PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

I enjoy traveling, making new friends, learning about new cultures and new things, telling and listening to jokes and stories, having meaningful conversations, and sharing experiences and ideas. I have visited 47 states and most parts of Canada. I love photography, outdoor activities and adventures: stepping out my comfort zone, taking risk, and embracing uncertainties. Life is not about accumulating material wealth on earth, but about experiencing the natural beauty, learning and appreciating arts and history, interacting with and learn from people from different backgrounds, and sharing laughs, love and kindness with each other.

UPCOMING TRAVELS

My goal is to visit every country where I have at least five Couchsurfing friends and take some adventures with local people. I would be very grateful to anyone who hosts me. Of course, I would be more than happy to return the favors, and share the cost of meals, gas or fare for any road trips taken with my hosts.

Always looking for a travel partner and collaborator who is fun, outgoing, energetic, and adventurous, especially someone who is good in photography and videography as I enjoy taking nice photos (people and landscapes) wherever I travel, hopefully make some interesting documentary or travel films.

HOSTING RULES

I am more than happy to host guests who have interesting stories to share, who are able to teach me something new, and who are outgoing, positive, polite, clean, and respectful. Since I will be doing lots of traveling in the coming year, especially in Europe, I would love to have guests who can teach me native French, Spanish, Icelandic, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Greek, or Portuguese languages.

I am grateful and will be more than happy to return the favor to those of you who host me during my trips should you ever come to Houston, Texas, USA for a visit. Houston, the 4th largest city in the U.S., is the world’s energy center. It also boasts NASA (space center) and the world’s largest medical center with lots of world class hospitals and medical research institutes, and of course many high paying jobs for medical doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Houston also has the country third largest visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District and offers year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.

I have a guest room with a queen sized bed in my house which is conveniently located in the city center, just minutes away from several museums (fine arts, science, children’s, health science, butterfly, contemporary arts, menil, holocaust museums etc.), zoo, park, golf course, and shopping mall. I am happy to share healthy meals with my guests if they decide to eat healthy meals at home with me.

My house is smoke free, drug free! Oftentimes people talk about global warming and climate change without realizing how much they themselves are contributing to the ever changing climate. I am an environmentalist, so I do my best to conserve energy (which means I don’t turn on air conditioner if the temperature is below 30 degrees Celsius, no heater if the temperature is above 5 degrees Celsius), to recycle, and to cut down unnecessary consumption. Please be aware of these rules when requesting to stay in my house. Thank you very much for your understanding.

I only accept guests whose identities are verified.

Guests who request 2-3 nights of stay will have much better chances to be hosted as I would like to meet as many interesting people as possible and also make sure every traveler gets a chance to experience couchsurfing Longer stay is possible, but it has to be with compelling reasons.

If you like to be hosted by me, please mention “ADVENTUROUS ” in a formal letter you write to me, not a general copy and paste one such as “I like traveling and meeting people from around the world” . Please tell me with specifics as to why you are a good candidate to be hosted. I will be more than excited to host you! A request with a general statement will be either ignored or turned down.

LIMITED SUMMER HOSTING

Due to personal travels, I am not able to host as much as I wish, but I will try to host when I am in town.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To me, couchsurfing is NOT about finding a free place to stay, BUT about meeting interesting people, learning new things, sharing fascinating experiences, and having fun with strangers. It IS about getting out one’s comfort zone, trusting strangers, and making friends with real people as opposed to friends only on Facebook or Instagram. It IS about making connections, building understanding, making peace, and spreading kindness, generosity, and love.

Interests

Beach volleyball, surfing, hiking, photography, people, new places and cultures, comedy, cooking, food, concerts, cosmology, plus other outdoor activities such as swimming, paddle boarding, sailing, mountain climbing, rock climbing, skating, snowboarding etc.

Music, Movies, and Books

Adam Levine: Sugar, Girls like You
Calum Scott: Dancing on My Own, You Are the Reason
Ed Sheeran: Shape of You, Perfect
Calvin Harris: Feel So Close
Sam Smith: Too Good at Goodbyes
Whitney Houston: I Will Always Love You
John Legend: All of Me

Classical music by Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin etc.

Movies: I don’t watch a lot of movies. If I do, I like to watch Oscar nominated or winning movies.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I once saved a young man's life while traveling!

One time I traveled to four different states, spent almost two weeks on the road with only $9 in my pocket (I forgot to bring my wallet with me) and returned home with $20 in my pocket. It turned out to be the most exciting experience of my travels.

Another time, I drove a very narrow, steep, not well paved, dangerous road to the top of a mountain on Virgin Islands and was so scared and had to get out my car and walk a long way I find a local to drive me down the mountain.

Sailed in the Gulf of Mexico with a complete stranger I met, and had a blast!

Hopped on a motorbike with a complete stranger I had never met before, and drove on the dangerous Bangkok streets, and 200 kilometers to visit the famous Maeklong Railway Market and its nearby floating market.

Getting lost and survived in the Alaska winter snow storm when the temperature was 40 below zero.

Quite a few other adventures

Teach, Learn, Share

I can make you laugh for sure. Hey, I can also teach some serious stuff like math and cosmology if you don’t find them boring. Cooking is something I take as an art. I am good at cooking and enjoy making food for my hosts and guests. I read a variety of books at home, from literature, philosophy, psychology, economics, politics, math, to physics. Would love to learn new languages, carpentry, and continue to hone my photography and videography skills. Many of my friends think I am a very funny person as I enjoy making jokes to make people laugh. As a Couchsurfing member, I like to have relaxed but meaningful conversations, and to share travel experiences, adventures, and ideas with each other.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My adventurous, unique, and interesting life experience, my sense of humor, and positive energy. Will be more than happy to share my cost of a meal or meals, cook for my host, wash dishes, and clean.