Please note, I am in Lagos, NIGERIA, not Lagos, Portugal! (Get many requests for people looking to surf in Portugal.)

Before reading on, please note I am not into the free hotel business!!! If you are not an international traveler coming to or through Lagos and you are really only looking for a free hotel with free food in a convenient area of Lagos for a while you go about your business, or you are looking for me to send you postcards or smiley videos from all over the world so you can make a video for your partner's birthday with some random faces from all over the world, then I am sorry to say that is not really what CS is about. Please don't write to me in such cases.

I do however welcome into my home (or meet up for a meal or drinks with) international travelers of good repute who are coming to or passing through Lagos, who need local advice and sometimes support, who are interested in hanging out, making friends in Lagos and expanding their networks during their travels and who then also happen to need a bed and a shower (which is free), or is staying in a hotel during a visit to Lagos and is looking for someone to hang out with for a few hours. If this is you, please read further.

ABOUT ME

I am a South African accountant living and working in Lagos, Nigeria.

I love travelling and meeting other travelers.

I am generally a curious person and like to talk about a wide range of topics with people from all sorts of backgrounds.

As a host, I like to view myself as a welcoming, fair and caring person. If you respect me and my home, I will reciprocate as far as possible to make your stay welcoming, comfortable and enjoyable. If however I sense my hospitality is being abused, don't be surprised at receiving a cold shoulder.

As a surfer or when meeting up for a drink or meal or something, my intention is to get to know you and I try and operate and travel in a respectful manner towards my hosts.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

When hosting (which is most of the time):

To be able to meet interesting people from all over the world, expand my network of friends and getting to understand different cultures and points of view, which is something that hosting in Lagos lends itself to quite well, as it is generally more well-traveled people coming here.

I enjoy getting to know the people I host and have made some great friends through CS. If you have no interest in making friends or hanging out with me a bit (within reason of course - I understand and respect that you come to Lagos for other reasons than than to visit me :-) ), but you are looking only for a free place to stay, please look for other alternatives.

When surfing or doing meet ups while travelling:

Get to know locals and make friends where I travel, experience their insights, build networks, have fun together. If I do write you a request to CS at your place, it is usually not because I cannot afford a hotel, but because I read you profile and think you would be an interesting person to get to know.

I have grown beyond the phase of visiting a place just to tick off monuments and tourist attractions, and seek rather to get to know people where I travel.

Interests

Travel, intellectual discussions, meeting interesting people.

Music, Movies, and Books

Documentaries, deep movies with intelligent story lines, classical music.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Run in the Pyongyang Marathon (only did the 10km race though, but it was still very cool).

Teach, Learn, Share

Don't make decisions (or fail to take actions and visit places) based on theoretical fears of what "may go wrong in the unlikely event that..." That way you will live life missing life. If you are visiting Lagos though, I am probably preaching to the converted.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Interesting discussions, take you out for meals, show photos of some interesting places visited if interested.

VISA INVITATION LETTERS

If you need visa invitation letters, I generally only help highly experienced CSers with a solid profile, many references and a confirmed stay with me.

If you want to do Visa on Arrival, (which is these days the more commonly used way to get a visa), it requires a Nigerian company obtaining pre-approval from Immigration in Abuja and can usually be obtained in 48 hours. You then fly or come overland with that approval letter and get a visa at the airport. More expensive (around $300), but fairly quick and reliable compared to going the sticker visa route. If you want to go this route, write to me and I can guide you further (though as I said, I don't personally do invitations letters for this).

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Congo, Cuba, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, North Korea, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, United Kingdom

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