Based in Montreal!

ABOUT ME

Hello there !

I am Raphaël, 33 years old.

As all of us here, travelling is one of my greatest passion. I have been to around 60 countries already and lived in 11.

I am now working in the humanitarian sector, focusing on refugees or IDPs in conflict/hazards affected areas. I meet people from all over the world, I do my best to help some, and of course I travel a lot ! And best thing, it's a real job, not volunteering. So far, I have been working in Cameroon, Mali, Niger, Congo (DRC), Nepal, Jordan, Ethiopia, Iraq, Bangladesh, Chad and now Tunisia.

I am a really social guy, always ready to have a walk, to share a beer or simply to share stories with anyone.

PHILOSOPHY

Life is short, so enjoy it, but do not forget to respect yourself and to respect others :)

Disclaimer : I also don't think Couchsurfing is a dating app, so no worries about that, we are really on the same page :) ! Just wanna find cool people to hang out with and possibly build friendships

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Well, couchsurfing.org is a first for me so this is a quite difficult section to fill in! However, every time I have been living in a country, I did some roadtrip and had to do some couchsurfing.

It happened for instance in Cameroon, where I spent some months in 2011 and 2012, and in DRC. Back there, couchsurfing is a lottery, especially in villages. Who knows which huge spider, snake or monkey is going to climb on your knees while you are asleep. But even if it's scary, you are always laughing about it the next morning and above all, the hospitality in this amazing country makes you forget any hairy creature.

Interests

Cinema
Music
Geopolitics
Travelling
Trekking
Beer-ing
History
Geography
Wildlife
Photography
Sports : football, tennis, horse riding, hiking...

• wildlife
• photography
• cooking
• beer
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• hiking
• sports
• rock climbing
• soccer
• tennis
• geography
• geopolitics
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies :
- Road to Perdition
- The Labyrinth of the Faun
- Miyazaki movies
- Shooting Dogs
- Blood Diamond
- Hotel Rwanda
- Gladiator
...

Books :
- Stephen King
- Bernard Werber
- Christian Jacq
- Tolkien

Music :
- Electro, electro rock
- minimale
- hip hop
- some latino music

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbing a mountain alone in Iceland was pretty cool, but spending days with monkeys on a almost-lost island in Cameroon was truly amazing !
I also met closely with crocs in Ghana, hyena in Mali, dolphins and lions in Tanzania and whale sharks in the Philippines.

Teach, Learn, Share

Hmm, in a wonderful world I could obviously tell you : "yeah, I am a great French cook and I can teach you many things about cooking". Sounds good, right.
Actually, I am not a good cook at all, but at least I am a fast learner !
I have fun stories to tell though :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greenland, Iceland, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mali, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Philippines, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Iraq, Jordan, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Tunisia