CURRENT MISSION

To visit (and experience!) every country in the world.

ABOUT ME

I was born in England but didn't like the weather, so I immigrated to Australia when I was six. I studied graphic design and was an art director in advertising for many years before becoming an author. I have written 6 travel books : Rule No. 5: No sex on the bus (2001), Planes, Trains and Elephants (2002), The Naked Man Festival (2004), I'm not Eating any of that Foreign Muck (2005), Where's Wallis (2006) and Sleeping Around (2009). So far I have visited 77 countries (78 if you count Tasmania). When I'm not galivanting around the world, I live in sunny Melbourne.

Check out my website www.brianthacker.tv for full details of my books and my travel blog.

My latest book is about my Grand Couchsurfing Tour of the Globe. My around-the-couch-world odyssey took me to Chile, Brazil, USA, Canada, Iceland, Belgium, Luxembourg, England, Turkey, Kenya, South Africa, India and the Philippines. The book is titled 'Sleeping around (A couch surfing tour of the globe)' and came out in Australia and New Zealand in January 2009. The German edition ( Couch Surfing – Eine abenteuerliche Reise um die Welt) came out in September 2009.

PHILOSOPHY

Life is too short and good food costs less at Sainsburys.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've slept on so many couches that I now have chronic back problems!

visited 71 states (31.5%)Create your own visited map of The World or determine the next president

Interests

Travel, karaoke, languages, eating lobster, writing, sampling beer from around the world, reading, playing guitar, skiing, mountain biking, movies with Audrey Tautou (that's movies with Audrey in them, not going to the the movies with Audrey - although that would be nice), oysters, wearing hats, chocolate, Buffy, hiking, cooking my award winning risotto, curling, Elvis Presley, parties, festivals, a good curry, Manchester United, sleeping, Pina Coladas, getting caught in the rain, the feel of the ocean and the taste of champagne, and making love at midnight in the dunes of the Cape.

• arts
• writing
• books
• design
• graphic design
• festivals
• dining
• cooking
• chocolate
• beer
• partying
• movies
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• blogging
• guitar
• karaoke
• cycling
• hiking
• hunting
• surfing
• skiing
• business
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Favourite authors - Paul Theroux, Bill Bryson, PJ O'Rourke, Colin Thubron, Tony Hawks, Stanley Stewart, Dave Gorman, Danny Wallace, Michael Palin, Peter Moore, CS Lewis and the talented and very witty Brian Thacker.

Favourite Music - everything except death metal, industrial techno and Neil Young.

Favourite Movies - The Sound of Music, Roman Holiday and Position Impossible II.

Favourite TV shows - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Participating in the Naked Man Festival in Japan; skiing the Valle Blanche in Chamonix; watching the sunrise from Mt Sinai, Egypt; watching chicken heads get bitten off at the vodou festival in Haiti; staying in a suite with my very own butler at Raffles in Singapore; getting abandoned on the perfect deserted island in the middle of the Pacific; heliskiing in the new zealand alps; eagle hunting in Kyrgyzstan; cruising the Nile in a 5-star 'deluxe' cruise ship; horse riding in the Gobi desert in Mongolia and getting upgraded to business class.

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Togo, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Wallis and Futuna

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Switzerland, United Kingdom

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