I wrote a blog about Couchsurfing....read it before you ask to stay with me.

https://welovewanderlust.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/couchsurfing-how-to-be-a-good-host-and-a-good-guest/

Instagram - @gigibamborough
Blog - www.WeLoveWanderlust.wordpress.com

CURRENT MISSION

Self-fulfilment.

ABOUT ME

My name is Gigi. I'm a 29 yr old Australian girl that has been traveling the world for the most part of 10 years. I'm a big fan of couchsurfing and love the idea of paying it forward and exchanging cultures.

I'm currently living with my Dutch husband, John (https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/john-bamborough) in Notting Hill, London.

I love traveling and I've done quite a lot. In the last 10 years I've found myself living and working in France, Turkey, Guernsey, Canada, Thailand, South Africa, Austria, The Netherlands and back in London.

The plan is (hopefully) to work on each continent before I'm 30... I've got South America and Antarctica to go so I'm slowly but surely getting there but married life tamed this wild one a little and at this moment I'm enjoying my little London life and not in a rush to break away from that. If you know me at all you'd realise how crazy that is for me to even say that!

I'm very open minded, down to earth, motivated and adventurous and my motto is 'I'll try anything once...twice if I like it.' I love meeting new people and sharing stories over coffee or a drink and hope to get more involved with the couchsurfing scene now that I am starting to settle.

I work as a a full time nanny for an incredible family in London - it's a very full on job but I'm lucky in that I have a quite a lot of flexibility and time off.

I also started a facebook page 'The Non-Boring London Collective' and were always organising fun events!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've been using it a lot in the last few years and have met some incredible people on here. Each year for the last 3 years we've hosted an 'orphans christmas' for anybody without a place to go. It's the highlight of my year and we always meet a lot of people through that.

We often host couchsurfing dinners and catch up with couch surfers passing through London. My favourite thing in the world is hosting couchsurfing dinners - eating, drinking, laughing and sharing stories with wonderful new faces.

We live in a one bedroom flat in a great location but it's TINY so it's hard to host as much as we used to but if you send me a nice message and I like the sound of you we can make it work :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I first heard about CS when I was stranded in Paris in 2009! I stayed with a cool chick that showed me around and looked after me! Since then I've tried to pay it forward and have hosted a few people in Australia and we're getting our place ready to host in Leiden!

I've been hosted by some amazing people and made some life long friends. I've met up with a few people for dinner, drinks and random adventures and had 18 strangers come around to my house for Christmas.

Interests

Photography, music, meeting new people, shopping, catching up with old friends, making new friends, reading, writing, music festivals, camping, spontaneous adventures.

• writing
• books
• photography
• music festivals
• festivals
• cooking
• recipes
• coffee
• drinking
• shopping
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• camping
• skydiving
• rock climbing
• olympics
• swimming
• journalism
• hitchhiking
• volunteering

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Swimming with dolphins in Hawaii,
Helicopter ride over The Grand Canyon and the Las Vegas Strip,
Sleeping on the street in Paris in the middle of winter,
Skydiving over Lake Taupo in New Zealand,
Climbing Uluru in Australia,
Riding elephants in Indonesia,
Hitchhiking around Iceland,
The Big 5 in Africa,
The Northern Lights in Swedish Lapland,
Working in an orphanage in northern Thailand for 3 months in 2014
Volunteer teaching in South Africa

Teach, Learn, Share

I love cooking healthy and hearty food and I'm currently in the process of publishing a cook book with my uncle. Happy to pass on some of my delicious recipes.

I also have a whole bunch of ridiculous and crazy travel stories to share and would love to help with English and learn another language. Anybody that can help me with French or Dutch gets bonus points!

What I Can Share with Hosts

A great couchsurfing experience. Having couchsurfed a lot myself I know how to be a good host. My favourite thing in life is being in my pjs, having people in my house, cooking for them and getting them drunk and chatting about life adventures! haha

If you want to stay with me show me that you've taken the time to read my profile and couchsurfing blog please! I get so many requests and I don't want to take the time out to reply to somebody that hasn't even taken time to read and know about me. Usually I won't reply to generic, boring messages... although if you're lucky I might reject you with something feisty. haha.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Austria, Canada, England, France, Guernsey, Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom