Hey, My name is James Brown, named after the god father of soul, yes the singer, and before you ask, yes I do feel good xD (Sorry if you're too young to get that joke). I'm currently travelling by bike from Nottingham in England (Literally my front door) to Istanbul, Turkey. After Istanbul I intend to make my way south through Greece and then north back out of Greece and up through Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and finally Slovenia where I plan to fly either back home to England or to Northern Ireland and cycle my way down to Dublin in Ireland where I will ferry back and cycle home.

So thats my current plan, but a little about me. I live in Nottingham which is home to a newly promoted premier league team, and of course, Robin Hood. The area I currently live in is West Bridgford and it's a popular and highly desirable part of not only the town but the entire country. The river Trent runs right along side it so the area is full of nature, cafe's and shops.

I'm 31 years old and i've been travelling twice before, this being my third trip, but never by bicycle, in fact I didn't really ride that much before this trip, I just decided, get on my bike and go. I work at Lidl and that has been my career since I was 18 years old. It basically pays really well, but comes with a lot of stress. That stress has lead me to desire an escape in the form of travel.

Travel has been my biggest interest ever since I turned 18. My first proper trip abroad was a group tour of Morocco and Marrakech where we hiked through the Atlas mountains for 9 days, spending the other two in the city. It was our intention to climb to the peak of mount Toubkal but weather conditions prevented this due to the time of year.

When I turned 21 in 2012 I took my girlfriend at the time along to inter-rail around Europe. In my naivety I booked a bunch of hostels ahead of time to 'secure' a place to stay, we then spent most of the time racing from train station to hostel, hostel to attraction, attraction to station and so on, all whilst lugging around heavy, back breaking, bags. We covered 10 countries in 23 days, which is far too much in too short of a time. Big mistake, but the trip had some highlights including tours of Amsterdam, the Cathedral of Cologne, the Zoo of Munich, the train ride through the alps from Austria to Switzerland, the chocolate of Liechtenstein, the canals of Venice, the tower of Pisa and of course, the Colosseum of Rome.

My first big trip gave me the itch, the travel bug so to speak, and I began to spend my time planning potential trips through sky scanner, kayak, google maps and various other websites. I just had to travel again, and this time go further a field. A couple of trips abroad including a return to the Netherlands and a week in Croatia kept my excitement at bay, but only for so long.

In 2016 it was time for the big one. Having saved as much money as possible over the last 18 months, the same girlfriend and I flew from Madrid to Quito, spending a night in the city and experiencing a 7.8 magnitude earth quake. The next morning, with about 2 hours broken sleep, we zoomed our way over to the airport where we flew to the one and only, Galapagos Islands. 6 days in the gorgeous archipelagos, visiting 3 of the islands and marvelling at the incredible biodiversity, we were back in the airport and on our way to Peru.

Arriving at our hotel in the early hours of the morning, we immediately got to sleep despite our excitement for the next day. We had booked a group tour to visit the country with and our tour guide, along with all of the members of the group, were amazing. Starting in Lima and then moving on to Lake Titikaka, Puno, Cuzco, the Amazon rainforest and of course, Machu Picchu, the 23 days we spent there were memories we would never forget.

After seeing just a small part of South America, our next destination would be New Zealand, the country I was certainly most excited about seeing. We decided to hire a camper van for 51 nights, as it was the Autumn heading into the winter, so camper vans were 3x cheaper than in the summer time. Exploring the entirety of the North and South Island, including Milford Sound, Hobbiton (The best place i have EVER visited), Wellington and the adrenaline capital of the world, Queenstown. Being a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, New Zealand will forever have a place in my heart.

We finished our journey with South East Asia, seeing Bali of course, how could we not, a night in Singapore, bus touring Malaysia and finally Island hopping in Thailand. The plan was to continue into Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and potentially even further, however a combination of home sickness, low funds and me falling seriously ill with food poisoning from a wild chicken burger, we decided to bring our jet setting to an unfortunate end. Flying home and surprising our families with our sudden reappearance was such an emotional and overwhelming experience. So good.

Iceland came next, a joint birthday present for the two of us sorted us out with flights and a hotel for 3 nights. We hired a car from the airport and saw the entirety of the golden circle, ate bakery goods in Reykjavik, the glacier lagoons in Hof, and of course enjoyed an evening in the Blue Lagoon, whilst it snowed, might I add.

My last trip, before this, was Cyprus, 11 nights, in three towns, Pathos, Limassol and Larnaca, again with car hire, which I believe is the best way to travel, if you're just seeing one country. 3 nights in the first town, 4 night in the second and four nights in the third. All different in their own way. The highlight for me was seeing Flamingo's on the salt flats and exploring the ancient sites packed with Greek ruins.

So, yeah, I've travelled a lot and I love it, and I don't intend to stop. My biggest two lessons are plan nothing, and say yes to as much as possible, and I'm saying Yes to couch surfing :D

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

This trip is all about pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and couch surfing is the level I am at. A warm place to stay coupled with a tour guide of the city, and hopefully friends for life, is exactly why I want to give this a go. As I write this profile I am currently staying with a gentleman called David in Bratislava, Slovakia. He has hosted over 200 guests in his home through multiple websites and pointed me in the direction of this site.

Interests

• animals
• drinking games
• movies
• video games
• board games
• chess
• reading
• puzzles
• investing
• magic
• cycling
• geography
• history
• science
• travel
• nature
• people
• scrabble
• card games
• connect 4

Music, Movies, and Books

My favourite band is U2 as i grew up with my father constantly playing them. My favourite film is Fight Club for how thought provoking and ground breaking it was for a movie. My favourite book is 1984 for how ahead of its time it was.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Cycling from England to Turkey.
Seen glow worms in New Zealand.
Watched Blue Whales and Dolphins in New Zealand.
Explored the Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali.
Snorkelled in the Galapagos Islands.
Hiked through the mountains in Peru, reaching Machu Pichu.
Visited the homes of families, on the floating Islands of Lake Titikaka.
Trekked through the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach magic tricks, even though I shouldn't xD and card games. I can teach chess and English and probably a bunch of other random but pointless things.

The more Spanish I learn the better, for future trips.

I can share my photos and stories of past travel experiences. I can share jokes, riddles and card tricks.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Magic tricks, card games, photographs, stories, video logs (youtube), jokes, riddles. I'm really good at board games as well.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Qatar, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Vatican City State, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

England