CURRENT MISSION

Trusting my lucky stars

ABOUT ME

I've been in the grip of the incurable travel bug since I was a teenager - my first big solo trip was to the Middle East when I was eighteen, much to the horror of my parents, and the itchy feet have never really abated since. I'm obsessed with maps: when I can't sleep, which is often, I spend hours plotting imaginary journeys and wondering what it's like in Kyrgyzstan. I deleted my list of "places I want to go" because the real answer is, everywhere!

A couple of years ago I uprooted a very sensible, domesticated existence and moved to London, after living most of my life in Johannesburg, South Africa. I'm working on a PhD in history of art, looking at heritage, public memory and urban space.

I like good food, good wine, long rambling conversations, dogs, aimless wandering, and asking too many questions (that is my job after all.)

PHILOSOPHY

Tell the truth and travel light.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I used to host and attend meetups regularly in Jo'burg, and have been to a few events in London but nowhere near as many as I'd like to - time to change that!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Crashed on a few comfortable floors in my time.. including 4 days under a coffee table in a little French town, looking after a narcoleptic teenager - good times! I hosted for a number of years in Johannesburg, and have some lifelong friendships all over the world to show for it.

Centres d'intérêt

Art, travel, history, cities, good books, terrible books, food, flea markets, politics, kitsch souvenirs, what makes people tick, mountains, shiny things, animals, ice cream. You know, the usual.

• animals
• dogs
• arts
• books
• dining
• wine
• coffee
• politics
• traveling
• cartography
• history
• mountains

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

I usually skip over this bit because I don't think it really reveals much, but if it matters: right now I'm reading all of Mary Roach's hilarious pop science books, and a book called about refugees in Johannesburg's inner city, and a biography of Steve Biko. Most recent thing on my playlist is Vampire Weekend's new album. The last two movies I enjoyed were Iron Sky (which is just fabulously silly) and Danny Boyle's Sunshine (which is still giving me nightmares).

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

This is an impossible question to answer. Ask me over a glass of wine.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

The secret to a perfect soft-boiled egg, and other arcane kitchen knowledge.

Pays que j'ai visités

Austria, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Mozambique, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Ireland, Israel, South Africa, United Kingdom

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