My name is Matěj Balga. I was born in colorful, unpredictable November weather, in Hodonín, a sad shabby town in the lower corner of South Moravia which, by its grimy provincialism, is aspiring to become a template of south-moravian backwoods, although a few years ago it was regarded as an industrial center of the region.

At the end of my high school studies, after my mother’s death, I was experiencing a challenging period of life, and I was therefore (like now) looking for new meaning of life. I got to traveling as a way to a deeper understanding of the world and myself, and year after year from that, I would pack my bag every summer and live on the road:

In August 2009 I hitch-hiked for a month on the roads of Austria, Italy, San Marino, Switzerland and France for just 20 dollars.

Post-graduation summer of 2010 saw me furiously speeding eastward to the foot of the Caucasus ridge and back, freer than ever before, as I discovered the beauty of traveling by bicycle.

In addition to the endless wealth of experiences, the travels also provide my restless soul a much needed solitude and seclusion in which I find answers to the pressing questions of being. In the summer of 2010, while waiting for the boat to Odessa on the shores of the Black Sea in the picturesque Adjaria, I realized that in addition to water, food and a place to crash for a night, one can not live without love. I wrote in my diary that

"…I wanna find a nice, modest girl, who will warm up the other half of my sleeping mat…"

And in the spring of 2011, I really found her. Although none of our journeys was not (yet) as ambitious as the one to Georgia, hitchhiking together to Croatia, Norway, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and finally our great tandem expedition were exactly what I had hoped for on that sea shore.

In February 2014, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which completely paralyzed me for some time. Although my Miss Catherine has tried in every way to help, as have many men before me, I preferred pulling into the dark spaces of my self-pity and slowly resigned.

During the nine-day starvation that I underwent in the beginning of summer, I had concentrated enough mental strength to decide to be healthy again. Yes, I decided. Everything is just a word and a thought.

Что привело меня на Couchsurfing

I would like to show foreigners the way normal people live in my country - the habits, cuisine, the way how these people behave and how to behave with them - and so I expect also vice versa.

Интересы

I really love bicycle touring - it is the ultimate freedom, when your travels does not depend on gas prices...
Guitar, violin
Technology...

• beauty
• dining
• boating
• technology
• traveling
• guitar
• violin
• hitchhiking

Музыка, кино и книги

BOOKS: Is it a cliché to write here Kerouack's On the Road and Desolation Angels? Or the whole bibliography? Then also Marquéz, especially Hundred Years of Solitude.
MUSIC: From Dvorak and Debussy, through Django Reinhardt, Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keane, Beatles,...

Классная вещь, которую я сделал(-а)

I think it's setting off onto my current journey with just $800. (That was in October 2014 - and I am still going!)

Чем я могу поделиться с хостами

Good mood, my experiences, videos, pictures, stories, dreams,...

Где я побывал(-а)

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mauritania, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State

Где я жил(-а)

Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania