CURRENT MISSION

Travel the world, be a good mom, share God's love

ABOUT ME

My name's Mel. I spent several years wandering the world, teaching scuba diving. I've settled for the moment in Roatan- I've been here off and on for 25 years. I have two boys who are now adults, so I'm going to start taking time to travel again. Christian, mother and traveller are the three things that define me most.

PHILOSOPHY

I try to reflect Christ's love through my life, though that's sometimes easier said than done :) I usually find the positive in difficult situations, and use that to help move me through. Most days, I feel very blessed with all that I've been given.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My name is Mel. I've hosted a few people, then took a break for a few months, as I was getting inundated with requests, and didn't even have the time to get them answered, let alone host. I have decided to start (occasionally) hosting again, but am going to be quite selective, as I've had a few CSers that were disruptive to our routine- late night returns to the house really don't work for me! I also don't like receiving cut and pasted requests where it doesn't even show if someone has read through my profile- if you don't address me by my name and put some information to indicate that you've read through and think it'll be a good fit, then I'm not going to accept your request. We also have a little hostel (our house is right in the middle of it all), so if we're not able to host, we can still provide a cheap option for travelers.
If you'd like to stay in our home, please read our full profile and information on our home, and write us a personal request referencing information you've read. My preference for guests are travelling families and travellers in a similar age range to me, as I find there's more common ground, but we're open to hosting others if it looks like they'd fit in well with our family. If you don't have any references, it's unlikely that we'll host you (and if you haven't fully filled in your profile and have no references, we definitely won't host you), but you're welcome to tell us more about yourself and we'll go from there.

WHAT IS COUCHSURFING TO ME?
The stay is meant to be free, but that's not the purpose behind it (some travellers just use it because they're being cheap and treat their hosts like a hotel without any interest in having a cultural exchange. Even worse, some eat all of their host's food, not buying anything of their own (I've talked with other hosts who have had their fridges cleaned out by inconsiderate surfers!). No one would ever want to host if all of their surfers were like that- good surfers stay free, but they give back in other ways, offering to cook a meal, or take the dogs for a walk, sometimes giving the host a little gift (just like you would if you stayed with a friend as a thank you). Great surfers have a good sense of timing, so they know when a good time to use the bathroom is, when to use the kitchen, when to chat with their host, and when to just have some quiet time- I've had bad, good and great surfers, and great surfers make hosting so easy that you'd like them to stay longer, and often friendships are formed, and you keep in contact in the future.
Some hosts loan out their house key (though we surfed with someone once who had done this, and the surfer had stolen their laptop and left), but many hosts just have the policy that when they leave the house, you also need to be out. That means that sometimes it's not a good fit to surf with someone, depending on both of your schedules. Some hosts have shedding, jumping pets, or their level of cleanliness might not be the same as your own, they might be smokers, like to stay up late: all of these things make finding a good match really important. Fill in all of your profile details as best as you can, and then make sure to read all the details of any potential host (as well as their references) before contacting them, to see if it looks like a good fit. We do far more hosting than surfing (and only host once every couple of months, as I don't have the energy to do it more, since I already have to be very social all the time with my hostel), but when we have surfed, I try to find a host similar age to me as there's usually more common ground, plus I have the challenge of finding a host that can accept all 3 of us- I've had a few wonderful hosts, and we've really enjoyed those experiences.

Centres d'intérêt

afternoons on the beach, travelling, reading, rollerblading (not in Roatan!), shopping (also not in Roatan), being out on a boat, baking, painting

• baking
• dieting
• boating
• shopping
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• scuba diving
• beaches

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Jody Picoult is my favourite author. Without a library or bookstore on the island, my reading selection is usually based on whatever the guests at the resort leave behind :) For music, I like reggae, soca, latino, contemporary Christian, good female vocalists (Sade, Sarah Mclaughlin)

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

Swam with dolphins, whale sharks and pilot whales in the wild.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

I've traveled a fair bit through Central America (and elsewhere), and know a lot about diving, so I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.
I love learning about other parts of the world, so if you stay with us, we'll want you to visit with us and share a bit about where you're from.

Ce que j'aimerais partager avec mes hôtes

I make great homemade bread if you want to do a baking session!

Pays que j'ai visités

Austria, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Australia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Egypt, France, Honduras

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