I'm homesick for a place I haven't been yet...

I left England to go travelling in Jan 2009 & still haven't made it back home..

I spent 2 years travelling around Australia on & off the beaten track & managed to work my way all the way around.

Spent 4 days in KL, Malaysia sightseeing.

Flew to Hong Kong & stayed for 3 months just hiking & generally getting lost around the city.

Spent 1 month travelling South West China (Guangdong, Guanxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan & Hainan Provinces) as cheap as possible, basic food, sleeping on trains & only buying the cheapest hard seat on long overnight train journey.

Flew to Taiwan, hired a bicycle & cycled 1100km around Taiwan in 14 days & even took a detour up Taroko Gorge to Dayuling at an elevation of 2565m all with a 15kg big backpack, camping at Police Stations, a school & a 7/11. I also had food given to me by Police Officers, Restaurant owners & a Nun & even got myself featured in a Buddhist Newspaper.

Took a ferry back to China for another month of budget travel around the busy east coast (Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi, Beijing, Shanghai & Guangdong Provinces) with almost every train being so over sold that I saw passengers refused at stations, I sat on a sink, slept on the floor twice & spent 16 hours standing with occasionally having friendly strangers over their seat for 20min & slept in a train station twice.

I spent another few months after China in Hong Kong during the sweltering summer & completed the brutal 100km MacLehose Trail hike that crosses all the way across the Hong Kong territory from East to West.

I went to Macau & jumped the highest Bungy jump in the world.

Spent 3 weeks doing relatively little in the Philippines.

Went to New Zealand & worked my arse off doing inhuman hours (70, 80, 90 & up to a 98hr 6 day week)

After that I travelled for 3 months across the Pacific visiting 6 countries, on & off the tourist routes then returned to New Zealand for 5 months of hitch hiking & big multi-day hiking.

I spent 6 months in the US... 5 of which were been spent skydiving everyday but it got cold, so I decided it was time to travel again for 6-7months down through Central America.

I have been travelling for ovet 9yrs now & I have picked up some basics in every country of the main language some more than others & I am currently trying to develop my Spanish whilst travelling through Central America

My Travels...

● Australia - 2 years (Working & travelling: WA, NT, QLD, SA, VIC, NSW & TAS)
● Malaysia - 4 days (Just in KL)
● Hong Kong - 3 months (Living with my ex gf & exploring HK)
● China - 1 month (Travelling as much & as cheaply as possible)
● Taiwan - 1 month (Cycling around & sleeping at Police stations)
● China - 1 month (Travelling as much & as cheaply as possible)
● Hong Kong - 3 months (Living with my ex gf & exploring HK)
● Macao - 4 days (World's Highest Bungy Jump)
● Philippines - 3 weeks (Chilling in Bohol)
● Singapore - 12hr (Layover)
● New Zealand - 2 years (Mostly working & saving with some hitch hiking around)
● Cook Islands - 2 weeks (Relax & see the culture)
● Samoa - 2 weeks (Relax & see the culture)
● Tonga - 2 weeks (Relax & see the culture)
● Fiji - 2 weeks (Relax & see the culture)
● Kiribati - 2 weeks (Relax & see the culture)
● Vanuatu - 2 weeks (Relax & see the culture)
● New Zealand - 5 months (A lot of hitch hiking & big multi-day hiking)
● USA - 6 months (LA, SF & 5 months of skydiving EVERYDAY)
● Mexico - 4 months (Travelling in 11 States, CS'ing & learnt yoga)
● Guatemala - 25 days (Hitchhiking, hiking, Mayan ruins & jungles)
● Belize - 8 days (Hitchhiking & just relaxing)
● Honduras - 1 week (Hitchhiking & just relaxing)
● El Salvador - 1 week (Hitchhiking & just relaxing)
● Nicaragua - 2 weeks (Well we can talk & I'll tell you what happened)
● Costa Rica - 3 weeks (Hitchhiking & camping on beaches)
● Panama - 10 days
● USA - 6 months (CA, NV, AZ & UT)
● Northern Mexico - 4-5 months (Hitchhiking & exploring the North)
● Cuba - 2 weeks (Travelling like a Cuban in the Cuban transport system)
● Canada - 1 week (Niagara, Hamilton & Toronto)
● USA - 7 months (IN, AZ, NY, MA, PA & DC)
● Hitchhiking & travelling Europe - 4/5 months
● (CZ, DE, PL, UA, MD, PMR, RO, BG, MK, RKS, AL, MNE, BiH, HR, SLO, HU, SRB, SK, AT, DE, LUX, FR, UK)
● USA - 5 months (IN, OH, VA & DC)

● Currently hitching South America since November (CO, VZ, BR, PE, EC)

Holidays with school & friends before my travels...

