CURRENT MISSION

Continue to explore the vast beauty if our wonderful planet and share thoughts and time with new and old friends.

ABOUT ME

Growing up, we moved from place to place, and vacationed in many more in both the US, Germany, visiting most all of Europe, many US states as well as Mexico.

Those childhood experiences continued to lead me to many places I thought then I would never visit, like Brazil.

Now both Rio de Janeiro, as well as Germany feel like a second home to me, as I continue to expand my dream travels around our wonderful planet.

Everywhere I have gone, there is a richness of culture and kindness. Striving to share, I have already hosted many new and old friends on 'the couch' over the years.

Being a videographer/photographer and directing & producing, I seek out the human stories that portray the goodness of humanity, trying to bring out this positive reality -- a positive reality I know well from all the wonderful experiences I have had.

People and nature give me great hope in our wonderful beautiful world.

PHILOSOPHY

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." -- Mahatma Ghandi

Kindness.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am very engaged in numerous non-profit groups that tend to be in the area of human and civil rights. This has been a calling since college, and continues unabated.
Coalition building is a key, I believe, in supporting emerging realizations of what rights humans might adopt to be, well, more humane. ... and protective of the environment and other life. All in a living space we share on this earth.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Oh, I have slept on many a couch and beds too.
Throughout Europe and South America, and even the US, there are too many stories to tell.

Both distant family and friends have opened up their houses and apartments for stays, and we have always had a great experience talking, cooking, and exploring their cities and country sides.

There are a few that stick out, like the kindness of an old man on a remote lake in the Amazon, who kindly opened up his house to us, for hammock surfing ... who became emotional with a gift tool I brought to him back months later.

One memorable experience when I was in college, was a two week stay with my girlfriend studying in Liege Belgium. Every morning, shaved or not (mostly not), the custom is four alternating 'kiss on the check' greetings. The family had five sons and one daughter. That's 24 beard scratches. Ha!

Interests

Human Rights, Nature, Hiking, Sailing, Swimming, Biking, Walking, Drawing ... and of course, Photography & Video.

• culture
• photography
• beauty
• civil rights
• environment
• human rights
• cooking
• walking
• electronics
• technology
• drawing
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• sailing
• swimming
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Sure I like to read, but what about places that are like books. Place and age first visited -- Yosemite 7, Sequoias, Greece 10, Tulum 48, Germany 8, France 9, Italy 9, England 8, Mexico 6, Panama 45, Kreta 13, Canada 22 ... Brazil 25, Paraguay 26, the US West 18.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Road Surfing: For three weeks as a graduate, a friend from Germany and I spent every night camping on the road thru the US West and border of Mexico ... sometimes literally on the road, always outside under the stars (and twice attacked by mosquitoes swarms) and always WITHOUT a tent.
More than once we woke up to breath taking views, like when the sun, and tourist, woke us in the middle of Monument Valley.
Another wake up on the beach in Santa Barbara CA where the officer just wanted to make sure we were still alive in those sleeping bags. Sand is hard.

So I'll call it road surfing ... maybe a bit rougher than a couch when your no longer a kid of 17.

But even hiking through the pouring Amazon jungle rain is easy when you end up in a comfy hammock, compared to crashing on deserted dirt road outside Juarez, Mexico ;)

Teach, Learn, Share

Well everyone looks to me for technical assistance, with computers, to a vast variety of electronics, and online technology in general. Happy to help out and find at least the direction of a solution.

Beyond, I believe that I might be able to share in some less technical areas, such as movement building ;) It's a wonderful world, but there are things that could be better, no?

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