walked for 3 weeks across West Papua's highlands, visited a true "Stone Age" tribe in Vanuatu, spent 5 days on a Micronesian atoll in the middle of the Pacific where they drink only coconut juice, been the first white person to visit a tribe in the Philippines, ridden a reindeer across northern Mongolia to the nearest doctor when I was too ill with malaria to walk, trekked and hitch hiked across Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan, hitched a lift with bear hunters on snowmobiles in Kamchatka, driven on frozen Lake Baikal with local "Fish Police" then had to rescue car when it got stuck in partially melted ice, cycled from Lithuania across Belarus into Russia, cycled from Arkhangelskaya Oblast to Karelia in Russia. Sorry, so many things but for me they were all equally amazing, whether in a good or bad way!

Teach, Learn, Share

Raised expectations lead to unhappiness. A CEO loses his job and kills himself, even though his position is still better than almost everyone else in the world. The happiest people I ever met were a tribe who had nothing from the outside world. Just grew and hunted their own food, expected only to eat and drink and were never disappointed.

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Guam, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Micronesia, Federated States of, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Palau, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vanuatu

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, France, Oman, Russian Federation, United Kingdom

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