Hi, my name is Jimmy. I am an active, life loving gentleman. I live in Dunellen, New Jersey, USA. I am well traveled (have been to more than 30 countries), and highly educated (PhD from a US University). I am new to couch surfing, and I start with CS because I anticipate that I will have time to do CS travel after my retirement (I have not done any couch surfing so far). I plan to start hosting in 2024. I prefer hosting 2-4 nights, and weekend works better for me. Please check "My Home" section before sending your request and kindly provide your arrival and departure time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I used to travel a few times internationally each year. The past 3 years (2020-2022), I have not done any international travel due to the obvious reason. When I start to plan for travels this year, I want to do something new, which is Couchsurfing or travel in group. I have not done that prior. I would like to meet new people, to learn different cultures through hosting or group travel. I can not do too much in hosting since I have a full time job, plus I also travel quite a lot for business. However, I will try to host if opportunity arises. Potentially I may plan to travel via Couchsurfing in future as well, this will be a totally new experience for me.

Interests

• culture
• photography
• beauty
• dancing
• fine dining
• partying
• movies
• traveling
• international relations
• group travel
• sightseeing
• friends
• interesting people

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Sound of Music, The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Forrest Gump and many Jackie Chan’s movies.
Music: I like all good music
Books: I read many books

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

After I was accepted by a U.S. university (graduate school) and received my US visa, I booked my airplane tickets from Beijing (China) to New Orleans (USA) by phone at a government run ticket office. When I went to the ticket office to purchase the ticket, I was told that I did not confirm my ticket, and that ticket was sold. So for next few days, I carried a bag of cash (my 7 years of savings at then) and went to the ticket office everyday, waiting for another ticket. One day the ticket agent told me, someone just canceled a ticket to San Francisco, I immediately bought that ticket. When I flew to San Francisco airport, I wanted to buy an airplane ticket to New Orleans, and found out that a one way ticket cost $1100, but I only have $1000 in hand (that was 1992, Chinese salary was low). I was told to buy greyhound bus ticket to New Orleans, which cost me $299, but it will have 7 transfers. I took the greyhound bus, traveled 3 days and 3 nights, from San Francisco to New Orleans, cross 5 states (CA, AZ, NM, TX, LA), I really enjoyed the scenes I saw during this trip. That was my first trip to US. Prior to that, I never been out of China. Sometimes, an economical option (bus) may have more fun than airplane.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: Chinese cooking, social dance, chemistry (my PhD major😄), Chinese culture, US cultures
Learn: other cultures
Share: traveling experiences, foods, dining and fun, stories, etc.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Fun, traveling experiences, many other things. Go to local restaurants together if host has time.
I just learned from a host’s writing - “ To me, CouchSurfing is all about the people. It's all about cultural exchanges, getting an authentic traveling experience, no matter where you are in the world”. Another one I learned through the writings by more experienced CS - “ Couchsurfing is not free, but it is cheaper and often more culturally interesting than hostels. Be a generous guest. Be a compassionate host”.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, United States