Слава Україні! 🇺🇦

Every end of a journey is the beginning of another, they say. And it's so true.

Hey there, dear traveler/s! (:

I used to have some sort of explanatory introduction text up here back in the days, but since I restarted my hosting days after some time off I wanna keep it simple: Please address me personally when writing a request, don't bring plastic bags and (parts of) dead animals into the flat (we keep it veggie for quite some time now) and yeah, we can happily provide you with warm blankets and a fresh towel, of course - just like you would want to (if you've read Douglas Adams). We have a big flat and quite some places to sleep: There is a couch in my room and also a chamber at the end of the hallway where you can have it cosy with your partner (it includes a bunk bed in case you feel adventurous and like to climb). :D

Also, hit me up if you happen to come to Berlin in early summer: we throw an annual lake party at some real sweet place just west of Berlin - there were quite some couchsurfers dropping by in those past lake parties having a blast there!

Find me on instagram: @la_hydra (www.instagram.com/la_hydra)
Watch some travel videos: www.youtube.com/user/thehydra08
Enjoy high quality travel photography: www.flickr.com/photos/124057412@N07

I also have a blog where I write about my trips as well as societal, political, scientific, and ethical topics.
Feel free to check it out: https://roknablue.wordpress.com

"One Language to Unite: English as Europe’s Lingua Franca
(https://roknablue.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/english-europe-lingua-franca)
"The Germans, their cash, and the struggle with digitalization"
(https://roknablue.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/germans-cash)
"Why Dubbing Movies is a Bad Idea"
(https://roknablue.wordpress.com/2024/01/17/why-dubbing-movies-is-a-bad-idea)
"Argentinian Patagonia on the Cheap"
(https://roknablue.wordpress.com/2023/01/31/argentinian-patagonia-on-the-cheap)
"Eastern Canadian Adventure: From Toronto to Newfoundland, Part I"
(https://roknablue.wordpress.com/2023/02/02/eastern-canadian-adventure-from-toronto-to-newfoundland-part-i)
"Maltese Adventure Time"
(https://roknablue.wordpress.com/2023/04/11/maltese-adventure-time)

I spend a considerable amount of time with editing video: from various road trips with friends and things we do in either Berlin or Leipzig to festivals or parties we organise plus various artistic events, so in case you're interested, here is a selection of stuff you might like! Also, it gives you an idea of how our life looks like - and maybe you'd wanna join us on a trip some day (:

Roadtrippin' across Europe
Sweden II (Aug 2023): https://youtu.be/p9_q3jX9DTY
France (Aug 2022): https://youtu.be/BNE7bu3jVO0
Croatia/Hungary/Czechia/Slovakia (Aug/Sept 2021): https://youtu.be/_3i9C1ahd50
Portugal (May 2021): https://youtu.be/7VWlB8s6muI
Italy (summer 2020): https://youtu.be/PoT8iuhGZDU
Albania (Oct 2019): https://youtu.be/HSuE1xHc1gI
Greece (Sept 2018): https://youtu.be/RMJlsfO7TyU
Norway (August 2018): https://youtu.be/z3EKG-8vdOM
Canary Islands (May 2018): https://youtu.be/My29gVfvDfM
Portugal (summer 2017): https://youtu.be/It3xLaQrmHk
Toscana (May 2017): https://youtu.be/f6vylLVuaP4
Poland and the Baltics (Aug 2016): https://youtu.be/369dTATcrQU
Southern England (May 2016): https://youtu.be/OFXJqvceMR8
Central Europe (summer 2015): https://youtu.be/Pj_lhJnpzhc
Ireland (April 2015): https://youtu.be/NoIR9OPCJa8
Sweden (Aug 2014): https://youtu.be/J2AZXdgeSXM
Scotland (March 2014): https://youtu.be/Jz_ON3DII2w

And this is how life in Berlin/Leipzig looks like...
Flat party "down the rabbit hole" (fall 2021): https://youtu.be/DAnaywsJFuU
Leipzig (spring 2021): https://youtu.be/_BJGtpRHD74
Flat party "Mythos" (July 2020): https://youtu.be/IgMHkPjuKbA
"Secret" Flat party (Jan 2020): https://youtu.be/uYWTwNOJx2I
Winter 2018 (in Berlin and Dresden): https://youtu.be/sL4feK1l6mI
Summer time (2017): https://youtu.be/9S-i7SQDA7U
Day out at the Baltic Sea (summer 2017): https://youtu.be/u4mJiL_MX_U
Stockholm/Berlin (spring 2017): https://youtu.be/tgKUmNIVHi0
Winter time (2016/17): https://youtu.be/dYKr8X6lcjc

Some other travel videos:
Vienna and Bratislava (summer 2020): https://youtu.be/1Kag15wnbps
Boat trippin' (near Berlin) (summer 2020): https://youtu.be/ZCzXRVLhZng
NYE hitching trip 2019/20: https://youtu.be/Djfk4XNpaTI
Budapest and the Balaton (summer 2017): https://youtu.be/hgrPhN-XdOw
Paris (summer 2017): https://youtu.be/VlzOYZccEbg
Backpacking the Baltics (spring 2017): https://youtu.be/Qcu1SIc4BqI
Backpacking India (2015): https://youtu.be/G8vaiooOPBY

My best pal and I went backpacking on a trip around the globe between November 2018 and May '19 and I'm slowly, but surely getting the video editing done here as well, this is how it looks like so far:
episode I (Myanmar): https://youtu.be/evMvN302Rxc
episode II (Thailand and KL): https://youtu.be/0N14UwMgiHU
episode III (Vietnam): https://youtu.be/TrPE5OgZpLA
episode IV (Sulawesi): https://youtu.be/KQcYYWXIwzM

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Where to start... it's such a wonderful network with numerous enchanting, thankful and inspiring human beings and it gave me lots of bliss over the years. While it allows you to cut costs on accommodation (especially when traveling in "Western" countries), it gives you more freedom to spend your extra cash on a shared brunch or dinner with your host (and maybe a good wine), get to know some local secrets, connect you to future travel companions and there's always some sweet little advice you can pick up. It's just such a wonderful gate opener to all kinds of things: a good party in some underground bar, a night-long deep-talk conversation about love, life and stardust, a future backpacking trip to anywhere from Canada's Yukon Territory via the jungles of Guatemala to Australia's outback or simply a real good, maybe life-changing movie!

Interests

• animals
• arts
• writing
• literature
• poetry
• photography
• dancing
• human rights
• womens rights
• ethics
• vegetarian
• vegan
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• electronic music
• hiking
• backpacking
• snorkeling
• astronomy
• history
• international relations
• languages
• philosophy
• psychology
• science
• hitchhiking
• beaches
• youtube
• linguistics
• spirituality
• feminism
• french
• editing
• world history
• vegetarian cooking
• roadtrips
• video editing
• european history
• shortfilms

Music, Movies, and Books

Looking back to my collection of LPs... what do we got here?
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Abbey Road" from the Beatles and, of course, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Then there is "Keine Macht für Niemand" from Ton Steine Scherben (I got this one in a record store in Tübingen), the soundtrack to one of my all-time favorite movies (Trainspotting), lots of Nine Inch Nails albums (e.g. "Pretty Hate Machine" and "The Fragile: Deviations") and John Frusciante records: "Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt" as well as "Letur Lefr" and "Enclosure". We also find here stuff by The Smashing Pumpkins, Tocotronic and Eminem's classic "The Marshall Mathers LP".

When it comes to movies... obviously there are way too many out there, so I could name some of my favorite directors, I reckon: Kubrick, of course. David Lynch. Gaspar Noé ("Irreversible" is probably in my top 3, but "Enter the Void" and "Seul contre tous" would need to be mentioned, too). Darren Aronofsky (he did "Pi", "Black Swan", "The Fountain" and "Requiem for a Dream". I could watch David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" a thousand more times and wouldn't get bored. Basically all movies that Nine Inch Nails (i.e. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) provided the soundtrack for.

Books! Well, I love books so much that I established a whole private library in my room: Apart from travel guides, biographies, Agatha Christie crime novels I'm a huge fan of popular science books on world history, philosophy, psychology, politics, sociology, art and evolutionary biology.
To name some authors: Richard Dawkins, Peter Singer, Christopher Hitchens, David Eagleman, Steven Fry, Daniel Dennett. Among the German writers my favorite is Michael Schmidt-Salomon and everything he wrote on evolutionary humanism.

Then there are some popular authors I'd like to mention: Bret Easton Ellis, Andreas Altmann, Alex Garland (he wrote, among other things, "The Beach"), Jack Kerouac, George Orwell, Chuck Palahniuk (author of "Fight Club" and other brilliant stuff), Jon Krakauer (he wrote e.g. "Into the Wild").

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

First thing that pops up in mind is my best bud and me flying to Valencia some time ago, visiting a good friend and then hitchhiking around the Iberian peninsula, across France and Switzerland to Germany and back to Berlin in some 5 weeks, riding some 60 or so cars, sleeping at beaches, in parks, couch surfing and making friends for life. I think that we didn't spend more than 200 euro or so. Those were the days!

Same guy and I used to have that wonderful tradition of NOT spending NYE in Berlin (where we both grew up), but to hitchhike and couchsurf at a different European capital (or otherwise bigger city) for many years, e.g. in Copenhagen, Oslo, Prague, Toulouse, Vienna, Bruxelles, Beograd, Lviv, Groningen... oh, so much fun! So much snow and ice and freezing also. Just makes me think of how we waited for ever at the border between Hungary and Serbia for a ride to the capital while the water in our drinking bottles became useless since it was just freezing. And the phone battery died. And so were the sprits! And then a bus filled with crazy happy Serbians (that was just coming from Vienna, where we started that day) arrived and picked us up to Novi Sad (from where we took a train to Belgrade). That NYE party was a blast also! Unforgettable.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can entertain you with lots of stories from various trips all around the planet plus I can teach you how to juggle (not saying I'm great, but I'm definitely good in teaching you how it works in case you always wondered!) - also, I can assist when it comes to throwin' a good party or simply share some general knowledge about places and where to go, e.g. by hitchhiking!

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kosovo, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Northern Ireland, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Finland, Germany