Update February 2018: travelling the Croatian Coast and islands in February by bicycle to get away from winter dark and cold at home and to meet interesting world citizens along the way. Can even help u with an eco oriented project if u have one. Cu out there. Namaste!
Oh, and apologies in advance if my requests or contact emails r nearly all really short notice. On my trips i never know where i end up at the end of the day. Just want to live day by day and to be open for meetings on the road with people, animals, plants and places.
I actually prefer the short notice thing when i get requests, that way i don t feel sorry/disappointed when after two weeks heads up travellers I was looking forward to meet, change their plans naturally. Who can blame them?
Having said that here my phone number: +358-40-3691044

Important 0ne: maybe hosting means that principally i am willing to host, but can t guarantee that i am even home or simply to busy make enough time for a meaningful meeting to take place, as i hope that folks would like to spend two nights...

Important 2oo: If you have a profile with one line, basically no profile, saying nothing about yourself, please be advised that i am very unlikely to take the time to respond!!!!!

I am a University (physical Geography, anthropology, botany) dropout turned woodworker, artisan, textile man and ultimate reuser/dumpsterdiver, extreme resourcefulness on shoestring budget are my hallmarks allowing me this rural lifestyle, free from most constraints of the rat race (human race). I like to be free and hold no prisoners (animals) as I prefer myself to not be subject to master and slave relationships. Get up most days when i naturally wake. Money is used only when all else fails. Most of my food, besides loads of fruit and berries that i either dry, freeze or juice, comes from the dumpsters at this point. would like to be selfsufficient growing as much fruit as possible, to be eaten fresh, dried or frozen and of course nice juicy greens. There is a powerful blender here and a greenstar juicer!!! for making raw living juices from vegetables and greens.
The houses need restoration, modification, improvements, however the main house, from 1878 is quite liveable as it is. Another major building is from the 1700s Water from own well, needs to be pumped manually, wood heated outdoor bathtub (cannibal tub), outhouse, there is no "real"shower here, unless you take one with a pitcher from a bucket of warm water out in the garden. No electric heaters are used (although there are some that came with the house), all the rooms are heated with wood heated mass-heaters, and i would like to insulate the main house some more and attach a big greenhouse to it. The house is basically a traditional log construction and so i would be using natural insulation, like a mix of clay and straw or recycled cellulose or planer shavings, adding some solar heating system, both air and water, a small greenhouse needs to be built for the time being.
Currently there are a few apple-, some cherry- and loads of plum-trees (both volunteers, newly planted and planted ones 60 years old) that need some care, bushes to provide berries will need to be planted and cannot be expected to produce anything in the immediate future, a herb garden would be nice. There is lots to do here, and many skills can be experienced here, all from sewing curtains, clothes, repairing electrical devices, and crafting wind-power plants and solar heaters from discarded materials, there are many tools to use, both hand and power, nearly everything is from the scrapheaps of a decadent western society.
The property is in walking distance to a store and gas station in rural Åland, 28 km from the capital Mariehamn, bus stop at the edge of the property, also in walking distance (2km) is Långnäs Harbour, from where one can get to Stockholm or Åbo/Turku
During your stay you get to experience my kind of lifestyle as a reuser and might get some unexpected kick out of it's virtues.
It's not a professional eco farm, although no pesticides and chemical fertilizeers will ever be used here.
Rather i live the varied lifestyle of a very resourceful being, and help with the daily chores and projects that happen to be going at the time when you come, is of cours greatly appreciated.
Hopefully not feel so endebted to help, rather a willingness to be with and do stuff needing attention and doing as an equal living here for the time being curious about other ways.
Feeling a bit owerwhelmed at times as there is so much to do always and especialy during the rel short summer. Projects include enlarging the greens garden on the meadows, cut and stowe away firewood , start building the greenhouse, get the milling of some logs organized for renovations, order strawbales from local farmers for some strawbale building project, build a solar hot water heater, or solar house heater, on and on it goes.
I am unconventional, spiritual non religious seeker marveling at the great mysteries to be human (being)
Before coming to Åland, actually biking here all the way from Switzerland via Slovakia and all points in between, i lived a few years on Lasqueti Island (an amazing community) British Columbia, learning to live off the grid, making my own electricity. I moved to Åland permanently driving my 1985 Bluebird schoolbus (bought in 2002 AND TURNED INTO Landyacht) from Lasqueti via Vancouver to Halifax partially on Waste Vegetable Oils and had it shipped to Sweden in 2011, so my solar panels from Lasqueti came along on it's roof. Would like to expand on the power making and eventually maybe even cut the place off the grid completely because it can be done, and get a cheap electric car as an extra electric power sink!

If you made it this far in my profile, please understand that it is extremely unlikely i will respond to copy and paste requests. so if your request contains no hint why you actually want to come here and that not a hundred other hosts have received exactly the same message. thank you!
I don't think it is too much to ask that people that request to come here on exchange fill in their profile somewhat at least. it increases your chances that i actually reply by order of magnitude. Thank you for understanding this!

Also please refrain from flaky one-liner requests such as: "i might come in june july or august and wanna stay"
WTF!!?? hahahaha

if you are not sure when u wanna come, it' s totally fine of course! But do not expect your potential host, to know to be there either. I have no problem with being flexible and spontaneous, so if that's who you are, allow me that freedom as well.
Best is if you just write to me in that case a week before u would like to come if you are nearby. I avoid long-term plans with absolute strangers, especially.

Update June 2015
time flies faster and faster, loads of things have happened.
Have bought a house with a forest and big garden with fruit trees
here is some more relatively current info for you to consider if you would like to come visit:

http://www.wwoofindependents.org/host-list/66151-birchbarkbobananda-s-fruitbasket/

Update Jan 11th 2012 I made it to Åland in December. The trip from Hailfax to Åland in brief. Magical hitchhike from Halifax to Montreal, took 2 days, spent night in tent on the Quebec side of the bay that separates the gaspe peninsula from New Brunswick, and there was no snow on the ground, it had petered out about 80 km before getting here, so lucky. Then i continued to be a "cool-people-filter" by the side of the road. At first things were real slow, then everything fell into place, the owner of the health food store in Amqui, Quebec told me about a micro brewery bakery, and there i bought cheese and croissants and a beer, checked out some ride share sites, a friendly waiter asked me about my trip, a guy named that had just sat down opposite me had overheard some keywords, and 5 min later we realized we both had written to the same CSer in Montreal about staying there, and Update Nov 20th been in Halifax for a week now, donät seem to find the time to be as detailed in my account as i would like to. Getting the bus ready for delivery to the port, taking solar panels off, roofrack to reduce the measurable volume. Have had a pretty good time so far here, very synchronistic, the people i contacted through the Couchsurfing system, the tips they gave me, and how that in turn led to me meeting amazing people, and then ending up full circle again with the ones first contacted and realizing how i myself am part of some web of life situation, Which to some might seem like a string of coincidences, but then it might aswell be considered the opposite.There are loads of interesting people here in Halifax and Nova Scotia, the weather has been balmy, the cranberries huge, the wonderful open mic night at the Agricola house, the colorful wonderfully scented Farmers market Downtown, the conversation with retired Philosphy Prof Peter, who invited me to park in front of his house, the hikes with Jennifer and her alters in and outside Halifax, and the visit in Alex's Yurt, that rekindled my Yurt Yearning, more to come....Update NOV 7thArrived in New Brunswick, in the dark, it stinks sourly, the name of the town is Edmundston, must be a pulp mill hamlet, a forest goblin' community, chomp, crunch, burp!, oh Lorax, where art thou?Will head out momentarily and hopefully find some quiet nook along the the St John's river, a stone cast away form the forbidding USA, try to deliver karla's painting tomorrow to ex lasquetian Myles somewhere in the boonies near Coal Branch NB. Looking forward for the sun to rise and reveal the lay of yet a new province one hour closer to europe. After leaving Montreal, took me an hour to get out of there, because "My" on ramp to the highway was closed.Drove down to near Chambly, where some of the best Canadian beer comes from, and picked up 4 giant brandnew rear tires for the price of one!!! (Kijiji) for the Mongolia Trip down the road, after the bus has been electrified, hey we are talking about dreams, ideas now, gotta start thinking or there won't be a step two either, then i drove north on Route 30 towards Quebec City and spent the night in some nice spot right by the St Laurence River, with literally a million Snow Geese hanging out in the tidal flats, so awesome it was it gave me goose bumps literally, a few thousand took off when i walked down out of the tree cover with my headlamp on, what a crazy sound when thousands of wings start flapping in unison.Sunday had me dreaming that i could spent all summer exploring Quebec and the maritime Coasts and their communities, instead of trying to beat the winter to halifax.I am travelling alone now, Dave jumped ship, we had a falling out. One could probably make a long list of why, for both sides, the short version is, we are, even though best friends, not that compatible to travel together. happy travels and have fun in Montreal my friend!Update NOV 3rdIn Montreal!!! Yay!here is the route so far, more or less accurate, and how I hope to proceedView Larger MapUpdate oct 28thArrived on Manitoulin Island Ontario late last nightafter 3 days of long driving , or 1850 km since leaving Winnipeg, where I was really lucky that my nose worked the way it did. We were riding around town on bikes just for fun and rounded a corner into a sidestreet and I heard a diesel engine running and smelled the characteristic smell of burning veggie oil from it, iT was a Blue VW Pickup Van that I could swear i had seen about an hour or two earlier, there arenät many of them in these parts, I turned my head and noticed an open garage door by the vehicle and some guys milling about amongst huge transparent square crated plastic tanks filled with some dark liquid. I called to dave, that i must investigate and hit the brakes. They guy in his 60s in the garage, when asked about the smell, if he was doing the veggie oil thing, was a very friendly energetic and enthusiastic outgoing helpful man and invited us in to check it out right away. I asked him if he also sold the filtered cooking oil he recycles there, and he said, he could, and would, so we got the tour of his centrifuge and heater in the besement that heats the whole house, also running on that oil.And even though him and his helper where just about to go home they agreed to wait for half an hour so we could run the bikes down tp the bus and return with it to fill teh tanks halfway, so i could run a 50-50 mix of diesel and the GMO canola, more would be risky because i have to second tank with diesel only to purge the congealed when cold veggie oil. 40 cents a litre, great price, saved me 200 dollars to buy that instead of diesel.And as it turns out the bus ran great on it for the last 1800 kms, but when arriving in Ontario, near Dryden we picked up two hitchhikers from Montreal area with huge puppy dog in this cold looking rainy country with a very northern and advanced into the fall feel, with the smell of snow in the air between pines and lakes, and just kept on going, parked for the night at Raleigh Falls, near 100 m swath through the woods for the trans can gas pipeline, slept, and kept on going in the morning after a good fire in the woodstove, where i heated a big pot of water. Well it turned out that was very useful, as it had frozen at night and the 50/50 mix was just to stiff in the injectors, filter and pump, so had to toss steamin' hot water on it/them, because the motor wouldn't start. But the hot water helped and the beast rumbled into action for another long drive that took us down to Lake Superior Provincial park. Max and Maude and Pup Nemesis still along for the ride, very well behaved doggy, no fuss at all, impressive! We drove and drove and night fell on us just as we had a chance to get to lake Superiors shores for a closer look, walked a beach, brrr, sun was down, clear cold water, across the sand from Summer Cottages. Later we got pulled over by a cop, flashing red and blue lights, and asked if we had by any chance been by some boat ramp after dark, and I said yes, we walked a beach and needed to connect with the lake. Very friendly guy, laughs at my nearly 30 year old german gray drivers license, and asks for something more current, with some indignation (OK, the picture is showing me when i am 18) i tell him that this licence is the current one, so he wants to see my passport, takes me 20 min to find, all is well in the end, just for safety he records all or ID's, and wishes us a good trip. A couple of hours later around midnight, i had pulled over to get some water with a bucket for the kitchen from a lake along the road, another cop walks up to us in the night with his flashlight and hopes we are not going to park there for the night, same ID thing all over again, after i tell him that he was the second one for the evening. And really they both were the only cops that ID'd me in at least a year at least. We didn't even see any cop cars all through BC, hardly any in the prairies, but Ontario is full of them, even in this remote northern hamlet, where the four lane trans can was stretched into a long two lane thingy between nothing towns, clearcuts and Ork camps, hardly visible often just bypassed.Second morning out from Winnipeg, after even some snow flurries swirling around the bus and the hills, we wake in some provincial Park parking, closed for the season, and head on first thing, engine starts fine, i had bought some more diesel just enough to thin out the veggie oil some more, and stop at a lakeside parking in the same provincial park, very beautiful rounded rocky peninsula between two sandy beaches, the rocky part very much like Åland. I heat some water on the stove and take it blended to a nice hot temperature down to the lake to shower and swim in between the hot water dumped over my head with a pitcher.Before that we had sourdough waffles on the wood stove, with our guests and a 60ish cat lady, a little confused but nice, who had come to ask us for gas, 'cause she'd run out, we didn't have any and the nearest gas station 80 km away, told her, after a cell phone call from another drivers phone didn't quite get through, we'd call CAA from the next phone and organize her some gas member benefits from that Automobile association.Later that done, the days is actually opening really nice vistas of the lake, and