CURRENT MISSION

Eat all over the world

ABOUT ME

Rajiv grew up traveling and was lucky enough to get to see a lot of things. He's been almost everywhere in the USA as well as India. Since we got married, we've been taking every chance we get to travel. We've done 4 cross country road trips, and now Puja only has a few states left to see. In July 2013, we both sold a lot of our belongings, packed up the rest, and hit the road for a year. We have spent our time making our way from the US through Europe, India, SE Asia, and New Zealand. We both enjoy food, cooking it, eating it, and critiquing it. We would love to try all sorts of new culinary experiences.

PHILOSOPHY

I guess live and let live sums it up really well.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Our house is always open to couchsurfers...but it's unfortunately in the suburbs. It's great for people who don't mind hoping on the metro to get somewhere, but you aren't really visiting "DC" if you are at our place. We have done a decent amount of surfing over the last couple of years, and absolutely love it. We wouldn't have been able to (or, truthfully, even wanted to) do our 'year of travel' without CS. It's really opened up the world for us and made it so we never feel alone or homesick. We have made friends all over the world and have Couchsurfing to thank for that.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We joined in the hopes of meeting interesting people in Iceland, who could show us around or give us a place to stay. We ended up falling in love with the idea and have a hard time going back to hotels when couchsurfing isn't an option. Couchsurfing has really renewed our passion for travel and made it a far more enjoyable experience. We don't get a chance to host much, since we're in the suburbs, but we are always excited to have the opportunity to give back!

Interests

Rajiv loves cars, computers, and generally being nerdy :) We both love food and traveling.

• education
• dining
• cooking
• traveling
• cars
• camping
• teaching
• science
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: HHGG, Lord of the Rings, Trainspotting

Music: Soundgarden, Tool, The Chemical Brothers, The Pixies

Movies: Fight Club, American History X, Snatch, The Cuckoo, High Fidelity, Pi, Old Boy, Trainspotting, House of Sand and Fog, The Wire, Rome, Buena Vista Social Club, Dark City, Star Wars, Favela Rising, City of God, Departures, Pulp Fiction, The Princess Bride, Requiem for a Dream, The gods must be Crazy, and many many more.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

As a teenager, Rajiv accidentally walked through a live minefield and lived to tell the tale.

More recently: Driving 20,000 kms in 3 months through Europe, camping under the stars in NZ and using the world as our kitchen

Most recently: Catering the wedding of our CS hosts!
Rajiv learned how to drift-trike with our expert host, Marius, in Norway

Teach, Learn, Share

Rajiv loves discussions and debates about science, education and the role of humans. He has a lot of random knowledge to share with people. He's also pretty handy and good with computers. Puja can teach how to make Indian chai (we usually travel with all the ingredients!).

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

India, Netherlands, United States

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