CURRENT MISSION

Trying to get my ship to port

ABOUT ME

I work as a Chief Mate on the oceanographic research ships of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego. The voyages and expeditions I have worked brought me from the Yangtze River of China, to the icebergs off Cape Horn, South America and many other points around the world. We generally do physical oceanography in the Pacific Ocean and connected waters. My passion is world travel and I have spent the last 13 years working and independently wondering the world. I have no home and live out of a backpack (but if I’m back visiting my family then my couch will be open). I also love literature, to study history, and make trouble where and when I can.

Lately I have been leading tourist groups into North Korea - check out the blog at:

http://americaninnorthkorea.com/

PHILOSOPHY

Always trying to learn something new

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Group meetups mostly.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Met a couch surfer host in Venezuela and now I’m interested in getting out of the hostel scene.

Interests

Adventure travel, North Korea tourism, and not being on the ocean when I'm not working

• literature
• education
• modeling
• boating
• technology
• traveling
• blogging
• backpacking
• teaching
• history
• tourism
• tours
• adventure travel

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorite books - The Green House

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Lead custom tours to North Korea.

Found a ghost boat, unfortunately it’s a sad story, the boat was of a famous sailor who was lost at sea.

Circumnavigated the globe on a ship twice, 3 weeks in Bhutan, navigated a ship to Antarctica 3 times, worked a month as an extra in a Chinese kong fu film (died by a smack from an elephant trunk !), snuck around Kosovo, studied Vietnamese for a month in Hanoi, travel in Tibet for a month, worked as a model in Colombia and Mexico, on a game show in Korea.

Ok – so that’s more than one thing, but I have been traveling for 13 years and have visited over 90 countries so I have seen and done a ton of cool things.

Teach, Learn, Share

Check out my Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephferris76/

Online education – At sea oceanographic expeditions on my ship:

http://www.livescience.com/technology/080201-bts-oceanographer-lifestyle.html
http://hookahjoe.livejournal.com/212786.html
http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/png/
http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/index.html - Expedition #5
http://www.joilearning.org/sea90e/people/Joseph.html
http://www.danparktica.blogspot.com/

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, American Samoa, Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Korea, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, U.S., Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States, Viet Nam

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