CURRENT MISSION

learn "the path" and teach it to others who want to learn

ABOUT ME
I am an outgoing adventurous person and I am a life long learner....this is one of the reasons I love to travel.....it provides such a great opportunity to learn about other cultures, values and customs. We are backpacking budget travellers.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
We have been both hosts and guests in CS and/or in SERVAS. I like the idea of sharing what we have with others. Please give me more that 3 days notice if you wish to stay with me. NO LAST MINUTE REQUESTS PLEASE!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
We were SERVAS hosts for a number of years when we lived in Toronto. We hosted people from Britain and Europe over the course of about 2 years. My daughter and I were Servas guests in Japan and Malaysia. We did not stay with any hosts but we had some lively dinners with Servas hosts....we are new members to couchsurfing and have had very positive experiences as guests and hosts.

Interests

We take ballroom dancing lessons and dance whenever we can. I grow vegetables in a big garden...we love to eat fresh stuff or cooked from scratch. We hike, swim, canoe, play tennis, bike.....Michael plays golf and is a pilot licensed for both VFR and IFR flying....He flies to local airports for breakfast and has flown us around Ontario, to Canada's east coast and to Florida. We flew to Newfoundland going into tiny airports. We got around by hitch-hiking as there were no taxis or rental cars.....we met some extremely interesting and generous people..... a much better way to travel than when we rented a car and drove around on our own.

• fish
• arts
• dancing
• ballroom dancing
• dining
• cooking
• breakfast
• flying
• traveling
• cars
• painting
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• backpacking
• canoeing
• rock climbing
• tennis
• swimming
• golf
• genealogy
• military science
• hitchhiking
• budget travel

Music, Movies, and Books

Authors I like: Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Lawrence, Sue Miller, Pat Barker, Rohinton Mystry, Wally Lamb, John Irving .......to name only a few.
Books: Infidel, The God of Small Things, A Fine Balance, The Brain That Changes Itself, My Stroke of Insight, Still Alice. I like provocative books that teach me about other cultures, history and customs while telling me a good story.
Music: guitar, classical, folks and pop music

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

-climbed Mt Batu in Bali at nite, wearing sandals, cooked an egg for breakfast in a steam hole, and watched the magnificent sun rise.
-swam with phosphorescence at night on the Gili Islands, Lombok...... I left a trail of star dust.
-birthed a healthy baby girl and felt part of the creative force of the universe
-swam with sharks (unintentionally) in the Eleuthra Islands, Bahamas and in Bali.
-slept in a Indian train while a soldier with a Kalashnikof rifle slept in the bunk opposite me....was he protecting me?
-watched the early dawn sun brush across the faces of the gigantic carved stone smiling gods at Angkor Thom, Cambodia
-ate succulent Indian/Chinese street food with CS hosts in Melaka, Malasyia
-reached out and touched the face of God climbing through towering "Q" into the dazzling sunlight in a Piper aircraft out of Boca Raton, Florida.
-watched flying fish leap over the prow of our ferry off Koh Mak, Thailand
-and so many more

Teach, Learn, Share

I paint while I travel....this makes me see things with new eyes and it slows me down so that I experience things more thoroughly. It also helps us meet local families who we would not otherwise meet. I learn from everyone. ........I learn from the participants when I teach and they learn from me.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We are very interested in learning from our hosts and guests....we like to get introduced to the small unusual delights about a destination that a normal tourist does not see or experience We provide amazing stories about our travels, and our interests: flying, art, genealogy, hitchhiking to name a few. We are polite, respectful, considerate guests. We like to listen and to let the conversation flow where it will. We enjoy great food either that we cook or in a street stalls and restaurants. We are adventurous about food and much else. We have yet to eat bugs or rats.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, Denmark, Dominican Republic, France, India, Italy, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Canada