● France - Twice each for 1 week with school
● Spain - 1 week holiday with friends
● Dominican Republic - 2 week holiday with a friend

I have also picked up a few basics in every language that I have come across... I can have a very basic conversation in Cantonese & Mandarin but know a few words in French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog (Main Filipino Language), Malay, Maori, Cook Islands Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, I-Kiribati (Gilbertese), Bislama (Vanuatu's Pigeon English) also 2 rare languages one from Polibetakevar Village, Ambrym & a form of Hoklo Chinese that my ex gf's grandparents spoke I can also "I love you" in Estonian along with a few of the other languages... I am currently teaching myself more Cantonese but will gradually start to also improve my Mandarin then Japanese & Korean I also hope to learn some Russian, I've found that it really goes a long way if you can at least say a few words in someone else's language

I get bored staying in one place, I love to travel...

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is a great way to meet people, truly discover a place or culture & well hostels/hotels can get really boring...

Hosted:
● Sonja Kosowski & Geoff Dawson in Wellington, New Zealand

Surfed:
● Tim Reynolds in Melbourne, VIC, Australia
● Andy Lucas in Townsville, QLD, Australia
● James Kennedy in Hervey Bay, QLD, Australia
● Lora Josic & Kevin Sciarani in Brisbane, QLD, Australia
● Dave Theodorou - NYE 2010 in Sydney, NSW, Australia
● Gail Joyce in Hobart, TAS, Australia
● Evita Shen in 桃園市 (Taoyuan), Taiwan
● Ryan Huang in 臺中市 (Taichung), Taiwan
● Amber Chang in 臺北市 (Taipei), Taiwan
● Jeff Pradhan in Angeles, Philippines
● Mikil Erano in Tagbilaran, Philippines
● Sonja Kosowski & Geoff Dawson - CS Christmas in Paraparaumu, NZ
● Otto Berg - Christmas & NYE 2013 in Auckland, New Zealand
● Lucas Stewart in North Hollywood, CA, USA
● Ted Curtis in San Francisco, CA, USA
● Lucero Bulnes in Mexico City, DF, Mexico
● Claudia Palomo in Cuernavaca, Mor, Mexico
● Nid Torres in Cholula, Pue, Mexico
● Chino & Hapuc in Veracruz, Ver, Mexico
● Shasna Velez in Merida, Yuc, Mexico
● Edlyn Kstro in Merida, Yuc, Mexico
● Ewout & Manchas in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico
● Jose Zavala in Cancun, Q.Roo, Mexico
● Verónica Gamboa in Cancun, Q.Roo, Mexico
● Yael García in Palenque, Chis, Mexico
● Brenda Obregon in Tuxtla, Chis, Mexico
● Salvador (Polo Sport) in Oaxaca, Oax, Mexico
● Pamela Mdeo in Morelia, Mich, Mexico
● Josue Casillas in Morelia, Mich, Mexico
● Xochitl Lopez in León, Gto, Mexico
● Gabriela Irastorza in Guanajuato, Gto, Mexico
● Jose Martínez in Dolores Hidalgo, Gto, Mexico
● Flor Gonzalez in Comitán, Chiapas, Mexico
● Will Villatoro in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala
● Alejandro Plata in Jaibalito, Lago de Atitlán, Guatemala
● Rafael Novielli in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
● Emilio Zapparoli in Guatemala City, Guatemala
● Erica Fetzer in Cobán, Guatemala
● María Pérez in San Bonito, Petén, Guatemala
● Gonzalo Rosado in San Jose Succotz, Belize
● Carol Pierce in Placencia, Belize
● Jade Griffiths in Livingston, Guatemala
● Erick Giovanni in Santa Ana, El Salvador
● Eugenia Rodas in San Salvador, El Salvador
● Denis Solano in Managua, Nicaragua
● Fernando Gaitán in Managua, Nicaragua
● Luis Carlos in San Jose, Costa Rica
● Susana Zhen in San Jose, Costa Rica
● Alex Erano & Sarah Stroud in Bohol, Philippines for their wedding
● Jean Valenzuela in Chuihuahua, Chih, Mexico
● Shirley Lugo in Chuihuahua, Chih, Mexico
● Sebastian Gumble in Zacatecas, Zac, Mexico
● Maribel Magdaleno in Aguascalientes, Ags, Mexico
● Estefanía in Toluca, Edomex, Mexico
● Efrain Gomez in Taxco, Gro, Mexico
● Antonio in Zacatapec, Mor, Mexico
● Daniela Planas Matiella in Cuernevaca, Mor, Mexico
● Ben in Queens, NYC, NY, USA
● UJ Panday in Philadelphia, PA, USA
● Steve Bernier in San Diego, CA, Mexico
● Stanislav in Brno, Czech Republic
● Šárka Dominová in Rudolfov, Czech Republic
● Michaela Kafrdová in Rudolfov, Czech Republic
● Slavek Kral in Plzeň, Czech Republic
● Simone Fischer in Radebeul, Germany
● Nico Petzold in Berlin, Germany
● Jakub Bartkowiak in Poznań, Poland
● Zuzanna Pawlicka in Wrocław, Poland
● Ania Bogdanowicz in Kraków, Poland
● Yuriy Chabarenko in Львів (Lviv), Ukraine
● Sasha Miklashonok in Київ (Kyiv), Ukraine
● Yelena Ryzhkova in Оде́са (Odessa), Ukraine
● Andrey Gordeev in Chișinău, Moldova
● Andreea Maruseac in Iași, Romania
● Adrian Mihai in Brașov, Romania
● Ramona Vilcu in Brașov, Romania
● Iuliana Melțer in București, Romania
● Mihaela Georgieva in Велѝко Тъ̀рново (Veliko Tarnovo), Bulgaria
● Kocho Andonovski in Скопје (Skopje), Macedonia
● Julie Cunningham in Pristina, Kosovo
● Jing Wang in Tiranë, Albania
● Maja Lončar in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
● Erhan Yilmez in Sarajvevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
● Proxy hosted by CSers in Budapest, Hungary
● Sean Ralph in Salzburg, Austria
● Alina Schwörer in Innsbruck, Austria
● Esteban Lopez in Medellin, Colombia
● Caesar Quinman in Quito, Ecuador
● Elian CaRe, Chachapoyas, Peru
● Edison Izarra in Lima, Peru
● Lucio Avila in Mexico City, DF, Mexico
● Nino Garcia in Lima, Peru

