CURRENT MISSION

After raising a beautiful daughter, who is now a freshman in college, I am embarking on a new journey of exploration.

ABOUT ME

I live alone in a four bedroom farmhouse on two acres with a energetic yellow labrador retriever. My daughter, Chelsea, is away at college from September to May.
I spent the decade of my 20s working on commercial salmon fishing boats in southeast Alaska, hitchiking around America, and traveling through Europe, Mexico, India and east Africa. I used the experience to hone my skills as a writer and a photographer and became a self-taught journalist. I began working as a professional journalist in 1988 at a small weekly newspaper, and worked as a photojournalist at a daily newspaper for several years before launching my own independent newspaper in 1993.
For most of the past 18 years I have focused my energy on raising my daughter, Chelsea, who has taken me on my greatest adventure to date - fatherhood. My marriage broke apart in 1993 and for a majority of the past 13 years I have been a single parent raising Chelsea.
During the past ten years we have traveled extensively during summers, and during her breaks from school. We went on two massive road trips across America, once spending a month driving to Alaska and back (10,000 miles in a car).
Chelsea has been to every state in the US except Maine, and we are now beginning to expand our travels abroad. We have spent a month in England, Scotland and Ireland, sailed from Athens to Istanbul, and in December we are sailing from Phuket, Thailand down to Singapore.
The world is beginning to open up again.

PHILOSOPHY

To be compassionate and curious, and to feel the wind of change blowing hard in my face.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None so far.

Interests

Photography, reading, writing, hiking, kayaking, sailing, basketball, and trying to get involved in sitiuations where people are getting screwed over - whether its Native Americans and Blacks in the United States, or the hundreds of thousands of Tibetan refugees scattered across the globe.

• writing
• photography
• running of the bulls
• running
• reading
• traveling
• fishing
• hiking
• kayaking
• sailing
• basketball
• journalism
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies; The Insider, Kunden, Seven Years In Tibet and Miracle on 34th Street (I still believe in Santa Claus).
Music; I enjoy a wide range from Van Morrison to west African blues, to Islamic chanting to the mountain music of Tibet.
Books; I am a voracious reader with a small library in my house with 2000 books about photography, writing and travel.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Ran two Boston Marathons, survived the first running of the bulls in North America (Tecate, Mexico, 1979), hitchhiked 40,000 miles across America, fought forest fires in Idaho, sold x-mas trees in NYC while living out of a VW bus, successfully launched my own newspaper, and met the Dalai Lama in Mungod, India in 2003. But withoiut a doubt, the most amazing thing I have ever experienced is being the father of my astonishing 18 year old daughter, Chelsea.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have spent 20 years as a working journalist and have discovered ways for writers to get paid to travel and document the world. I would be glad to share my knowledge with anyone who might be interested.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, Cayman Islands, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Philippines, United States