CURRENT MISSION

keep growing

ABOUT ME

I grew up in Lynden, WA, and I've moved around a bit in the Pacific NW. I spent 4 years living and going to college in Abbotsford, BC, Canada, and then moved to Bellingham. I married my wife, Sara, about a year after she moved here from Kansas City, MO. Since then we've found ourselves gradually moving further south because there is more career opportunities nearer Seattle. We've spent the past year living in Mount Vernon. We've both done a good deal of travelling before we were married, and we'd still like to travel more in the future.

My wife's account: PETITEARTICHOKE

PHILOSOPHY

Never stop learning.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I want to learn about people and places and cultures. Maybe give someone else that same experience. I would like to host more in the future. I spent some time couchsurfing in the UK and Ireland after a semester abroad in which I traveled around Europe, and it was an amazing experience. More recently, I did a short trek through Eastern and Central Europe. I had some really awesome experiences with couchsurfers along the way.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I surfed a bit in England and Ireland. Bulgaria was good to me. I met some German friends (fellow couchsurfers) on the train from Istanbul to Sofia, and we endured a much longer journey than we expected due to a burst dam that had our traintracks under water. When we finally arrived, I found that I had really awesome hosts. They gave me a comfortable place to sleep and great food, as well as tips for getting around town.
In Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina I met a couple couchsurfers sort of by accident, and they offered me a ride back to Sarajevo. It was sort of a carseat-surf. It was very kind of them, and we had good conversation along the way. Much nicer than taking the bus.

Interests

I love music, playing guitar and harmonica... I love giving new instruments a try. I've played bits of piano, mandolin, and anything else I can get my hands on. I enjoy literature, food, new places... I'm hooked on travelling, and often find myself trip-planning for things I won't be able to afford for quite some time. We content ourselves with small excursions around Cascadia which is still very rewarding.

• literature
• dining
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• piano
• skiing
• soccer
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: To End All Wars, Blues Brothers, Hot Fuzz, The Darjeeling Limited.
Music: Joe Purdy, Sufjan Stevens, Pearl Jam, Mumford & Sons, The New Pornographers, The Normals, Tom Waits, The Cave Singers, Led Zeppelin, Howlin' Wolf, Leadbelly, The Books.
Books: The Brothers Karamazov, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Zlata's Diary,

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've seen most of the major cities along the West Coast of North America: Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angelos. It has been amazing. Further inland, seeing the Rocky Mountains is incredible... I spent about a week in Winter Park, Colorado. The landscape is quite breathtaking. More recently, I've begun discovering places in the midwestern US. My wife is from Kansas City, Missouri, so I've traveled there twice now, driven from there to our home north of Seattle. I've also visited my friends in Minnesota and Wisconsin. All these have been good experiences, and I've learned a lot about other parts of my country.
I went to college near Vancouver, British Columbia, and I've driven across BC and Alberta. Also, my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Montreal, Quebec.
I spent 3 months traveling in Western Europe. France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Ireland and the U.K. Some exciting moments from that would be the soccer match I saw in Rome and skiing in the Swiss Alps.
I've now also gone on a journey through Eastern and Central Europe for 3 weeks. I went on my own, met friends along the way, and tried to bless others as much as they were a blessing to me.

visited 18 states (8%)Create your own visited map of The World or website vertaling duits?

Teach, Learn, Share

Anyone willing to share is worth learning a bit from.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, United States

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