CURRENT MISSION

To circumnavigate the world without flying, by 2013

ABOUT ME

I'm a writer and a student of history, linguistics, and anthropology. To travel and write is my dream, and I'm just beginning to realize that. I was born in rural Montana, growing up in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and am now traveling around the world without flying, a process that will probably take me until sometime in 2014.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm a storyteller by nature, and hopefully one day by trade. As I've gone the college route and worked in the corporate world, I've met a lot of people who congratulate me on my current travel plans, because "you can only do it when you're young." They voice their regrets that they never had the chance.

Most of these people are successful in their chosen professions, and in the eyes of their culture ... but they have no stories.

I want my life to be a story worth telling.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'll be traveling for the next few years, but I'd like to open my couch to passers-through when I get back. I also write about my travels, so I'll be able to help (a little, at least) spread the word.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've had amazing couchsurfing hosts in Belfast, Paris, and Athens, some of whom I'm still friends with and see occasionally, when we happen to all be in the same place!

Interests

Writing, music, art,language, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, literature ... really, everything. And food. Definitely food.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• literature
• design
• photography
• sketching
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• flying
• traveling
• music
• piano
• anthropology
• history
• psychology
• sociology
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

BOOKS: The Deluge (Sienkewicz), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Kundera), Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek (Dillard), Desert Solitaire (Abbey), For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway), Heart of Darkness (Conrad)

FILMS: The Godfather, Fight Club, Vanilla Sky, Blood Diamond, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Into the Wild, Legends of the Fall, Elegy, Pan's Labyrinth

MUSIC: Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Bad Company, The Eagles, Billy Joel, Eddie Vedder, Elbow, Gov't Mule, Muse, NiN,Ryan Adams, Seether, Spoon, The National, The Corrs, Wilco, Audioslave, O+S, John Butler Trio

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I once hiked 100 miles - the entire length of the Shenandoah Valley in VA - in four days, over Easter break. As if that wasn't bad enough, it also snowed around 9 inches on us our first night.

I've also used a pen and a pair of pliers to help fix a train in Bosnia, crossed the Syrian border with cigarette smugglers, and drunk wine out of a horn at a supra in Georgia.

Teach, Learn, Share

Art (sketching and ink work)
Chord-style piano
Fiction writing
Cooking
Web Design & Programming
Woodsmanship (shelters, pathfinding, firestarting, etc)
Self Defense (Krav Maga, basic)
Photography
Digital Photo Manipulation

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom, United States