CURRENT MISSION

Eat more kale, drink less beer

ABOUT ME

I work to live, not the other way around. I think real wealth comes from experiences, not stuff. I prefer hitching, couchsurfing and finding my own way to planes, hostels and guidebooks.

I'm mostly adventurous, active and sociable, though I do like to hermitise with a good book, movie or nap when it suits. I like living socially/communally - sharing food, drinks, joints and laughter, and love a good conversation about meaningful topics as much as small talk about music, books, film and whatever else people care to talk about.

I care about social and environmental justice but gave up on being self-righteous and judgmental long ago. So long as you don't go out of your way to screw other people over, you're OK with me.

PHILOSOPHY

I like to think most people's innate morals are a better guide than any religion or political ideology, but respect diversity of opinion. Unless you're wittingly racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise prejudiced, then I'm probably going to think you're a dick.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm a bit of newbie despite having first signed up for couchsurfing over 3 years ago. I've surfed in Panama, Colombia, the States and Canada and had overwhelmingly positive experiences across the board. It is really the only way to travel.

I plan to host when I get back to Australia or decide to live elsewhere long term.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed:
Burlington VT, USA August 2012
Montreal, Canada July-August 2012
Coney Island, USA July 2012
Crown Heights, USA July 2012
Bogota, Colombia July 2012
La Ceja, Colombia June 2012
Medellín, Colombia June 2012
Panama City, Panama May 2012

I've also 'hosted' a bunch of people while living in Valparaíso, Chile in 2006, but we didn't arrange it through this website - we just met in the pub.

Been to a few CS events in Medellín too and met some nice folk.

Interests

Music, books, art, film, food, drink, conversation, learning, teaching, philosophy, history, politics, nature, culture, travel, bicycles and avoiding work.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• drinking
• pub crawls
• politics
• trivia
• traveling
• music
• history
• religion
• tourism
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

I love noisy guitar music (Pixies, The Birthday Party, Joy Division, Sonic Youth et al); the classics (Bowie, Velvets, Television, The Stooges, The Sonics etc); nearly all kinds of punk except Blink 182 and the like; hip-hop, especially 90s east coast stuff (e.g. Biggie, Wu-Tang, KRS-One); funk, soul, reggae, ska, dub, country, jazz, blues, metal, world, latin, folk, noise... I'm not huge on electronica these days, but still like a bit of drum and bass and minimal tech on occasions.

And this.

Movies... Mostly arthouse/independent and documentaries. If I had to pick a favourite film I'd say it'd be Dr Strangelove. This doesn't mean I won't watch Hot Tub Time Machine with you though.

Authors/books: HST, Orwell, Hemingway, Kafka, Dave Eggers, David Sedaris, Christopher Hitchens, Carl Sagan, the Game of Thrones series and Keef Richards' autobiography.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hitchhiking through Mexico from the Guatemalan border to Monterrey, and only having one near-death experience.

Teach, Learn, Share

Writing and subediting, photography, trivia (especially music), English, Spanish, how to roll cigarettes and mix drinks, cooking, hugs.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Egypt, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Chile, Ireland, United Kingdom, Venezuela

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