CURRENT MISSION

connect with a global community, through a smile, and a moment shared (oh, and hitchhiking from the Arctic circle to Patagonia)

ABOUT ME

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I am Luke and welcome to my couchsurfing page!

(For its length, I can only apologise, but I've always found short and snappy synopses difficult to pull off)

For 4 heady years I studied Marine and Coastal Management at Aberdeen University, specialising in marine cartography. Its a grey city for sure but the year was spent earning money for my travels during the summer...Hurrah.

Finally I broke free in August 2010 and headed out to Africa for a year, doing a little volunteering here and there, and trying to hitch-hike my way back to Scotland. Syria turned me back but Via Israel I finally managed to accomplish my mission of hitchhiking from South Africa to Scotland. Yee-haa... It took 350 lifts and 14 months, and a bout of Malaria, but I made back to Scotland in almost one piece.

There was an interlude; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to teach little Saudi Princes their English to conduct shady business deals with defence giants. 6 months; fascinating.

I was also a stand-in in a British Film, which involved my lying in a bed while the cameras reset. Fun.

Then it was 'Adventure No.2' which was my Asian Adventure 2012/13. That involves most of the terms and conditions of the Africa trip, except i started in Oceania (Papua New Guinea) and for the next 277 days hitchhiked back to Scotland.

Now I am on my 3rd and final trip, my swan song, so to say, and begun in the Arctic circle, and will spend the next year trying to hitch all the way to Patagonia. Wish me luck!

I am tall but always feel very young for my years. I cycle a bike everywhere and like using public transport... I live for travelling, laughing, self-sustainability, cuisine from around the world and cold beer ( and family)...

I like to think I make the most of what I have; that is not that I am a survivalist, but that I am humble and enjoy the small intricacies of life.

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PHILOSOPHY

I have this thing, you see... I would love to know, understand, smell, feel and see a little of every country. So much of how we view the world is based on media, and popular opinion. I like the thrill of finding out the truth, of truly getting into a country to know it.

Case in point; Sudan. Some of the worst associations are with this country; barbaric civil wars, warring people, tribalism... it goes on. It is destitute in the West. Yet, when I visited there in 2011, I discovered it to be the most friendly, warm, respectful, safe and hospitable country i have ever known. The message; don't trust hear-say....(2014 update; things are not good in Sudan again)

I really live for a couple of things; because we are very lucky to be alive, to travel and see other cultures and places and smells, and my family and friends...

For me, the people make a country. It is the human element and connection, and compassion,which truly prospers in our hearts and happiness, and transcends all races, religions and creeds.

one quote I do like is ;

"The desert weed lives on, but the flower of spring blooms and wilts" -Khaled Hosseini.

"What goes around, comes around" anon.

"To deride the hopes of progress is the ultimate fatuity, the last word in poverty of spirit and meaness of mind" -Medawar.

Or, mostly to console myself, "not all those that wonder are lost"

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Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

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Whilst I was at University, my hovel was up for grabs.

Whilst I was at home, my parents lavish sofa was up for grabs. In a year, I had one request, that being for the day I was leaving travelling.

Whilst I was in Saudi Arabia, I humoured myself by offering a couch. No-one came ;-(

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So, despite a lack of hosting (not for want of trying), i am an avid surfer, and always try to make the most of these unique friendships dotted about the world.
But.....I am very focussed on getting Scotland more accessible for travellers, so if you need any help, advice or just have thoughts about the country then just holler...

I am also keen to help and let other travellers know where the best places in Scotland are. For starters, if your looking to c-surf in Aberdeen then your on the wrong coast of Scotland. Head over to the West, rent a car, or hitch (it is super easy here) for a week and enjoy the wild West coast of Scotland, where the Atlantic crashes in.

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COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

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Really... that is a difficult part to comment on.

Let me say this much. I have visited places 'pre-Couchsurfing days' and then latterly with Couchsurfing, and they were very different.

To be given a unique incite into someones life, their existence within a society, is truly fascinating and rewarding. I have felt fulfilled in this sense.

I understand very strongly the 'exchange' aspect of the Couchsurfing. In a sense, I have the same experience with Hitch-hiking. I aim to be a co=operative, chatty and interesting surfer, that will do all possible to ingratiate himself into your home.

I have many fantastic bonds, memories and experiences as a result of CS, and feel a bit like a veteran these days!
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Interests

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I have many...., they some and go like the clouds.

Kayaking, swimming, hitch-hiking, cycling, I love the water (sea, rivers, hot springs...), traveling at any possible occasion, bargain hunting, hill walking,rivers, camping, sleeping, aviation... I like singing loudly on the London Underground and having it drowned out my the din of the rails.

