Hello! We are Jean-Philippe and Catherine, a young couple who lives in Montreal. We've been together since 2009 and have both been bitten by the travel bug in 2013 with a fantastic trip to Costa Rica. Since then, we've also visited Cuba, Domnican Republic, Peru and Chile. We are now travelling in South East Asia for a year!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Getting to know a region with the insights of a local have always been the start of our most memorable experiences. We love to bathe in new cultures and learn about them from real people instead of tour guides!

Music, Movies, and Books

Jean-Philippe:
Music: All about 1st generation rock: Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Jimmy Hendrix, The Eagles, The Who, Pink Floyd, The Beatles... But I'm far from being closed to other musical styles. I also enjoy reggae, electronic music and classical works. I'm not that much into pop music, but I can't deny there are catchy tunes out there.

Movies: I'm a fan of Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson films. For the first, my favorite would have to be Pulp Fiction, followed by Kill Bill. For the second, The Darjeeling Limited and the Grand Budapest Hotel come in tied.

Books: I'm a HUGE fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Also love the Foundation Series from Isaac Asimov (as well as his other works), Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (and others) and George Orwell's 1984. If you haven't noticed, I love science-fiction. However, I have succumbed to the Game of Thrones craze and have enjoyed the books series so far!

Catherine:
Music: Jean-Philippe and I don't have the same tastes in music. As a compromise, we listen to a lot of jazz and blues, which we both love. I'm more into indie pop or folk music like Vance Joy, Alt-J or City and Colours and I can't stop listening to Louis-Jean Cormier's songs while driving.

Books: It's all about Quebec literature: Marie Laberge, Guillaume Vigneault, Kim Thuy, Stéphane Bourguignon, Nadine Bismuth and many more. I also fall in love with Lawrence Hill's book, Aminata.

Movies: It may sound cheesy but I love Lenardo DiCaprio's last movies: The Revenant, Inceptions, The wolf of Wallstreet, Django Unchained. I'm also a huge fan of Pixar and Disney animation movies. My last favorite one was Inside Out and I give five stars to Up!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

We did a five day trek in Torres Del Paine, Chile, in winter in complete autonomy with no resupply points. It was our first trek and even with the pain in our legs, it was amazing!

Teach, Learn, Share

Jean-Philippe:
I'm an average guitarist at best, but if you're a beginner, I might be able to give you some tips. I know extensively about photography, photo retouching, communications, marketing and social media. I can probably answer most questions on these subjects. Catherine and I also love to cook and would love to share a home cooked meal! Finally, I'm perfectly bilingual in French and English and would be happy to help you learn a word or three :) I'm currently trying to learn Japanese (it's hard!) and know very basic Spanish. Would love to share about these languages!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Leaving the place cleaner than when we came in, doing some food prep and being quiet and respectful.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, North Korea, Peru, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada