CURRENT MISSION

Explore Europe !!!

ABOUT ME

Born in Chennai ,India brought up on a countryside and moved to city life , wanted to break apart the concrete jungles and travel along with like minded people and live with the nature . I am doing my Erasmus master's in Poland(Warsaw) , France (Nantes) and Italy (Genoa) . Nantes and Genoa are so close to my heart.

Travelled through South and Central India on motorcycle with my best friend and explored mountain ranges in South India through treks along with Chennai Trekking Club . Last few years I have been quite active in mountain biking .
Have been part of Chennai Trekking Club (www.chennaitrekkers.org) since 2010 , a non-profit volunteer-based platform of passionate outdoor enthusiasts. Currently 23 thousand members strong, the group engages in outdoor activities, sports and environmental conservation during all weekends of the year. Activities: trekking, cycling, biking, swimming, photography, heritage trips, marathons, triathlons, tree plantations, beach cleanups, social treks for less privileged, workshops.

CTC has changed my life in many ways which also gave me an initial insight to conservation thereby i ended up in Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-cq5C85QF4). I lived in a rainforest for 1 year working with bird monitoring , learning about snakes and conservation , building a sustainable power source .
I am Very friendly and energetic . I would love to draw and make a photograph of what i see !! Passionate about outdoors and nature . I would live to travel and meet new people , share my experience , thoughts and Indian culture .

Life is all about going out of the comfort zone and it starts by travelling . I love to travel around with friends by bike , hitchhiking .. by whatever means is possible !! Travelling alone has given me great lessons and will love to do that too .

I am very curious to meet new people , learn the language and get along with them , that is more of education to me than pursuing engineering .

More about me : www.thinkvishal.in
More about my travel : austinvishal.wordpress.com
More about my art : austinvishal.deviantart.com

PHILOSOPHY

Life starts at the end of comfort zone!!!

It is only with true love and compassion that we can begin to mend what is broken in the world. It is these two blessed things that can begin to heal all broken hearts.!!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surf for some time , hosting and exploring with friends . I participate in many couch gatherings and meetings most of the weekends . I met lot of interesting people , thanks to couchsurfing .To host like minded world travelers, connect with open minded individuals. Life is all about exploring new places and meeting interesting people.

I travel a lot myself either by hitchhiking,cycling or running - mostly camp in the outdoors, sometimes stay/eat with locals at home. There is not better experience like it. Never step into any hotel.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I had stayed in temples , set up camps in middle of forests and jungles , lived in a rainforest , want to experience couchsurfing with new friends . Waiting for it to happen :)

France:

First one to meet was Myriam , Pierre , Laurent who are totally friendly and positive minded with whom i have gone out to meeting , parties and cycling .

Erdeven : Thanks marine for hosting me from Erdeven , Met very good people sebastien , Nicolas , sidney , janet , Morgane .

Cadillac : Sandra and Greg are two amazing people who hosted four of us and their kids are awesome !!

Pau: Marie Laborde is one crazy adventure girl who is very friendly , positive , extrovert and lovely to hang around with . Yohan is an interesting guy to speak with.

Toulouse : Nitish was very friendly and chilled out guy with whom we had amazing time

Beauvoir sur- Mer : Fabien was very friendly and sporty guy who lives in a beautiful place like a farm house .

Sables d'olonnes : Cecile and family was an enchanting host who cared about us and timely hosted us with friendliness.

La Rochelle : Le Prince Didier , an amazing artist , explorer who hosted us by giving an appartment near Ile de Re which was so kind of him.

Italy

Trieste: Paola, a doctor with incredible energy and positive attitude. Very hospitable.

Slovenia
Ljubljana : Davor, Maja, Thomas : Very kind and open-minded people with abundance of knowledge.

Interests

-Tea Drinking
-Drawing and Painting
-Yoga
-Trekking
-Cooking
-cycling
-marathon
-exploring new places
-horse riding
-football biking
-living in forest
-traveling
-music
-Ironman
-organizing adventure camps , hikes

I would love to go on a long cycling trip , climb Mont Blanc , stay in Belle ile for a week .
visited 3 states (1.33%)Create your own visited map of The World or Triposo world travel guide for Android

• arts
• culture
• photography
• education
• cooking
• yoga
• marathon
• running
• partying
• drinking
• clubbing
• traveling
• painting
• drawing
• music
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• sports
• soccer
• swimming
• teaching
• engineering
• study abroad
• tourism
• hitchhiking
• volunteering
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies : Jackie Chan movies , Never back down , l'auberge espagnol , je t'aime paris , l'arna coeur , any body can dance , step up , batman series , al pacino collection , Prison break , Game of thrones

Music : World Music, Muse,AR Rahman , Ilayaraja,Stromae , Avicii , Bruno Mars , David guetta , Bruce spring steen , Yuvan , Anirudh , Hans zimmer , Indila , Carla Bruni , Coldplay , Imagine Dragons, Reggaeton, Fabrizio Del Andre, Notre Dame de Paris, woodkid, Tame impala, Arctic Monkeys, Interpol, Ed Sheeran, ....

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Worked and lived in a rainforest , loved nature to the core , spent time with snakes , helped in King cobra nesting program , hiked around south India, cycled in the Himalayas.

Teach, Learn, Share

https://chennaitrailclub.in/
http://www.thinkvishal.in/
http://austinvishal.wordpress.com/
http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/

What I Can Share with Hosts

Lots of travel stories and cultural shifts all over the world .

Countries I’ve Visited

Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, India, Italy