CURRENT MISSION

To discover and enjoy beautiful and interesting places, to share moments with interesting, open-minded, fun-loving, sincere fellow humans

ABOUT ME

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." ~ THE LORD OF THE RINGS, J.R.R. Tolkien. Me, I'll always be one to explore outside my door. What else? I'm a 41yo Canadian guy (gay, in case that matters to anyone) who loves to explore new cities and landscapes, exchange stories and ideas with interesting and open-minded travelers, share laughs and irreverent humour, etc.
Here's a random compilation of things I enjoy...-> telling and listening to interesting stories that show the best/worst/funniest sides of human nature, exploring city streets and parks on my feet (or bicycle) and with a camera, watching/performing sketch comedy, climbing every mountain/fording every stream, dressing up in funny costumes, channeling frustration with idiots and assholes of the world into satire/parody/dark comedy, group games, dancing, hiking, singing folk tunes and cheesy easy-listening songs on roadtrips or around a campfire!), discussing politics/current affairs/sociology/psychology, climbing and taking pictures of trees, bitching and moaning, thinking about thinking, friendly gay-friendly/mixed bars, toffee and caramel-flavoured sweets, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Fleetwood Mac, etc.

PHILOSOPHY

Life is too important to be taken seriously. Let your inner clown out. We're only here for a short time ... so let's try to be open to seeing how we all have different preferences, learning styles, emotional reactions, insecurities, while knowing that ultimately, we're all going through the same shit. Mean people suck. My recipe for contentment: Friends/laughter/goofiness/roadtrips/nature/beauty/music/art... oh, and massage and ice cream.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

**Recently moved back to my own apartment in Vancouver (BC, Canada) after spending a couple years in my hometown, Halifax. As of summer 2019, I'm reorganizing my homespace and pretty preoccupied with job search, so I'm holding off on hosting travelers until I'm a bit more settled.**

First used couchsurfing when I was on a working-holiday in Europe back in 2008. I made friends with a couple couchsurfers through some events, and hosted a couchsurfer a couple times while I lived in Dublin.
Got busy back in Canada and didn't use the site much for a couple years, but then in summer 2012 I lived by myself in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland - and it was the perfect opportunity to be able to host more people.
Over the years before and since, I've benefited from the generosity of strangers and friends-of-friends while traveling, not necessarily through couchsurfing - but the same idea.

I would like to take more advantage of using couchsurfing when doing my own traveling. I'm really easygoing and am grateful for any extensions of hospitality, while appreciating that many people's lives are busy and it's not always the right time to host. We do what we can!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

First used couchsurfing when I was on a working-holiday in Europe back in 2008. I made friends with a couple couchsurfers through some events, and hosted a couchsurfer a couple times while I lived in Dublin, Ireland.

Lived in Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland, Canada) in summer 2012 and was able to host a series of couchsurfers.

As for my own experiences as a couchsurfer, I've been a guest on many couches/spare beds over the years, although mostly it's been through my own network of friends and friends' friends. I would like to take more advantage of using couchsurfing when doing my own traveling. I'm really easygoing and am grateful for any extensions of hospitality, while appreciating that many people's lives are busy and it's not always the right time to host. We do what we can!

Interests

As above, here's a random compilation of things I enjoy...
-telling and listening to interesting stories that show the best/worst/funniest sides of human nature, exploring city streets and parks on my feet (or bicycle) and with a camera, watching/performing sketch comedy, climbing every mountain/fording every stream, dressing up in funny costumes, channeling frustration with idiots and assholes of the world into humour, group games, dancing, hiking, singing folk tunes and cheesy easy-listening songs on roadtrips or around a campfire, discussing politics/current affairs/sociology/psychology, climbing and taking pictures of trees, bitching and moaning, pretending to be drunk, thinking about thinking, friendly gay-friendly bars, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, toffee and caramel flavoured sweets, etc.

