CURRENT MISSION

cycling my way back to istanbul

ABOUT ME

a (ex-) physics, one-time engineer, a history nerd, Easy going, open minded, etc etc. always looking to see things from another perspective.

i'm currently riding my bike around parts of the world, you can see my travels so far here -
https://www.polarsteps.com/orenlotan

Back home I'm also the coordinator of Bicycles for Jerusalem, Jerusalem's bicycle advocacy group (we organize Critical Masses community rides, meet with city officials and such - https://www.facebook.com/cyclejerusalem). I love riding my bikes around the city, as hilly as Jerusalem is sometimes, because for every uphill there's a downhill... and even though I’ve lived there for almost 12 years, I still discover new places all the time.
aside from that, I’m a curious person, and find too many things interesting- history, language, politics, urban design, natural sciences. whatever new you can teach me about your place or your life, I’d like to hear it :)

I’m a very easy-going guest, self-sufficient, not smoking and quite clean (minus the end-of-the-day-sweat, of course :)

PHILOSOPHY

good things happen when you allow yourself to stray aside.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

surfing when i travel, hosting when i'm home.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

i already hosted quite a few people, and it was great. one of the thing i liked about my trip in south america was meeting people from all over the world, and now the world is coming over for coffee...
my major surfing was in europe 2010, during a month of hopping from couch to couch (in berlin- literally), and it was awesome as well. cool people and cool place i've would have never gotten to know if it wasn't for CS. in my last trip i mostly used Warmshowers, which is, lets be honest, much better then couchsurfing if your'e cycling. that's my profile there-
https://www.warmshowers.org/users/oren-lotan

Interests

bicycles, as stated before :)
podcasts- i devour tons of podcasts on a weekly basis. the obvious suspect - This American Life, Radiolab, 99Pi, Dan Carlin. but my most favourite podcasts at the moment are The Memory Palace annd Revolutions. the memory palace is what i listen early in the morning, when i just start riding, and Revulotions is my Hills-Eater podacst (i.e. what i listen to what i'm facing a difficult hill)
music- it's like a drug, sometimes... you only recover when the next song comes along.

travelling- i think it's the best thing you can do with your time.

catnapping in starnge situations

straying, hitchiking,

the city of Jerusalem- one of the most interesting\intriguing cities in the world.

Music, Movies, and Books

music-
Syd Barret, Pink Floyd (early years, though), Radiohead (and Thom York's solo Eraser in particular), a bit of Doors, Leonard Cohen, blur, Franz ferdinand, sufjan stevens.
and a lot of israeli indie music. lately i've been handpicking songs rather than albums or artists

movies- Memento, The Usual Suspects, The Fifth element, Hadson Hock, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, In Bruges, Donny Darko, Princess Bride, monty phyton and the holy grail. in general- movies that make you laugh and movies that make you think.

books- for whom the bells tolls, ender's game, 1984 (reading it again), Watership Down, the far side gallery, Eiger dreams.
in hebrew- the blue mountain (roman russi), mister mani, world cup wishs.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

i've cycled about 9500 km (6000 mile-ish) in south east asia and the US. best adventure of my life so far. and now i've cycled from Istanbul to london (8400 km), and that was great as well.

i've hitchiked in argentina and chile about 11000 km, in more than 90 different rides. the people of argetina and chile are the nicest people i've met. i kept being amazed by their generousity and helpfulness.
this was the real experience of my trip.

in vienna, i stayed at one of the most famous urban monument thanks to couchsurfing (promised my host i won't tell where exactly...)

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Peru, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Israel, South Korea

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