Hi! Great to meet you. A life that revolves around exploration and finding "home" in many faraway places has been my priority since I was a kid growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan in the US. I bought a one-way ticket to move to San Francisco ~10 years ago, and now have (mostly) worked full-time remotely while traveling for the last 5 years. :)

Travel highlights/experiences so far:
Spent a year in 2017-2018 backpacking the world for the first time, created a photography project, helped run a mobile pizzeria in Hawaii through Workaway, bought and sold a camper van in Australia, road tripped in New Zealand through free car relocation, got my PADI open water cert in Thailand, experienced sakura blossoms in Japan (childhood dream) while housesitting kitties through TrustedHousesitters.com, got rid of SF apartment officially in fall 2020, explored Mexico a ton (particularly CDMX), road tripped Poland to Ukraine, road tripped northern Argentina and backpacked in Patagonia, hiked volcanoes in Guatemala and El Salvador, fell in love with Barcelona and finally decided to get serious about learning Spanish, road tripped Turkey while hiking the Lycian Way, attended great couchsurfing meetup in Dubai, enjoyed (more) volcano sunrise hikes in Indonesia, ... anyway, the adventure goes on. :)

Ask me anything, I love chatting and am super open. 'Everyone has something to teach you.'

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Building a network of worldwide friendships has been so incredibly enriching and FUN, and so far I've largely done that just by meeting people in person (for example, chatting with other hikers on a random trail). As I continue to travel nonstop, though, it's good to explore other avenues of meeting up with likeminded travelers. Love to share new playful experiences — curiosity and imagination are invaluable.

Interests

I am quite active nowadays and prioritize finding mountains to hike / nature to hang out in. Love dancing to live, local music and good techno, exploring weird art galleries, coworking in cafes, petting cats, trying all sorts of new foods, and much more.

• cats
• arts
• writing
• photography
• dancing
• technology
• reading
• live music
• hiking
• backpacking
• kayaking
• camping
• scuba diving
• languages
• science
• nature
• videography
• biking
• techno
• sushi
• learning
• burning man
• imagination

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
Endless and always evolving. One of my favorite shows was seeing Luigi Tozzi live produce in Barcelona at LAUT (during Sonar week), Gorillaz during Primavera in Porto, Rødhåd play vinyl for 5 hours in Brooklyn at H0L0, experiencing my hometown Detroit during Movement week (Tangent Gallery!), ALL of ICKPA in Kyiv summer 2021 (wow), many places in Berlin and Mexico City (jazz clubs)... the list goes on. I would have loved to see Nujabes play. Also love hip-hop, trance, drum and bass, rock, metal, punk, etc. Siempre bailando.

Movies:
All Hayao Miyazaki (Laputa: Castle in the Sky)!
Lost in Translation
In The Mood For Love
Good Will Hunting (oh man, watched this movie a hundred times when I found it as a 12 year old)
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Books:
Behave - Robert Sapolsky
Never Split the Difference - Christopher Voss
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Traveling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa
+ lots more, GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/108074926-emily-iwankovitsch

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Selling all of my belongings twice now to nonstop travel.

Hiking up higher and higher mountains: Mt. Diablo (all 4 peaks) in California, Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, backpacking Glacier National Park (Montana), summiting Acatenango and Tajumulco in Guatemala, Ajusco in Mexico.

Skydiving a few times, particularly the time in Santa Cruz, CA, watching the clouds meet the shoreline and mountains.

Teach, Learn, Share

Can absolutely teach / share:
- Tips on how to navigate working full-time remotely while on the move + communicating with your work
- Using credit card points / airline miles to travel
- Referring you for and helping to set up a TrustedHousesitters profile (I've used this now 10 times around the world, great exchange of taking care of pets!)
- Best hiking spots in at least a few countries (yay Strava)
- Fun renegades around San Francisco hehe

I love learning! Always would love to chat about what book you're reading, or what you're thinking about life right now. Also, focused on learning Spanish, but want to get back to Japanese next year, and then go for a 4th language as well (TBD)...

What I Can Share with Hosts

I've couchsurfed plenty the last couple years (just with friends, not through this site) in between Airbnbs / hotels / housesitting / hostels, and always find it important to be mindful and respectful of others' space. (After all, they are inviting you into their home!) I've enjoyed cooking for friends, getting dinner or bringing small treats, etc. in addition to of course ensuring the space is just as I found it, if not cleaner / even more organized (haha).

Once I have a home again, I am excited to host other travelers again, too. :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States