And then there are all the things that I don't like...(but I won't barrage you with them here; isn't it more fun to bitch and moan together in person?).

• arts
• singing
• photography
• beauty
• festivals
• dancing
• cooking
• coffee
• politics
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• rock climbing
• business
• psychology
• sociology
• parks
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

BOOKS: JRR Tolkien and the worlds and stories he created in Middle Earth have been my deepest inspiration since childhood... also the Narnia books!
As an adult (with a shorter attention span?), I've enjoyed a few of Nick Hornby's books, and ultimately gotten more distracted by non-fiction (i.e. World Without Us) and magazines (i.e. UTNE reader, Canada's Walrus magazine, PASTE, Canadian Geographic, etc). It's definitely my goal to read more prize-winning novels and classic literature as I get older.

MUSIC: I especially love classic pop/rock and folk/singer-songwriter kind of stuff... as well as jazz, country, r&b/soul. Faves include Paul Simon, The War on Drugs, Michael Jackson, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Feist, Jennifer Warnes, Sarah McLachlan, Pink, Fleetwood Mac, Bright Eyes, Annie Lennox/Eurythmics, Alanis Morissette, Coldplay, Blue Rodeo, Bonnie Raitt, Dolly Parton, Patty Griffin, Dixie Chicks, Madonna, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Norah Jones, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Jane Siberry, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Janet Jackson, Celine/Whitney/Mariah (yes, I appreciate a good diva!), etc.

MOVIES (tend to like movies that have a dark/irreverent/quirky humour... although I also love some cheery classics):
Pink Flamingos, Harold & Maude, Happiness, The Lives of Others, Religilous, Election, Jeffrey, Muriel's Wedding, 20 Centimetros, Wet Hot American Summer, Shirley Valentine, Lovely and Amazing, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Borat, The Dark Crystal, The Graduate, The Sound of Music, Anne of Green Gables, Annie, Wizard of Oz.

TV: Six Feet Under, Summer Heights High, Little Britain, Kids In The Hall, Codco, Golden Girls, Roseanne, The Nature of Things, Great Canadian Parks, CBC docs

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hiking the hills and coastlines of Ireland, Spain, Costa Rica/Panama, Hawaii, British Columbia... and my homeland, the Atlantic coast of Canada.

Fulfilling my dream of working for Parks Canada AND finally spending time in Newfoundland by working at Terra Nova National Park (fall 2011) and the slice-of-heaven known as Gros Morne National Park (summer 2012).

Attending the Burning Man festival in Nevada in 2010 (surely one of the Seven Wonders of the Human World).

Participating in World Naked Bike Rides (three times in Vancouver and one time in Brighton, England)
Participating in lots of other grassroots-organized public displays of silliness and creativity, like Zombie Marches, Santacon parades, and the Parade of Lost Souls in Vancouver.

Finally getting to see the monkeys of Gibraltar :-) and then getting attacked by them) :-(

During a roadtrip with friends in beautiful Donegal, Ireland, we arrived late at night into a small village and had to set up our tent in the church cemetery; it was the only flat and semi-lit place we could find to camp. Then, just as we were settling down to sleep, a stern old Irishman come upon us with a flashlight, admonished us for camping on 'consecrated ground', and commanded us to leave. Oops! But then he kindly brought us to a nearby field where we could legitimately camp without stirring up any bad ghosts.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can offer:
-Photos and photographic knowledge.
-Introducing people to the music of great pop/folk/singer-songwriter artists they might not know.
-Being a good listener. I have my stories and opinions, but I'm also very compassionate, curious, rational, and openminded, so people usually feel at ease talking to me about their problem, or discussing complex/controversial issues). I enjoy different perspectives and the nuances of life, and counselling is a profession I've thought about going into (and I may still).

I could use knowledge on:
-Cooking
-More technical photography knowledge + web design
-Entrepreneurship

Countries I’ve Visited

Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Panama, Scotland, Sweden, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United States

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