Hi, I'm Matt - currently travelling around Europe for a couple of months and looking to meet interesting people and generally have a nice time.

I work for a consulting firm in the UK and am currently on a year long career break, using the time to see more of the world I live in!

I grew up just outside Sheffield in South Yorkshire, before moving to Manchester for University. I fell in love with the city and have been there ever since.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm on couch surfing to meet people from the places that I visit - sometimes staying in hostels you only interact with other backpackers and it's nice to be able to meet locals and get a better insight into day to day life in the places I visit.

I'm also interested in becoming a host when I get a new place in the UK so would like to get some insight from hosts into how their experience has been, as well as any tips for getting the most out of the experience.

Interests

I love board games and card games, currently have around 100 different games at home! I also collect vinyl records.

I love photography, in particular street photography - I sometimes post pictures from my travels on instagram - https://www.instagram.com/matt_j_plummer/

I enjoy reading but have mostly moved to audiobooks now as its easier when moving around a lot.

I love history, so much so that I did my degree in it! One of my main reasons to travel is to learn more about the places I visit and their history to understand how it has shaped them today.

I really enjoy trying local food - I'll eat anything once and its rare that I find something I don't enjoy! Some interesting things I've eaten include:

- Papaya and Coconut Worm Salad in Vietnam
- Hoi Sin Grasshopper in Thailand
- Fermented Fish in Japan
- Pigs Ears in Lithuania
- Cornflake Chicken in Bulgaria
- Kocorec and sheep's brain soup in Turkey

The only one I wasn't keen on was the coconut worm.

• photography
• cooking
• anime
• board games
• reading
• music
• jazz
• hiking
• scuba diving
• snowboarding
• history
• films
• food
• learning languages
• sci-fi
• local food
• audiobooks
• vinyl records
• fantasy books
• learning guitar

Music, Movies, and Books

Favourite films / TV shows:

The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Reservoir Dogs", "Pulp Fiction", "Apollo 13". Any 80s action films! The best films I've seen recently are "The Green Book" and "The Favourite".

TV wise, I like things like "Peep Show", the new star trek series, "Suits" and "The Grand Tour". I also enjoy the occasional Anime series as well.

Books:

The books I grew up with are the "Lord of the Rings" (there's a pattern here...), "His Dark Materials" and of course "Harry Potter".

I'm really into fantasy writing - anything by Brandon Sanderson, things like the "Wheel of Time" series etc.

Recently I've enjoyed "A Man called Ove", "Artemis", "South of the Border, West of the Sun" and "The Cellist of Sarajevo".

Music:

I'll listen to anything, but I grew up with alternative rock. Some of my favourite artists are "Our Lady Peace", "Frank Turner", "Oasis", "Muna", "Kettcar", "Tycho" and "Felix Hagan and the Family".

My record collection gives a pretty good insight into the type of things I listen to, if you want to check it out here's my discogs page -
https://www.discogs.com/user/Mjp08123

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbed Mount Fuji!

Teach, Learn, Share

Happy to help people who want to improve their English, I can teach you some new card games or board games too! I'm also more than happy to cook for people - I like to think the food I make is not bad!!!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm happy to either hang out together or amuse myself depending on what suits you best. I hope that people would say that I'm a friendly person and good company! Since I will be sharing your home i'll make sure to treat it with respect and be as unobtrusive as possible. I also usually travel with a bunch of British tea bags and would be happy to share :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Viet Nam, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom