Capt. James Arthur Montaque-Browne's Photo

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Overview

  • 95 references 63 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in Bulgarian, English; learning Arabic, Arabic (Egypt), Czech, French, German
  • 38, Male
  • Member since 2012
  • Finding interesting projects and making them come alive.
  • A very expensive one
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

“Come a day there won’t be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. This job goes south, there well may not be another. So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don’t push me, and I won’t push you. Dong le ma?” – Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity

Update December 2023- BULGARIA

Back 'Home' To Bulgaria for a while after 4 months in Tunisia and realising I miss trees, cold, wood fires and the Balkan lifestyle. Will probably make a base in Plovdiv for a while and then see what summer holds! Currently do not have an apartment in Plovdiv- but once I have I will be back to hosting.

Update August 2023- Tunisia
With my boat docked in sousse I'm in Tunisia to explore the possibility of this country being a good place to be based for a while.... Looking to meet as many new people as possible to see who is here and what the country offers.

Update- May 2023- SAILING SEASON (EGYPT-GREECE)

My boat will arrive in Alex circa 1st July and inshahallah, we will sail to the greek island of crete for 2 weeks, then onto alexandrolopoli via the islands- then I will be in Bulgaria for the summer. Anyone interested is welcome to join us!

Update- October 2022

Having just returned from doing 8 months of medical support in Ukraine I am now back to concentrate on my winter project in Cairo!

I am setting up a factory for re-purposing broken stone into mosaics and gravel, and setting up a youtube channel.

CURRENTLY (NOT) HOSTING IN CAIRO, EGYPT- AM ON THE ROAD IN TUNISIA. Sorry folks- will be back soon to hosting inshahallah.

IMPORTANT! Please READ my profile if you want to be hosted. Cut and paste requests are acceptable, as I know what its like to try and get hosted and you need to send sometimes 100 messages. But, at least add to your cut and paste request some small paragraph proving you have at least read my profile and understand what you are getting yourself into!

Please note I am VERY particular about the kind of guest I am willing to host, Of any gender or orientation, no difference to me. I'm also a bit different to most people. Maybe slightly eccentric, I have no filter so am 100% honest, I hate bad manners and will not hesitate to ask someone to simply leave if they are disrespecting me/my house or simply being usey.

That being said, I have nothing but positive reviews from a decade of surfing and hosting, as you can see. And I pride myself on being a great host.

-I will always leave a reference of our interaction, please do the same for me. That also includes a negative anyone who gives me unwarranted bad attitude or acts in a bad way in the DMs. I don't have a fear of my account getting 'Ruined' By a retaliation by petty people. I am tired of CS being a sea of good references for bad people just because others are scared to reaveal who they really are- it makes the place unsafe. So lets just be good to each other.

***WHAT I CAN OFFER GUESTS/HOSTS***

Company: Because I own my own company, my time is basically my own. I have a great deal of flexibility as to whether we spend time together or you choose to explore on your own.

Accommodation: I have a nice apartment in the embassy quarter of Maadi, Cairo, which also serves as my social and work hub. I have a huge kitchen, private gym, a games room and video games nook, and a socializing deck with swimming pool and bar on the roof. My social and work life revolves around my apartment as I have a lot of meetings and dinners- hence why I choose to get a nice place to base myself in. As my guest you will probably get absorbed into some of my crazy adventures, or at the very least, talked into doing the washing up!

Eating: I love to cook, in fact I studied it for some years at school. and my pantry is well stocked with various spices and condiments from international cuisine. You can also make use of the kitchen while you are my guest, especially if you can teach me something new to cook.

Exploring: I of course know all the major tourist sites in town. I would probably direct you to them on our 'me' time- I have seen them many many times.

I do like to go to the bazaars around Cairo- I'm a bit of a collector. You can join me in them.

For the more adventurous, I spend a lot of time visiting and driving around what would be considered 'poor areas'. You are welcome to join me to learn about some of the real people of Egypt. However, you would need to understand that pulling out your camera in such places or acting in any way touristy is highly offensive and would damage my working relationships and trust I have in these areas.

For longer term guests who are interested in deeper adventures, I also have a Land Rover defender that I'm converting to do desert exploration. I'm planning to do some more extensive visits to the villages of the delta, the nile and and the neglected pyramids around egypt that most people don't visit. So I am always up to plan an adventure with like minded people.

SCUBA people- On the side, I'm a diving instructor, so, we can plan some dives together if you want, I'm a partner in a dive centre in Dahab.

Sailors: I have a 37' sloop moored in the north coast, when sailing season is here, lets get out and see the med!

***ABOUT ME***

I've been pretty fortunate in my life to have made some good decisions meaning I can take it quite easy when it comes to my lifestyle. I like to think this has given me a good platform to give something back to the world and prefer to spend my time on new challenges that can benefit others while at the same time making me feel I am spending my time wisely.

I am a business investor in various sectors but mostly they involve empowering poorer people and increasing their production capacity in micro industries, with a focus on recycling and reusing what is available.

****MY LIKES****

I like polite people. People who are on time, do what they say they will do when they say it. Apologise if they are wrong, and also right their mistakes. Are humble when they are right, and let acts of charity go unnoticed.

I like good food, made fresh, from decent ingredients.

I like antique hunting in old bazaars and flea markets. If you have a local one I would like to visit it.

I like laughter. There is too little of it to go round in a world of 7 billion people.

I like singing random 80s songs from the window of my car to anyone who will listen.

***My dislikes***

Impolite People. Value my time and I will value yours. I have little patience for people who, while carving their own path through the world do it at the expense of others- and I am very direct about that.

Phone addicts who need to take a photo of everything but remember nothing.

People who feel the need to prove themselves in conversations by always having a better opinion/story than the other person. Life is not a competition its a stir fry. The peppers taste just as good as the mushrooms they are just different.

'Open minded and Easy going' people who are very rarely open minded and hardly ever easy going.

Sheep. Not the animals, they are great to count to get to sleep. But then so are the drone boxes that one meets on a regular daily basis, able to put one in slumber also.

Onions. I hate them to the point if I was a billionaire, I would hire a mad scientist to invent a new disease called the onion blight which would wipe them from the face of the earth, so countries such as india would make delicious curry without onions and I could move there and get old fat and die.

******EPILOGUE****

I hope that if you arrived this far you have enough information in your arsenal to decide if I am a person you would like to graze your plane of existence. I look forward to meeting you!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I originally joined the Couch surfing community back in 2012. My first experience with CS was in Canada when I needed to visit a tiny town in New Brunswick that had no hotels whatsoever. Searching for 'stay in smallsville' via google only bought up one couchsurfing profile. I clicked on the site and found it was an amazing idea; actually the people I messaged let me stay and this introduced me to the world of CS.

As soon as I returned home to my own Canadian smallville I opened my door and hosted a few people. On return to Europe I found myself in Berlin, where the real doors of CS opened for me and I discovered not just a platform for accommodation sharing but several people who changed my world view on several things. I hosted as 'the mobile couch' in my camper for a while and participated in many meetups.

On my move to Prague I had a far more stable life for a year or so and therefore opened my doors as primarily a host to pay back to the community.

Since then over the last decade I have hosted and been hosted across the globe while on various missions, from 'interesting' places like war zones- Iraq and Ukraine- to passing through Germany, Holland, or Bulgaria.

I believe CS has been a really positive effect in my life and allowed me to socialise 'outside the box', which is a pretty good accessory to my already very much 'out the box' lifestyle.

Interests

Archaeology, especially in the field of 'unexplained discoveries' and discussing potential undiscovered locations. If you are the type to go treasure hunting then we will have great talks.

Marine Archaeology and diving: as above but more onus on getting wet.

Ancient Mysteries: If you are interested in the questions such as 'where are we from?' and the like, but without lizards, then I am sure discussions will be entertaining.

Photography: I am a budding photographer and would love to take tips from any photographer, especially if you come bearing a full frame camera!

Magic: If you are a magi I want to learn.

  • photography
  • cooking
  • investing
  • cycling
  • sailing
  • diving
  • exploring
  • urbex
  • scuba

Music, Movies, and Books

MOVIES:
Lord of the rings
The Hobbit
The Time Machine
The Invisible Man
The Island of Doctor Moreau
The War of the Worlds
The First Men in the Moon
The Shape of Things to Come
Dune
Serenity/Firefly
Revolution

Music:
Anything that can encourage me to ride fast on my motorbike during the day
Anything that I can sing while sitting at red traffic lights staring directly into the eyes of the person in the vehicle next to me until they look away or start laughing.
Anything that can encourage me to relax during the night
Anything I can sing badly in the shower
Anything I can smash at karioke
Anything that is not rap music

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

When the darkness settled, peering into the darkness and seeing the creature peering back at me, eagerly guarding the tomb of his master. What happened next was something I will never forget. I will tell you more upon our encounter.

(Finally someone asked me about this tale- sorry for the nightmares Marietta!)

As that's not something I technically did....I delivered a baby once. As that wouldn't impress a midwife I led 120 men into battle against exploding tanks armed with nothing but a stick. If you consider that more crazy than amazing then I once raised a baby pigeon I found on the floor of a carpark in Winchester. Whilst driving back and forwards to France. Smuggled it in my pocket. It flew away. They all do. If you are a pigeon and that is no big deal to you, I can say the alphabet backwards.

To be fair 'amazing' is in the eye of the beholder as one can only amaze with ones actions someone who is receptive to being amazed. Most of the time I am too busy living life to be amazed by it, or I'd probably get distracted and fall off. So its up to you to decide if I have amazed you my dear reader, future host, surfer, hangouts compadre or profile stalker extraordinaire....

Teach, Learn, Share

Dont play with ouiji boards.

Don't touch things that are ticking and are not a clock.

Don't touch things that are a clock, and are not ticking.

Don't date sisters, but if this cannot be avoided, at least don't date sisters at the same time. (not personal experience, but a good friend of mines)

Don't lick jellyfish. (sadly I must admit to this being personal experience)

What I Can Share with Hosts

If you got this far, feel free to also check me out on Insta or facebook!

INSTA: @awholeoldworld
FB: https://www.facebook.com/arthur.montaquebrown

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Belgium, China, Dominican Republic, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Monaco, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Netherlands, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States

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