CURRENT MISSION

To meet friendly people all over the world that can teach me about the world and its people, its cultures.

To walk the earth and capture its beauty in a stream of photos and images.

And maybe even how to drink more than a pint... without passing out.

ABOUT ME

Hey all! I'm Chris, I am an iOS engineer and I throw in some traveling here and there. Formerly a founding member of Tinder, having built their iOS app with a world class team.

Currently:

I now have a converted campervan and I'm touring the US, having first started making my way from Los Angeles up to the Pacific Northwest, hitting spots in Santa Barbara, San Francisco/Bay Area, Eugene and Portland/Beaverton in Oregon, Tacoma and Seattle/Redmond (Olympic Peninsula and Mt. Rainier also) in Washintgon, and now am heading eastward!

Plan to drive through Idaho, Bozeman Montana, and heading further east toward Wisconsin, Illinois, all the way to New York!

Previously:

I toured the world a bit in 2007-2008, got out of my little fishbowl of a room and hit up all sorts of places -- a bunch of countries in Europe, then went to China, then I used the Philippines as my home base as I hopped on over to Vietnam, Cambodia, Palau and Australia. Then, on the way home, I visited a photography friend in New York, and hit up a good friend of mine in San Francisco.

So many millions of thanks to all those beautiful, amazing CouchSurfers that took us around the world and shared a bit of their world and their lives with us!

Especially many thanks to: Nick and Robert in Scotland, Caroline in Bordeaux and for being a fun person to hang out with in Amsterdam, Tomasz in Morocco, Suz (she was my first host!) and also Matt who was there with Suz in Dublin at that time, Matilda for being super hospitable in Glasgow, Baptiste (he hosted 5 of us in Marseille! Amazing friendly bunch of people), and last, but definitely not least, Kevin and Ancelique in Amsterdam, amazing hosts and yummy cooks too.

I used to walk life with a Canon and my footsteps were here: https://flickr.com/pocketlim

Now an open water SCUBA diver. I LOVE exploring the depths of the oceans. Dove in tons of sites in the Philippines (Anilao, Batangas) and also spent lots of time diving in Palau and even swimming in Jellyfish lake!

PHILOSOPHY

I am forever a student. I figure it's best to always be a student and always open to learning new things and new experiences, than growing old and being set in ways that are hard to overcome.

I love to travel, and want to experience the feeling of being a little lost in the world, walking the earth, seeing new things and meeting new people.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

CouchSurfed with Matt and Suz in Dublin, Ireland. They're fantastic hosts and made my first CS experience amazing.

Afterwards, I went to Edinburgh and surfed with Rob and Nick. Both of them are awesome photographers and welcomed me into their multi leveled and very cool flat.

Next, I was in Glasgow surfing with Matilda. Fellow surfers, she is hospitality distilled into a fantastic girl from Vermont.

Surfed Amsterdam with Kevin and David for a while, meeting up with an old high school friend one day and trekking about with some other CouchSurfers the next few days.

Europe 2007 complete! I moved onto Asia, starting with China. I went through Shanghai, Suzhou, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Guilin, and Beijing.

Spent the holidays hopping around the various Philippine islands, toured a bit of Vietnam and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and now returned to the Philippines to stay with some family.

Next to Australia and visited some friends in Brisbane and Adelaide, whom I met in Cinque Terre in Italy. They weren't CouchSurfers, but they will be!

Afterwards, to the island of Palau, also known as The Rainbow's End.

I then went back to Europe with my friends, hitting up Morocco and the south of France, surfing with the amazingly hospitable Tomasz in Morocco and the awesome gore and zombie filmmaker Baptiste in Marseille!

Off to New York for a whirlwind tour of the Big Apple, checking out Broadway shows and even Letterman, and having a blast with many friends that happened to be there as well.

San Francisco, the last stop before home, hanging out with a good friend of mine and doing a bit of relaxing.

Come and walk the visual path with me! https://tofarawayworlds.blogspot.com/

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To meet local people who live in various places around the world and share interests, conversations, philosophies and ideas. To learn about one another, and understand that we are all human and we share many of the same concerns and desires.

Spreading the news about this great community and inviting others to do the same.

Surfing across the globe! Sharing my visual moments!

Interests

Photography - capturing the people, the landscapes, the animals, and the little details in the world. Odd, scary, beautiful, whatever it is, I like to take a photograph of it and play with colors and light.

Engineering - how things work, how they're put together, the technical aspects of just about anything and everything. Also, understanding the mechanics behind building software.

Traveling! Now in a campervan (slow traveling 😂)

Growing - Learning about myself and others. Connecting with people from around the world. Overcoming small language barriers and understanding one another, and through that, understanding myself and how to become a better person and hopefully to influence others to do the same.

Meditation / Buddhism - Learning about Buddhism and how its teachings can apply to our hectic daily lives, having a practice of mindfulness to understand the feelings and emotions we have, and to become a better human.

IFS (Internal Family Systems) - A psychological process for working on one's "parts", to connect with the different emotional pieces within us, and heal ourselves through awareness and self-compassion.

• photography
• meditation
• engineering
• buddhism
• campervan
• vanlife
• ifs
• internal family systems

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
Pan's Labyrinth, The Incredibles, La Vie en Rose, Paris je T'aime, Ratatouille, Dan in Real Life, Juno, Be Kind Rewind, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Prestige, Stardust, Paprika

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I just came back from the Republic of Palau having dove into it's beautiful, beautiful waters (I'm an Open Water SCUBA diver!) Don't know what Palau is? Read this recipe for paradise!

Left my friends, family, almost everything behind to walk the earth in Europe. I've been to Ireland, London, Paris, Belgium, Amsterdam, Cinque Terre and Rome in Italy. Then I took off for three weeks to go to China and visit various locations with friends. After that, I stopped over in the Philippines, searching and looking for my roots, did a few detours to Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia. Then, with friends, I visited Morocco and the South of France, and then went to visit a friend I've only met through photography discussions on Flickr.

Something else awesome: Skydiving above the beautiful north shore of Hawaii. You absolutely have to throw away your fears, experience the power of the wind as it collides into your body (falling at 120 mph), and see the globe as from 12 thousand feet in the air. Cuz why? Cuz it'll blow your mind. It's breathtaking (literally) and an awesome experience.

Plus it's cheaper than doing it in California.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to wield a camera like a sword. A sword that... captures... light. I guess I'm decent at it since I always try to give people advice on how to use their cameras better or frame something in a more interesting way (ahem: stop geeking out about your camera specs and get out there and take photos already! It's all about composition... and software later hahaha)

Since I'm an Engineer, I'm pretty excellent at getting the technical details right and also have a great foundation on post processing with Lightroom and Photoshop. I'm always learning how to both follow and break the rules of composition. I can show you how to really bring out photos (developing them) with software =)

What I Can Share with Hosts

My love for tea, all kinds of tea around the world

My technical skills with computers and figuring out how things work, troubleshooting/diagnostics, and hopefully fixing something without making things worse!

How to live frugally 😂

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Bhutan, Cambodia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Palau, Philippines, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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