CURRENT MISSION

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things can't be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." --Mark Twain

ABOUT ME

Wayne - I'm a husband and father of 3. I write a blog, a travel journal (when traveling), and I've written two novels. My day job, however, is teaching high school journalism and graphic design classes. My wife of 28 years was born in Costa Rica, and we travel there often. We have friends in Scotland, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland. Summer of 2014, we went to Europe for the first time in 11 years and visited our friends...and made new ones.

We currently live in Gainesville, Florida, where I have nothing to complain about except mosquitoes. Most of my family lives in North Carolina, where I was born. My formative years were spent in Florida, though, which will always feel like home. We try to eat a healthy whole foods diet, but I'm not above eating an occasional steak or Krispy Kreme doughnut. I love good coffee and tea. Overall, we try to live in moderation.

Cristina - I am an acupressure therapist with a practice here in Gainesville (Jin Shin Jyutsu, which is an ancient art of harmonizing the life energy in the body). I love herbalism, aromatherapy, salt therapy, and all things natural healing. Advocate for natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and attachment parenting. I'm a retired La Leche League Leader. And I love dark chocolate and ice cream.

The kids have all played instruments in school. Sofia played recorder for 5 years, piano for 5 years, and trumpet for 7 years. Alex played recorder for 3 years and was a percussionist who specialized in bass drum in his high school marching band. Bella has been a flute player since 4th grade and also does marching band. Our Fall term is usually super busy as it is "marching season," between HS football games, marching band competitions and working fundraisers at the Gator football games.

Check out Sofia's profile: https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/sofiaeury

PHILOSOPHY

Stop, look, listen. Good advice for crossing the street...good advice for living life!

All things happen for a reason, and the universe is far too complex for us to fully grasp why things happen.

"Sometimes creating memorable experiences won't make sense financially. When given a choice between remodeling the bathroom, buying new carpet, or going on a family vacation, from a memory standpoint we do well to choose the vacation." Jack Petrash

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Cristina surfed a couch in the Baltimore area. As a family, we've surfed in Austin, Texas, Tucson, Arizona and Sarasota, FL. We have hosted surfers from Canada, St. Augustine, Germany, Stuart, FL, Orange City, FL and a few nomads. Nothing but positive experiences. Summer of 2014 we surfed in England, Scotland, Germany, and Denmark.

Please read this Couchsurfing Guide if you're new to hosting or looking for some advice in surfing:
https://www.nehakay.com/couchsurfing-guide

Interessen

All of us: Family, traveling, reading, movies, compulsively checking social media and email
Cristina: gardening, laughing and talking to friends and neighbors, natural healing
Wayne: cooking, blogging, writing/recording music

• arts
• writing
• cooking
• chocolate
• coffee
• dieting
• gardening
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• journalism

Musik, Filme und Bücher

Last 3 movies Wayne saw that he really liked: Game Night, Spider Man Into the Spiderverse, Birdbox. Currently enjoying Outlander and Shameless with Cristina.

Wayne's favorite things to play: ukulele, bass, guitar

Cristina's favorite things to play: iPod, radio (including NPR), Spotify

Music artists Wayne loves: The Beatles, Radiohead, Stevie Wonder, Muse, Portishead, Zero 7, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Jane's Addiction, White Stripes, Wilco, Corrine Bailey Rae, Massive Attack, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Connick Jr, Diana Krall, Supertramp, Coldplay, Daft Punk, Emiliana Torrini, Blur, The Bird and the Bee, John Barry, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Bernard Herrmann, Beethoven, Bach, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, REM, U2, Paul McCartney, The Pixies...

Last 3 books Wayne read that he really liked: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

Wayne sang in Carnegie Hall. I know that sounds like a tall tale, but it's true. It was summer of 2002, with a 550-voice choir. Cristina was born in Costa Rica, grew up in Florida, and at age 16 won a Congress-Bundestag scholarship to be a year-long exchange student in West Germany in 1989-1990...and was there when the Berlin Wall fell!

Lehren, lernen, teilen

We are happy to teach how to make our favorite dishes. We love to share our experiences but we also love to learn from our guests!

Länder, die ich besucht habe

Costa Rica, Denmark, England, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, Panama, Scotland, Switzerland

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

United States

• 

•