CURRENT MISSION

travel, teaching, learning, walking the earth, being a dad.....

ABOUT ME

I grew up in the US, but have lived in Wellington, NZ since 1994--or, at least, I live there when I'm not based in Korea, or otherwise on the road. I'm an avid traveler, as is my wife, Mi Young (we in fact met while traveling in Varanasi, India), and we're hoping that our daughter Sonia winds up as one as well. She's already getting good practice, at any rate! I teach Asian Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, although I started my career in Classics...but that's another story.

My travel experience has had a special concentration in Asia, where my favorites are Indonesia (over 10 trips--I adore the place), Taiwan, Nepal (two visits, but about four months total), Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China. Outside of Asia, I'm really fond of highland Latin America and the Baltic states.

What I like best when traveling is just to soak up local life, do a lot of walking, meet people, practice speaking foreign languages--the world is a fascinating place and it's populated by a lot of wonderful people, so I want to experience as much as I can while I'm here.....

PHILOSOPHY

Travel light. Be flexible. Be kind. Keep your eyes and mind open. Walk.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Looking to meet nice, interesting people and host nice, interesting people in return. One of the great highlights of travel (and life, for that matter...)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

A few experiences now staying with people all of which have been great, and various other get togethers. I've always loved travel but CS has taken it to a whole new level. My first stay was with a couple in China, which was terrific. I felt much more like I was going to visit old friends (except I'd never met them before...) rather than surfing a couch....Then my family spent a couple of days in Taiwan with a family which was really special travel. Great to see kids grow up with CS! Last year I was in Almaty for a couple of weeks, and though I was staying with a friend I used CS to connect with people living in the city--fantastic way to get a sense of life there and I met lots of nice, interesting people through CS.

Since then I've had more uniformly positive experiences in Central/Northern Europe, Central Asia and China/Taiwan. We're just getting settled back into Wellington and having the opportunity to host in return and give something back to the community. So far, so good!...

For my travel experience, see my legacy profile--the map doesn't want to transfer to the new-style profiles....: https://www.couchsurfing.com/users/507240/profile/legacy

Interests

Other than travel, my main interests are learning languages and music (punk, indie, alternative, in particular, but I like almost all varieties). Avid walker, runner, cyclist, hiker.....

visited 80 states (35.5%)Create your own visited map of The World or Amsterdam travel guide for Android

• humanities
• walking
• news
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• hiking
• surfing
• journalism
• languages
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

If I start, I'll be here all day.....

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I know it's hokey, but even though I've had a lot of wonderful travel experiences, the most amazing thing I've seen is easy: my daughter.....

I did, though, have one wild "small world" travel experience that's worth noting. I was in a guest house in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, thumbing through some brochures that the owner had picked up at a travel exhibition, one of which was "Indonesian Travel News". I turned to a view I recognized from Sulawesi looking out over volcanoes in the highlands. Then I looked on the next page and saw a picture of ME! standing at the crater of another volcano. I'd climbed it with an Indonesian journalist, but I'd never seen the story he wrote. But then there I was, in Uzbekistan and.....

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic

Countries I’ve Lived In

New Zealand, South Korea, United States

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