CURRENT MISSION

To be as happy as possible by seeing the world, grateful for all the good I have & paying it forward

ABOUT ME

I love life, but frankly I have a great life. I have a close knit family all of which lives within a 5 mile radius of me.

My passion is travel. I have been to over 54 different countries. Travel is my priority. I drive a smaller car, live in a smaller house and spend my disposable income on travel.

I have subsidized my income by being a contestant on both Wheel of Fortune and Who Wants to be a Millionare? Between both, I won over $60K.

PHILOSOPHY

I truly believe in paying it forward. I foolishly thought I was disadvantaged when I was younger because my family wasn't able to give me all the "things" that my friends had. While I was a kid, I always had to wear my brothers hand-me-downs. I always had to work for what I wanted. The more I travel and see the world, the more I appreciate my life. I also believe that when a blessing is received, one should pay it forward by passing along the happiness to another.

Every person in America is part of the lucky sperm club! We can do WHATEVER we want here. It truly is the land of opportunity. All you have to do is try.

And if your life is good, why not just give a little to someone who doesn't have it as good as you? There is no amount of money that will ever be enough. People are so concerned with upward mobility. I am happier driving an older car, living in a smaller house and being able to buy my parents a car or 25th anniversary Caribbean cruise and to pay to build an orphanage in Asia.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE CouchSuring is such an amazing way to meet locals. The conversations, meals and experiences I have shared with my many CouchSurfers, were just as fantastic as the amazing locations where I was.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Even before CS Project was up and running, I have been taken in by kind souls throughout my travels as well as meeting the random travelers and taking them into my home. All of this happened BEFORE I was able to read a profile. CS allows for an extra layer of security and "good faith." I can honestly say, I have never had a negative experience.

Interests

I learned to water ski when I was 5 and am a snow ski instructor since the age of 16. I was a competitive springboard diver and dove for the ASU diving team. I love most sports - playing not watching! I guess that applies to life!

I love the arts. My mom is the house manager for the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, so I see every single performance that comes through. I have been to the opera in about 20 countries and I love museums.

I am really into volunteering. The more I travel, the more I see how I can help. I decided to make my travel just as much about volunteering as sightseeing. Do you know a new crib for an orphanage in Cambodia costs $3 or you stay and eat for free at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand or a reforestation project in India!?! My travel is a combo of charity work and vacation. I volunteer with various orphanages, women's shelters, reforestation projects, animal shelters and AIDS clinics. It's amazingly fulfilling, but at times can be emotionally draining. So after a week or so of volunteering, I go and just decompress whether its trekking through a jungle or scuba diving off an island or dancing on a bar :0)

• animals
• horses
• arts
• performing arts
• full moon party
• dancing
• running
• instructor
• partying
• clubbing
• traveling
• knitting
• guitar
• opera
• hiking
• camping
• scuba diving
• skiing
• sports
• rock climbing
• swimming
• tourism
• volunteering
• sightseeing
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorite books are Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird and Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. I love to dance and I was an aerobics instructor for 10 years so any kind of music that makes the bootie shake is good by me!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

*Sitting next to a 6 foot leatherback turtle as she laid her eggs off the Panamanian isle of Bocas del Toro
*Attending the Full Moon Party on the Thai island of Kho Phanang which is a once a month all night rave. 30,000 people on a gorgeous crescent beach for one of the most epic parties on the planet
*Taking a mohut class and controlling and riding an enormous male elephant on my own in Laos
*Having a wild orangutan poop in my hair while on the isle of Borneo
*Having the most amazing evening on the balcony of our cramped beach bungalow on the Malaysian isle of the Perenthians, with 5 travel companions listening to Sara play her guitar which she bought in Vietnam, hauled thru Asia and was learning to play as she traveled
*Camel trekking across the Sahara in Morocco and most recently across the Rahjastaini Desert in India
*Watching an anaconda bite and lock on the hand of my chavenistic tour guide (karma!) as I trekked thru Los Llanos, Venazuela
*Being caught in a country lockdown during elections in Categena, Columbia
*Burning Man… all that needs to be said!
*Going to a bustling Indian market with 39 women from an abuse shelter and buying everyone brand new saris (traditional Indian attire). To give AND receive so much joy for a pittance of $2-$5/each, why doesn't EVERYBODY do this?!?!
*Scuba diving Honduras, Columbia, Mexico, Malyasia, Thailand, Belize, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua
*Seeing the opera Aida in Prague, Czech Republic
*Sipping tea while overlooking the plantations of Cameron Highlands, Malaysia or Darjeeling, India
*Glacier climbing and canyoning in Interlaken, Switzerland
*Trekking the Himalysias, watching the sun rise and set over these majestic peaks, in Nepal (if you go, the Annapuna trail is SO much better than Everest base camp)...
*Dancing at an all night rave and then sitting and watching the sunrise on the Greek island of Santorini
*While volunteering for the Mother Teresa Organization (Missionaries of Charities) in Calcutta, India: feeding, holding the hand and just comforting an untouchable with leoprocy who would die that evening... She died, not on a street and alone and discarded, but in a bed, under a roof, with people who maybe only knew her for a moment, but cared...

I have about 10,000 more to list! Just ONE of these experiences justifies a smaller house and an older car!!!

Teach, Learn, Share

Paying it forward has brought me the most happiness in my life and I have a pretty amazing life!

Countries I’ve Visited

Angola, Aruba, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Italy, Jamaica, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.S.

Countries I’ve Lived In

Panama, United States

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