a solo traveler who is content to wander about on her own -- point me to the nearest bus, tram or train! -- but fascinated with local culture, history & politics...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

The way I've traveled has really evolved over the years. At the moment I'm working and living in Prague as an English teacher -- and loving the opportunities I have to explore the countries and cultures around me. I have deep intest in local history, architecture and visual arts. When I was a teenager studying in Germany during the 1970s, we hitchhiked here and there and stayed w/ locals ... then, as an adult, I traveled on business and therefore had to stay in 5-star hotels. I'm now back to the point where I'm looking for more meaningful exchanges as a traveler. I typically stay in hostels; but I'm now venturing into couchsurfing on a casual basis, mostly to share exchange ideas...

Music, Movies, and Books

I was once a professor of cinema in a Canadian university -- so I am a pretty big movie "geek." Favorite movies include Christopher Nolan's "Inception" & "Dunkirk" ... Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire" ... Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" and "French Dispatch" ... Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" -- and many more. I esp like films or series of historical events. I don't read as many books as I'd like to (unfortunately!). I was once the manager of a music store in Canada, when records and cassettes still existed -- a very* cool job! -- so my musical tastes are very broad -- I particularly like country rock / folk music from the 1970s and 1980s ... minimalist music from Iceland ... movie soundtracks ... and world music with a good beat!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Wow. I am like a cat with nine lives :D ... I've been horseback riding in the mountains outside Srinagar (Kashmir) ... interviewed by Japanese media at the DMZ at the North and South Korean border ... re-traced the last steps of Che Guevara toward La Higuera in Bolivia ... hitchhiked up the Dempster Highway in Northern Canada to Inuvik and then throughout Alaska ... taught Syrian refugee kids on the Lebanese/Syrian border for 4 months ... and photographed at Lech Walesa's party headquarters in Gdansk during Poland's first "free" election in 1990. I interviewed 40 Cuban women throughout Cuba on their role in the 1961 Literacy Campaign, in "Spanglish". Ten years ago I almost finished an 850-page PhD thesis on Cuban revolutionary history (1952 - 1961) and in 2017 I was photographed w/ Barack Obama at a business luncheon in Toronto, Canada.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm definitely a "lifelong learner" ... I have a "natural" interest in the world around me.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share a lot of travel stories -- and I ask a lot of "good" questions!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic