CURRENT MISSION - We are start-up entrepreneurs in tourism and we travel

After many years of volunteering, international experiences and 3 years of corporate life we decided to move on so we saved some money, quit our jobs, traveled for 1 year and then starting working for our own tourism business, offering experiences in the Danube Delta, Romania for 6 months every year, from May to October and for the rest of the year we travel, we read, we meet great people and we work to improve our next season services quality.

We want to get to know amazing people that can inspire us and from which we can learn, to see the beauty that this planet can offer and to experience different activities and perspectives.
Last year we hitchhiked 4 months around Romania and then we had a 6 months journey to Hong Kong, through Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Dubai, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia & Singapore.
This October we plan to enjoy the natural monuments, the beautiful cities and to understand more our neighbors from the Balkans, traveling, hitchhiking and couchsurfing.

ABOUT US

Both of us have been volunteers in high-school and university for pupils councils and international youth organisations, working with children, students and many internationals, organizing projects and events. Then we had international experiences:
-Poto worked in business development in Malaysia for 1 year and volunteered for 2 months in Vietnam, staying with locals and delivering classes and events for high-school students;
-Claudia volunteered in Czech Republic and Turkey for few months, offering training sessions to high-school students and organizing events for cultural understanding;

Then we came back in Romania and after 2-3 years in the corporate life in Bucharest:
-Poto is having a business development + tourism background and worked in sales and account management for 2 years in a consultancy company;
-Claudia is having a marketing + tourism background and worked in human resources and recruitment for 2 years in one of the biggest consulting company.

This summer we had our first entrepreneurship experience, managing a guesthouse in the Danube Delta, Romania. We had 710 guests in 5 months and we have done our best to offer them a glimpse of Dobrogea region and of the Danube Delta amazing unique wonder, the best preserved delta from Europe.
Starting with November we will stay for few months at our place in Constanta, having a place to host fellow travelers.

We like sharing all these places and experiences on:
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/cuplucalator

Our life plan is to travel, to share and to learn new perspectives, new ideas and to gain new friends. We want to become an important pillar for the tourism in our region, because through traveling and tourism we can have a direct impact in the state of mind of the people, in their attitude and in the energy of the world.

PHILOSOPHY

We give more importance to people and time and less to money, because we feel that this is the right way for us, for the moment. The world is amazing and the people are so good and nice and we are surprised every day with new examples that confirms our thoughts. For us the most important are the people and the nature and we want to experience the most and also to bring a positive impact through our actions.

We are very friendly and open-minded towards new people and new activities. We think that we are the sum of our experiences and the average of the people that we met and that are around us. We enjoy also to party from time to time, but mainly we enjoy a chilled beer or tea by having talks about everything.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW WE PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We didn`t participate that much in Couchsurfing in the past because we had many friends around the world through volunteering organisation, but in the last years we started to experience also meeting people from other backgrounds and this platform is the best framework.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We had few guests and then more amazing hosts around the world. We joined also meet-ups, city tours and other events organized through the platform. We plan to host more this autumn to spring season because now we have our own flat.

Interests

Meet people who can share their culture, their habits and their values;
Tourism & Hospitality;
Sports (especially Football, Trekking, Hiking);
History & Geography;
Photographing & Writing;
Walking through new cities and villages;
Philosophies about everything :)
Enjoying life, being open, but in a responsible way for nature and other people.

• culture
• writing
• beer
• yoga
• walking
• partying
• boating
• traveling
• socializing
• blogging
• hiking
• sports
• soccer
• business
• geography
• history
• tourism
• hitchhiking
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Diverse music, depending on the mood and what we are doing. Starting with chill out and going to rock.
Books:
-Poto: The Alchemist, Shogun, Shadows of the Silk Road
-Claudia: Tai Pan, Shogun, Robinson Crusoe, The DaVinci Code, The Collector
Movies:
-Poto: Shawshank Redemption, Gladiator, Snatch, Seven
-Claudia: Moulin Rouge, The Intouchables, Despicable Me, 3 Idiots, Gone with the Wind

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hitchhiking more than 60.000km in Europe.
Hiking to the summit of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo (highest in Malaysia) and to Mount Neghoiu (second highest in Romania (in winter).
Hitchhiking 4 months in Romania and staying with locals.
Backpacking 6 months from Romania to Hong Kong.
Living in an ashram and learning yoga for 2 weeks in Rishikesh, India.
Vipassana 10 day course in Yangon, Myanmar.
Attending kickboxing in Thailand.
Staying with a family for almost 2 months in Vietnam.
Living one year in Malaysia.
Inspiring many youths through AIESEC, the biggest youth organisation.

Teach, Learn, Share

We can teach about hiking, football, tourism, boating, volunteering, projects and business, and also human relationships.
We are open to learn new things about culture, tourism, traveling around the world and whatever other people wants.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We truly believe that in life is important to be curious in order to have an active learning, finding out things that matter to you, not only things that others are giving to you. We are curious, we are asking many questions and we are open and willing to answer to more than many.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Myanmar, Philippines, Poland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, Malaysia, Romania, Singapore, Viet Nam