I first went traveling on my own for a summer to work in British Columbia, Canada and have loved traveling ever since. I set up in London to finish my bachelors and got a job as a planner/urban designer. A couple of years later I dashed off to Christchurch, New Zealand to work as a neighborhood planner. I met my wife Kate in New Zealand, and we relocated back to London for five years, before transplanting ourselves to Kate’s home town of Austin, Texas. Living in Austin now is great. It is an amazing town with so much going on every day of the year.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Sharing this valuable resource we call real estate! We have a ton of surplus space in our sprawling cities and I like the idea of using friendship to make better use of it. Besides, I cannot stand identical, sterile hotels rooms. So Couchurfing is a double win.

I also like guiding people around where i live and discovering it afresh through their eyes. I am intrigued by things which pull me away from the beaten track to explore the real guts of a place.

Interests

I am fascinated by cities. I can't get enough of walking through urban areas seeing how they work, seeing how people use them and learning about them. I vastly prefer spending time getting to know one place well than superficially seeing ten places.

• design
• walking
• traveling

Music, Movies, and Books

My musical taste starts in early 90s British indie and stretches to include Calypso, Swing, Drum & Bass and pretty much anything in between. Live music and camping at music festivals are two of my favorite things - so Austin, the self proclaimed "live music capital of the world", is a great spot for me.

In both books and movies I am a sucker for a clever mystery or detective. The ones where you know the sleuth is always half a step ahead of everyone watching.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One of my favorite adventures was to accompany my cousin walking around the henro pilgrimage on the island of Shikoku, Japan. It was all kinds of amazing.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am a geographer and an urban designer and would gladly talk to anyone at length about how cities work. If we happen to combine this with walking around the city and stopping off for a pint, then all the better.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Scotland, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States