CURRENT MISSION

To always have been to a higher number of countries than my age and to do some good along the way.

ABOUT ME

Back stateside again. Been living abroad most of my time since 2010. 5 years of ESL teaching in South Korea and Taiwan. A year of working-holiday in Australia. Many months of traveling. Minnesota will always feel like home.

Highly recommend Taiwan for travel. It's cheap, easy to get around, friendly, and they have awesome food, nightlife, and nature.

I enjoy the usual stuff: music, movies, adventures, climbing trees, exploring culture, being smart, being stupid, learning new things and forgetting old things.

I'm very open minded. I'll try just about anything once. I Will **Almost Eat Any Food Presented To Me! The world is here for us to explore so I'm getting started!

**except Balut. You've bested me, Philippines. But I'm coming for you again someday!!

PHILOSOPHY

I always hear my elders say 'youth is wasted on the young' and I intend on living my life in a way that allows me to look back and say 'it was one helluva ride.'

Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've been a member of CS for a while now but I always forget that I am whenever I travel. I am now resolving to use it more often and to be as host as well!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

1)drinks with Jedi_ideJ in Manila, Philippines
(February 2011)

2)hiked MT. Mayon with Eusebia Jacob and Benedict Nitollama in Legazpi, Philippines on Valentine's Day(February 2011)

3) Boracay, Philippines with Eusebia Jacob and others (June 2011)

4)Hosted Eusebia Jacob from Philippines (November 2011)

5)acted as partial tour guide of Seoul for group of CSers from Manila. Met Ronnie G, Jessica H, Hugo H, Ton, Pauline C, and many more! (November 2011)

6)Ngan Nguyen helped me buy and sell a motorbike in Vietnam and we had great times drinking on Bui Vien (January/February 2012)

7) 10 day motorbiking excursion in Vietnam with Eddie Raschauer, Tomas, Hoa Doan, Carl, and Tem. (January 2012)

8) Drinks with Ive in Maputo, Mozambique. (June 2012)

9) Euro cup soccer and drinks with Mahir in Istanbul (June 2012)

10) Watched England vs. France Euro Cup match in Istanbul, Turkey with a group of CSers (June 2012)

11) Celebrating my birthday with Aygen and Aylin Tetik and partying all night with Csers in Taksim, Istanbul at BEAT club (June 2012)

12) Minneapolis, Minnesota. Zombie Pub Crawl (October 2012)

13) Jacob Dalager (USA/Singapore) hosted May 2013

14) Vika (USA/Russia/France/China) hosted May 2013

15) Christopher Finley (USA) hosted June 2013

16) Tara Francolinni (USA) and I got drinks August 2013

17) Dab and Rico (Philippines) surfed my couch for a night in August 2013

18) Pingxi lantern festival. Taiwan. Group of CSers. Feb. 2014

19) Yamshui fireworks festival. Taiwan. Group of CSers. One of the craziest experiences of my life. Look this stuff up! Feb. 2014.

20) Hosted Paul R. and his sis for a few nights.

21) Crashed with Dab and Rico. Manila. August 2014.

22) stayed with Aram and Janie in Airlie beach, QLD and helped hatch Hobo Paradise. Haha. Climbed Cedar Falls a little. (February 2016)

23) Couchsurfing Weekly meetup Kota Kinabalu (March 2018) with Eamon

24) Days with Midz and Kike in Brunei (March 2018)

25) Hong Kong dinner event. Teaching Italian exchange students how to shotgun beer! (March 2018)

Interests

tramping (hiking), soccer, I'd love to learn how to play rugby, music, beaches, mountains, photography, bungee jumping, motorcycles, sharing a pint(or 10) and a story. I want to meet everyone and do everything! If it involves climbing something, I'm in! Fascinated by the history of the world and I want to learn as much as I can.

• photography
• cheese
• motorcycles
• movies
• hiking
• scuba diving

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorite recent read was called INTO THIN AIR by John Krakauer. Amazing tale of his experience of the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster.

I also read Chuck Palaniuk's book, "Pygmy" recently. A very satirical, dark, and interesting view of middle-America from the perspective of a foreign spy.

Catch 22 is a solid, dark comedy.

I love most kinds of movies, books, and music. I'm not a huge fan of horror movies but I'll watch them occasionally (given the right amount of peer pressure).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Kayak surfing in New Zealand.... AMAZING

World's highest commercial bungy jump in Macau 233m (also jumped at Bloukrans in South Africa and Nevis in Queenstown, NZ)

Licking glaciers in both the northern and southern hemispheres (Iceland and New Zealand)

Swimming with whale sharks in Donsol, Philippines. (A billion times better and more ecologically minded than Oslob, Cebu)

Making mostly naked snow-angels in Minnesota, USA (too many times to count)

Hiking along the Great Wall of China

Taking part in the world's largest group hug (at the time) in Sweden, 2001.

Exploring Angkor Wat and surrounding temples in 2012.

Motorbiking through Vietnam along coastal roads and the Ho Chi Minh trail through the mountains in 2012.

Traveling through 7 countries in Southern Africa and visiting Victoria Falls.

Grilling fresh Barracuda on the beach in Mozambique.

Explored underground cities in Turkey.

Yamshui Fireworks Festival in Taiwan. Manic. Absolutely Manic.

Pingxi Lantern Festival in Taiwan is magical.

Roadtrip to Uluru, King's Canyon, and the West MacDonnell Ranges in the Red Centre of Australia.

Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef on a 4 day liveaboard trip.

Jindo Sea-Parting Festival in South Korea.

Kiteboarding in Boracay, Philippines with Dab Samar.

2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

River cruises and wildlife spotting on Kinabatangan river, Sabah, Malaysia.

Hanging out with awesome locals in Brunei.

Walking all over Hong Kong.

10 days of scuba diving on Perhentian Kecil.

Street art and amazing food in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.

Acro-yoga overlooking the Kuala Lumpur skyline.

Manta Ray night dive in Kona, Hawaii. 16 Mantas!

Nearly reaching the summit of Mauna Loa.

Teach, Learn, Share

I've got an excellent (bad taste) toast that you haven't heard.

I have a special talent that not many other people have and unless you are just like me you won't be able to do it.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I am a very positive person and I'm willing to try anything. I would love to experience your city the way you do and see what you love about where you live.

I'm very respectful of space and boundaries.

I can share my views on the world and we can have some lively debates about how to make it a better place. That is the ultimate goal, is it not?

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Swaziland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, United States

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