Hi,

I'm Sam. I'm a 27 year old Londoner, who's relocated up North in Manchester. I keep getting jobs I hate to the point where I'm forced to run to far off countries so I can pretend to be a writer. These trips usually last 'til my money runs out, and I'm forced to go back to England and get another job I hate.

I like drinking beer, watching shlocky eighties sci-fi films, telling terrible Dad jokes, milk-shakes and having long detailed discussions about my neuroses with other neurotic people.

I also like being outside.

PHILOSOPHY

“We are funny creatures. We don't see the stars as they are, so why do we love them? They are not small gold objects, but endless fire.”

― Saul Bellow (Sorry. I nicked it from someone else.)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've used Couchsurfing for roughly four years now. Sadly more as a surfer than a host, though I do host people whenever my living situation allows it.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've travelled through a lot of North America, Central America and Europe using it, and it never fails to leave me in a state of shock and awe at people's kindness.

Interests

Loads of stuff!

Obvious things like books, music and films, but that's a given.

People are pretty cool too. I particularly like it when people give a shit about stuff that I'm not into and convince me that I should give a shit too.

I like cooking food with strangers. I like it when you see random acts of kindness in the street. I like overhearing kids trying calmly to explain the frankly insane things that go on inside kids minds on public transport.

Travel's nice.

I dunno. There's a whole bunch of stuff, let's leave it there.

• writing
• books
• poetry
• beauty
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• running
• drinking
• movies
• traveling
• music
• rugby
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Careful. I'll bore you to death about any of these subjects. I find a sharp slap to the back of my head tends to stop me.

Books: 20th Century Fiction. Some of my favourites are Saul Bellow, Hesse, Mikhail Bulgakov, Jeanette Winterson, Phillip Roth, Martin Amis, Joyce Carol Oates, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Munro, Marquez, blah, blah, and so on, and so on, ad nauseam, ad infinitum...

Music: Too big a subject and changes a lot. The people I always come back to are Jonathan Richman, Joanna Newsom, Edan The Humble Magnificent, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello. They're my guys.

Film: Sidney Lumet and John Carpenter. And other film peoplez 2.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Coming in to Croatia during sunrise on a train from Serbia when I was 18. Watching the sun rise and set a again and again as the train moved past the mountains. The most beautiful alien landscape I have ever seen. That memory is still absolutely clear whenever I want to conjure it.

To be honest, I'm quite prone to being amazed. It may sound hippy-ish but over the past few years I have found myself increasingly able to stop and look at my surroundings and realise that there really is beauty and awe-inspiring surroundings pretty much everywhere in the world. I wish everyone had a bit more time to remember this. We'd all be a lot happier.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know lots of useless stuff about: Books, food, pictures of ships, horror movies, Wales (the country), hornets (the insect), rugby, poetry, music and a lot of awful jokes about eggs.

I'm always keen to practice my French too!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United Kingdom