CURRENT MISSION

My wife and I are taking time off from work to travel! We're starting in Europe but I hope we'll get to see many more countries and continents on our journeys.

Update: We left New York in Sep 2014, quit our jobs and gave up our apartment. We traveled for 18 months, then decided we would love to stay in Europe. We were lucky to get jobs in both Lyon, France and Schaffhausen, Switzerland and as we are settling down, we are hoping to keep meeting travelers as well as make local friends!

ABOUT ME

We are Noha and Peter. We're newlyweds (for a little longer still!). We got married the first time in October 2012, and the last time in April 2013, with three more in between... ask us and we'll tell you the whole story :-)

Peter is from Ohio, USA, but his parents are originally from the Philippines. Noha is from Cairo, Egypt, but has lived in the US for ten years. We're taking time off from our careers -- Peter is an organic chemist and Noha is a systems analyst -- to travel. We're both interested in Europe so that's where we're starting but we hope to see lots of other places too! We're both quiet types but we're really trying to break out of our shells, and we think traveling is a perfect opportunity to meet new people!

Peter speaks only English but has a little French. He loves learning French and wants to get better at it, and other languages too. Noha speaks Arabic, English, and French, and she even knows some Spanish. She is really interested in learning German, too.

We just recently started on our trip and have been blogging about our experiences. Click on My Website to see it!

(By the way, we don't eat pork or drink alcohol. We hope that doesn't cause you any difficulty! And of course we have no problem if you eat pork or drink around us.)

PHILOSOPHY

Mongol General: Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We are looking to make some lasting friendships during our travels and not just brief encounters. People with whom we could exchange visits and even travel together in days to come.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We met many kind locals and fellow travelers in Prague, couch surfed with an absolutely wonderful couple in Bratislava, surfed in Germany, a few days in Amsterdam, and in Paris.

Unfortunately we discovered Couch Surfing after we started our one-year journey so we can't host at the moment. But we're really looking forward to hosting and have already thought of all kinds of things we can do for our guests! Stay tuned :-)

Interests

Languages, French language, literature, art, cinema, fine dining, wandering and getting lost in cities, hiking

• arts
• literature
• dining
• cooking
• fine dining
• drinking
• movies
• traveling
• blogging
• hiking
• surfing
• chemistry
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

We like reading about the cities where we're staying, if we have time. Right now Noha is reading Geert Mak's book In Europe, a history of the 20th century in Europe combined with travelogue, and Peter is continuing to read Proust after a long break.

Peter used to keep track of the books he read on this little project: partialrecall.tumblr.com

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

They might not count as 'amazing,' but these come to mind:

Peter:
Meeting my wife for the first time.
The ending of the movie 'The Long Day Closes.'
Seeing Correggio's 'Adoration of the Child' in Florence.

Noha:
Seeing Michelangelo's 'David' in Rome.
Seeing Raphael's 'Madonna del Prato' in Vienna.
Hiking around a beautiful small village in Ardèche, in France.

Teach, Learn, Share

Our hosts in Stuttgart taught us a simple and delicious lentil recipe, and since then we have been cooking it and giving the recipe to other hosts.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, United States