Met:
● Emily Vō - Stayed at the same hostel in Cairns, Australia
● Diana Kleefkens - Both Couchsurfed at Dave Theodorou's in Sydney, Australia & met again when she visited Hong Kong SAR
● Eileen Hu, JongMin Lee & Nicole Zhang - CS hike in Hong Kong SAR
● Gareth Johnson- Found me a place to stay & had beers in Xi'an, China
● Alger Wang - Awesome Taiwan style welcome with night market food & the cinema in Taoyuan, Taiwan
● Jana Beyrich - Both Couchsurfed at Mikil Erano's in Tagbilaran, Philippines
● Rowel Fernandez - Got very drunk on Tanduay Rhum & sang very bad Karaoke, at Mikil Erano's in Tagbilaran, Philippines
● Kyra Cheng - Met in Kerikeri, New Zealand
● Inken Reimer, Rianne Wijdenes & Mieke Bakker, Simon Brandl, Melissa Scholzgart, Nina Faiß, Matthieu Mertens & Thomas Egret - Couchsurfing at Sonja Kosowski & Geoff Dawson's CS Christmas party in Paraparaumu, New Zealand
● Doug Midgley - CS New Year Party in Wellington, New Zealand
● Joel Wirāmu Pauling & Sam Rorke - Chinese New Year dinner in Wellington, New Zealand
● Lena Reshetnichenko in Оде́са (Odessa), Ukraine
● Eliska Havlová in Paris, France
● Tibissaï Guevara-Braun in Pristina, Kosovo
● Martin Benjamin & Alexander Calapodis, same hosts in Mostar & Sarajevo