I like emotive conversations; Politics and business often, and I like a good old debate here and there. I want to talk to someone without fear of offending them. Keeps you sharp!

I do stocks and shares, with that dream of making my travelling sustainable ... sadly it is not going well!!!

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• singing
• beer
• walking
• drinking
• aviation
• flowers
• politics
• traveling
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• hunting
• swimming
• business
• cartography
• communications
• religion
• hitchhiking
• volunteering
• rivers

Music, Movies, and Books

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Music is my raison d'etre, although I do like books but of recent have been reading alot of travel literature.

Music! I am almost always found with my Sennheiser headphones on.... that is unless I am at the coast, which is a good-a-soundtrack enough.

woo hoo...
Florence + the Machine
Kasabian
Toto
Supertramp
Yes
Tracy Chapman
Mylo
Steely Dan
Doobie Brothers
Beach-House
Capercaillie
Music from Cirque du Soleil
Bombay Bicycle Club
Caribou
Fleet Foxes
Flume
Disclosure
Jamie xxx
Fleetwood Mac
Friendly Fire
James Blake
Little Dragon
M83
Miles Davis
Ryan Adams
Salif keita
SBTRKT
Sujfan stevens
Stornoway
Van Morrison
SBTRkT
Tame Impala
Toro y Moi
Yeasayer
Washed Out
Zero 7

Books;
I like to flick through Brandt guides, and enjoy the narrative and the potential to visit places which only appear in words and pictures.

If I am going somewhere I like to read topically - e.g when I went to Russia I read 'A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' about the Gulag camps, and 'Barbed Wire and Babushkas' about some guys who kayak down a massive Russian river. You get the idea!
The Book Thief
Some Paul Theroux
Alan Hollinghurst's 'Line of Beauty'
Atonement
J.m. Coetzee
Philip Pullman

Movies
Very open minded. I normally would prefer a 'programme' or factual thing, though I just can't say no to Anchorman, Hot Rod, Into the Wild, 127 hours, Amelie, Sode me Madre, Pan's Laberinthe, Die Hard with Avegance, Spinal tap... The Witches! Fawlty Towers wins hands down...

One of my favorite scenes in a film, is the incredibly long and macabre scene of the Eulogy on Dunkirk, in Atonement. Check it out if you have a minute at http://www.steadishots.org/shots_detail.cfm?shotID=298

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

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I am going to do a sort of cliffhanger thing here... I will tell you a couple, and if I meet you and your pals, the rest may be coaxed out!

*Cycling past Tienanmen Square at sunset during the gun salute, followed by a full Peking Duck in a traditional Hutong

* Learning to Dive off tiny Apo Island in the Philippines

* Riding on Jeepney roofs on CRAZY crazy dirt roads on Palawan, Philippines

*Being rescued by a Russian family (Alexey &co) from the border to Mongolia, and being taken in for 3 days.

*Scotland

*Sunrise over Volcanic Mount Bromo, Indonesia

*Spending my 21st birthday out in the Andaman Islands, India

* Riding a bus from Delhi right up into the Himalaya. Extraordinary.

*simply BEING in Africa

* Taking +350 hitches to get from Cape Town back to Scotland, overland, in 14 months

* Spent a term teaching in Saudi Arabia, mostly as a way to see the country. 23rd Birthday on Farasan Islands ... paradise

* hitchhiking 50912km from Papua New guinea, to Scotland in 2013, through Central Asia, the Middle East Tec. 473 rides!

* Reaching the Arctic circle on 6th October 2013, drinking a beer and beginning the next year of travels down to Patagonia...

*Camping wild in Alaska and the Oregon coast.

*Hitchhiking to Hollywood to be Emma Thompson's date at the AMPAS Governor's Awards ceremony.

... but so often, I derive the greatest sense of satisfaction, gratification and honour from the kindness and interaction with strangers I meet on the road.

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and the list goes on!!!
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Teach, Learn, Share

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I will teach and share with people how to love, and access the best of Scotland, as it my one great passion.

I am also passionate about the coast and ocean, how it can be protected, managed sustainably and enhanced and also its way of connecting dispersed places.

I am normally very good at searching out cheap airfares... quite sad I know. One of the nicest things my quiet and shy ex-girlfriend taught me was the value of silence...

I will share my stories and interest! I can share my beer if your all out.

Will also give you some top hitchhiking tips, including the fabled 'look/pose'

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Uganda, United Kingdom

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