CURRENT MISSION

To spread the message that travel is the best education.

ABOUT ME

I am an ex public relations professional who quit his job to pursue 'The 12 Project ' - 12 Months, 12 Countries & 12 Challenges.

Check the Buzzfeed storyon my project:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andreborges/the-odd-traveler

PHILOSOPHY

LOVE.LAUGH.LIVE

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Joined the CS Project in August 2009
January of 2010 traveled to South America(Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia)
Met interesting people
Hosted many people at my house in Mumbai
Later couchsurfed with my mother in Istanbul

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Awesome! I love it!

Interests

My interests are varied and I would like to experience many things in this life time.

Some of them are:

Travelling: visiting places of historical importance, understanding culture and contemporary politics of the countries or places I visit

Photography- people and sights which describe the life of places i visit.

Reading: Love reading non fiction, books which improve my understanding of the world and some good fiction which has travel intertwined in the story.

Adventure activities:
Did downhill biking on the Yungas Road near La Paz, Bolivia
Cycled alone from Mumbai to Goa in India (650kms)
Took 25 trains in 25 days to reach the four corners of India

Writing:
Working to become a better writer. My blog is www.theoddtraveller.in

Public Speaking:
Part of Toastmasters
Was an aspiring stand up comic in Mumbai
Will go back on the stand up stage in New Yok next year(it is one of my challenges)

• culture
• writing
• books
• photography
• education
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• cycling
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Che( El Argentino-Spanish), The Motorcycle Diaries, Snatch, Lock Stock and two smoking barrells, Requim for a Dream, Borat, Love Actually, Rising Away, The World´s Fastest Indian

In Hindi: Jaane Bhi Do yaaro, Rang De Basanti, DevD(My favorite), Three Idiots, Black Friday....many more

Music: Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Cold Play, Simon & Garfunkel, Norah Jones, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, anything Sufi, Abeeda Parveen, Carnatic especially Mrudungam, Bollywood, Tango(Astor Piazzolla) and many more to write

Books: Anything by William Dalrymplyle( The Age of Kali, The City of Djins, In Xanadu, The Holy Mountain), Istanbul(by Orhan Pamuk), Riding the Iron Rooster(Paul Theroux), Books by Bruce Chatwin, Short stories by Roald Dahl, Graphic novels by Sarnath Banerjee( The Corridor, The Barn Owl´s Capers), Books by Pankaj Mishra( Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, The Romantics), Non fiction by Vidia Naipaul( India- a million mutinies now, India- the age of darkness), The Village Before time. etc, etc

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Finally convinced myself to quit my great job to pursue 'The 12 Project ' - 12 Months, 12 Countries, 12 Challenges.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

India