Travelled With:
● Jasmine Cheung - Former girlfriend, lived & travelled in Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong , China & Macau
● Kimble Hsu - Took me to hike Nanhu Mountain (南湖大山), Taiwan
● Matthias Grallert - Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡), Yunnan, China
● Alex Erano & Sarah Stroud - (Mikil Erano's brother & his gf) Travelled to Siquijor, Philippines

As I joined whilst travelling I haven't had many opportunities to host but once I sort my myself out in a place that can actually host, I'll start

Centres d'intérêt

Travelling,
Skydiving,
Eating Strange Foods
Street Art,
Learning a 3rd language

• birds
• arts
• culture
• writing
• singing
• street art
• chinese new year
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• beer
• bbq
• yoga
• coach
• instructor
• partying
• drinking
• flying
• boating
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• origami
• karaoke
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• skydiving
• sports
• track and field
• swimming
• emergency services
• languages
• tourism
• hitchhiking
• budget travel
• sightseeing
• beaches
• lakes
• mountains

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Lots of movies & music too much to think of.
Never really read books maybe I should start

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

I've seen & done alot so I can't really narrow it down...

Australia

FREE Ride from Perth to Brisbane through the Desert ﹃ Sunset & Sunrise in the Strzelecki Desert ﹃ Swimming with Manta Rays & Whale Sharks ﹃ Learnt to Skydive ﹃ Hiked the Highest Mountain in Queensland ﹃ Climbed Uluru (Ayers Rock) ﹃ Whitsunday Islands ﹃ Fraser Island ﹃ Moreton Island ﹃ Swimming with Turtles ﹃ Hitch hiked around Tasmania

Hong Kong

Hong Kong's Symphony of Lights ﹃ I love Chinese roast pork 叉燒 & Yum Cha 飲茶

China

Hiked the Lijiang River ﹃ Hiked Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces ﹃ Chengyang Bridge ﹃ Ate BBQ Dragon flies, Locusts & Yak Meat ﹃ Hiked Tiger Leaping Gorge ﹃ Spent 3 days travelling without a bed in China (3 times) & slept on a coach, train floor & in a train station ﹃ Ate deep fried small birds ﹃ Dazu Rock Carvings ﹃ Ran up Emei Shan(50km to 3000m) in 10hrs & 'blagged' my way into sleeping for free on a hotel receptions couch the ran back down (60km) in 7hrs

Taiwan

Cycled 1100km around Taiwan with a 15kg backpack & got featured in a Taiwan Buddhist newspaper along the way ﹃ Stood naked at the top of 5 mountains over 3000m

China

Walked Xi'an city walls ﹃ The Terracotta Army ﹃ Ran up Hua Shan 华山 & slept rough at the windy East Peak along with many other Chinese ﹃ Walked the Hua Shan Plank Walk 长空栈道 ﹃ Yungang Grottoes Rock Carvings 云冈石窟 ﹃ Temple of Heaven 天坛 ﹃ Great Tourist Wall of China 八达岭长城 ﹃ Ate BBQ Scorpion, Seahorse, Cicada & Starfish!!! ﹃ Drinking Er Guo Tao 二锅头 the cheapest BaiJiu ﹃ Drank homemade Chinese Rice Wine

Hong Kong

Hiked the 100km MacLehose Trail 麥理浩徑 in 2 separate 50km/16hr days with no training, no support team or water checkpoints, just me with alot of water in my bag & a pair of old trainers that finally gave up on the hike

Macau

Jumped the world's highest bungy jump!!!

Philippines

Spent a night rough in Manila by the harbour ﹃ 23hr ferry from Manila to Cebu, sleeping in a 100 bed dorm which was actually the smallest dorm room ﹃ Ate Balut (15 day old partially developed duck embryo still in the egg) ﹃ Became part of the family with my hosts in Bohol

New Zealand

Lake Tekapo in the day & at night ﹃ Dunedin City ﹃ Wanaka ﹃ Speed hiking Rob Peak on a insanely hot day ﹃ Queenstown ﹃ Hiking Fox Glacier ﹃ Working insane hours in a apple packhouse... 10-20hr, 6 day weeks totalling 70, 80, 90hrs+ per week ﹃ Abd of course Hitchhiking in NZ!!!!

Cook Islands

Aitutaki... truly an insanely beautiful Pacific Atoll ﹃ Cook Island food, the people & the dancing

Samoa

Staying in basic traditional accommodation which is amazing, in a beautiful setting & cheap for the Pacific ﹃ Again the food & the people!!!

