CURRENT MISSION

Hitchhiking, walking, cycling and dancing a spiraling path around the world.

ABOUT ME

Learning, experiences, learning, experiences, and more new learning, and more new experiences, but a little of the old can be fun sometimes too.

I dont know how Ive stayed on the road after four years, and I definitely don't know how I ended up stopped in Kabul. I got lost somewhere between finishing university and jumping into the career race, then I found myself with my thumb out in the middle of Africa. Havent looked back since. Mostly I travel by autostop/hitchhiking, but there have been a lot of kilometers on foot and a good stretch in southern Africa on a bicycle. Stationary life in Kabul has been amazing and fulfilling, but I am still hoping to get my hands on a buzkachi horse and ride it through the 'stans to Mongolia and then travel with nomads to the edge of the Gobi desert.

Id say then that "All About Me" is just passing on the message that dreaming big dreams should always be a part of life and never shied away from - you never know when one might come true.

Blog: http://www.opendestination.ca

PHILOSOPHY

Life is worth living, every single minute. Find what it means to you to make the most out of every moment, and do it.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving - Lao Tzu

It's better to light a candle than to curse in the dark -K'naan

Faith is believing there is a book of books in the Library of Babel

Up or Down in Charming Strangeness, Truth is Beautiful

Open the Door

Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever - Ghandi

"No, Tom, I won't be rich, and I won't live in them cussed smothery houses. I like the woods, and the river, and hogsheads, and I'll stick to 'em, too." Huckleberry Finn

I tell people Im too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true. - Debi Thomas

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. - TS Elliot

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surfing from Africa to the Arctic and many places in between...if you see me on the road you are welcome to be 'hosted' in my tent/mosquito net/patch of grass :) As long as I am in Kabul, I'm happy to be repaying to the world some of the kindness that I received during my own travels.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

This site is incredible, cant imagine traveling without it. Have met only good people, many of whom I hope to stay good friends with for many years to come.

Interests

learning, traveling, reading, physics, history (ancient to modern), seeing the world, debating/playing Devil's advocate, understanding new perspectives on things i previously thought i understood, hitchhiking, climbing mountains, philosophy, camping, swimming in places where there is no one else around, learning dances from all over the world, culture, any new experiences (good or bad, as long as theres something to learn)...I also like fishing in beautiful, exotic places, even if there are no fish in the water :)

• fish
• culture
• books
• singing
• dancing
• walking
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• rock climbing
• swimming
• history
• physics
• hitchhiking
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

"Books are to traveling what soup is to yam foofoo."

Love reading, especially when traveling. Any genre of books and movies can be great but at the moment current affairs and history are top of my list, mostly because the give insight and open up important conversations to the places Im visiting.

As to music: depending on mood, any music can be perfect. Traveling is great for exposure to previously unknown sounds.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Mounting yaks and riding them high into the mountains of the remote Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan, sleeping in yurts with the local Wakhi people and learning all about nomadic life.

Trying to sleep with hyenas and jackals yipping outside my tent in the middle of the Namibian wild country.

Getting lost and found in the mountains of Guinea-Conakry.

Swaying to sleep in a hammock on a barco along the Amazon River.

Lying in the grass of a farmer's field watching a meteor shower pass hundreds of kilometers overhead.

Sitting atop the highest tower of a completely people-free, ruined mountain-top Byzantine fortress, wind in my hair and singing at the top of my lungs

Swimming with huge whale sharks in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mozambique.

The "cultural orgasm" inevitable when you first set eyes on the Masjid-e-Jame of Isfahan, Iran. Same goes for Persepolis and the view from the Castles of the Assassins.

Experiencing eerily pure silence while staring at the dancing aurora borealis during winter in the Canadian Yukon.

Hiking in waste deep snow to the top of an Albanian mountain and then sliding, rolling and jumping back to the bottom.

Dancing as the "Village Princess" at a Cameroonian funeral/"celebration of life", dressed as a giant purple bird with a ceremonial staff in one hand and a leopard skin in the other, with the entire village surrounding and dancing along.

Camping inside a Greek-era amphitheater while hiking the Likya Yolu on the Turkish Mediteranean coast.

Galloping solo through a wildflower-filled valley deep in the Rocky Mountains, and coming face-to-face with a cougar.

Angkor Wat at sunrise.

Climbing to the top of what were once the heads of the great Buddhas of Bamiyan.

Teach, Learn, Share

Love to learn about anything and everything, especially from people who are passionate about what they have to teach. Always willing to pass on any skill someone finds interesting.

Sharing ideas is the key to the future. There's never a bad time for a good, worldly debate (or better yet, 'dialectic discussion')

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Benin, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kosovo, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Afghanistan, Canada, Peru

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