Tonga

23hr Ferry from Tongatapu through the Ha'apai Island group to Vava'u ﹃ Insanely easy hitchhiking ﹃ Beautiful empty rugged beaches ﹃ Swimming with humpback whales

Fiji

Calaqui Island

Kiribati

Words can't explain how much I love the 2nd LEAST visited country in the WORLD!!! ﹃ As with any Pacific Island nation, the capital is terrible although insanely beautiful arriving by plane to an international airport with no fence around the runway, no duty free, shops, ATM or money exchange, a real untouristed Pacific nation ﹃ Abaiang Atoll, staying at SJC High School Guesthouse for the school's graduation ceremonies, amazing traditional dances, soooooo much food, amazing singing & feeling like a celebrity in such a friendly place just because I'm the only foreigner there ﹃ Everyday learning more of the I-Kiribati language ﹃ The traditional homes, the perfect white sand EMPTY beaches & more than I can express the people!!! ﹃ Flying domestically in Kiribati, it's different... ﹃ The flight to Marakei Atoll ﹃ More amazing people in Marakei ﹃ Becoming part of the lesson in primary & secondary school classes ﹃ Invited to a Kindergarten class ﹃ I guess from a tourist point if view Kiribati isn't a great destination, hard-ish to get to, no tourism infrastructure, nothing in the way of tourist sights or activities & domestic travel brings new a whole new meaning to island time & maybe because of all this... I LOVE KIRIBATI!!!

Vanuatu

24hr Cargo Boat to Ambrym Island, really a cargo boat without passenger facilities but a few hundred passengers on board... tried to sleep with my head on a table listening to a woman vomit for 3hrs, I don't get seasick but that was hard then later a crew member offered me a bed in the private crew quarters I guess for no reason other than I was the only foreigner onboard ﹃ Staying in the village of Polibetakever for a week deep in the jungle, I just arrived & they gave me a place to stay, later finding out that the guesthouse (jungle hut) that I'd read about no longer existed & no foreigners gad stayed in the village for at least 3yrs but they still gave me a place to stay with meals no questions asked even unofficially assigning me a village father, mother & brother to watch over me & accompany me ﹃ Trying to hike to tops of Marum & Benbow, 2 very active volcanoes with lava lakes inside but issues arised when my "guide" took me to a lookout far from the volcanoes & said it was impossible to go further so... I fired him & continued alone into the extremely large baron caldera attempting to summit the volcano with no clear route, finally quitting possibly only 20m from the summit as it was too dangerous to continue then stupidly taking an alternate route down, had to drop my bag 3 or 4m then attempted to slide down a crevasse but as it was loose ash, fell 2 or 3m onto my bum luckily just bruised & scratched I safely descended to sleep at the base of the volcanoes to see them light up the sky at night... after all of that I still had an early morning 6hr speed hike to exit with only 1L of water... ﹃ Domestic flight back to Port Villa

New Zealand

Hitchhiking the entire country with no buses ﹃ Long distance, multi day speed hiking in amazing settings... Lake Waikaremoana, Travers - Sabine, around Arthur's Pass, Stuart Island & the Kepler track in just 1 day!!!

USA (California)

Skydiving everyday for 5 months

Mexico

The food, the ruins, the people & the colonial cities... Guanajuato is by far my favourite city in Mexico plus I had an amazing host there

Guatemala

Hitchhiking the whole country which definitely helped improve my Spanish ﹃ Couchsurfing in a small untouristed village on the shores of Lake Atitlán ﹃ Antigua Guatemala ﹃ Santa Semana in Guatemala ﹃ Semuc Champey ﹃ Tikal for the locals price ﹃ Hiking the 42km to El Mirador deep the jungle ruins without a guide then watching the sunset over vast jungle from the top of La Danta the biggest known pyramid in the Mayan world ﹃ Sunrise yoga on top of a pyramid at Yaxha Ruins in the jungle with morning mist & just the sounds of the jungle

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

I can teach you origami, the very basics of writing Chinese, how to say "Hello" or "I Love You" in various languages

Pays que j'ai visités

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, England, Fiji, France, French Guiana, Germany, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Kiribati, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Samoa, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Suriname, Taiwan, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Wales

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Australia, England, Hong Kong, New Zealand

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