then just passing Sault Ste. Marie, we head east, again into the night, wish the Hitchers a good luck to Montreal and take the windy hilly road and across a swing bridge, very different from the one across Lemström's Canal on Åland, and arrive at our friends place, happy but tired! Still about 2000 km to go to HalifaxUpdate oct 24tharrived in Winnipeg Last night, visiting with friends of Dave's, right in town, residential relatively narrow streets, with heaps of fallen leaves and plenty of opportunity to try parallel parking with a bus. We did pretty good, one person making sure it went in in the back and dave's friend Kate eyeing the front bumper.Quite the place these prairies, sky from sunrise to sunset, calming lines, but the transcan sure is the worst road we hit yet since the coast, even gravel roads along the north south road grid here seem less rough though more dusty than the asphalt patchwork quilt of the longest road in canada. Huge Silo's and grain elevators dominate the landscape kind of like the widely visible churches one spots when travelling across Germany and other european countries, the view is hardly ever without one or more.Here and there huge yards of cooperatively used farming machines which give the appearance of agriculture being a massive industrialized venture, spider like high riding tractors with folded up wings of death are a sign for roundup ready Monsatan Franken Foods grown nearly everywhere and spryed massively, poor prairies and people who feel they have no choice but to submit to slavery and self-afflicted abuse, giant yards with thousands of hay or strawbales and hardly a living soul in sight except the black dots of cattle spread out like flyshit on a window on the harvested grain fields. Wish i had more time to take detours from the trancan to drive through and stop in little prairie towns, with many interesting sights, everything from conventional vinyl clad houses to cute old mismatched dwellings interspersed with clean looking schoools and run down pubs and churchesPeople are in these towns and this is where most of the rubber-necking in regard to our bus takes place.Now nearing Ontario, the land has become again more wooded, with low aspen forest island mixed in with the farmlands, a welcome sight, what forests? after the tall trees of BCREaly lucky with the weather so far, not a day of real rain yet, just a coolant leak from one of the heaters, that spilled gallons inside the bus, lucky i noticed and not overheated the motor. Kind of a mess though!
Update Oct 21st:
Out of the Mountains and into the prairies, what a difference, a km driven is actually a km eastward, unlike in BC where 3 km driven is only one eastward, Will spend the night between Lethbridge and Medicine hat, try to get a glance of the cypress hills between Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Update Oct 20th:
Spent a day with Dave's friends Gaby and Dave and horse Johnny and goats in Lemon Creek, near Slocan Lake, beautiful area, beautiful River and Mountains,Gaby's dave donated a cedar board so i was able to replace the broken off bit of my bumper/bikerack, out of precious yellow cedar, so now it is a hybrid of the two cedars, nice, the hood is still sorry looking. Then we headed to nelson to see if we could find some old lasquetian friends and neighbors, ad talk to some helicpoter comapnies re expired chopper fuel for the bus. We found our friends, hung out with them, sampled some nice breads at a local french bakery, awesome, and a great oreganic foodstore, the Coop, and then we were not so lucky with the fuel, the company owner had given away 400 liters a week ago to some forestry baffoons to start their slashpiles on fire, such a waste! Awful!Anywy highlight today was the ferry ride across Kootenay Lake, 45 min, met a couple from Halifax on roadtrip, and then a really windy but scenic road along the huge kootenay Lake into Creston and now refueled in Cranbrook, heading to Fernie.....still no riders! Nice and balmy weather though!!
Update Oct 18th:
Castlegar BC, Later Nelsonlots of mountain driving, up and down, slow going, beautiful fall colors, clear rivers, amazing mountain scenery, nice nights by the woodstove and with a hat chcolate and a shot of brandy, beginning days with green smoothies. Still looking for compatible riders...get in touch Couchsurfers!We are not city travellers though and would prefer to travel through the smaller towns and roads of BC. Alberta will perhaps be a different story.....Anyone with hints to helicopter comapnies and possible free fuel, expired helicopter fuel, give a shout...
Update Oct 14th
finally made it to Sunshine Coast and off Lasqueti Island, with a barge from hell, nice enough people running it, though spraying F-words in all possible directions, but the bus hood took a second beating, this time during unloading in the dark from this malfunctioning old ex military landingcraft onto a boat ramp in Halfmoon Bay, well we made it in one piece, for a while it looked real bad and we were actually stuck on the boat with the bus for two whole days\!!!Went through inspections, got licence plates, last visits with friends on the coast and heading to vancouver around noon to do a few errands, like selling a bunch of lead acid batteries i collected on Lasqueti to make money for the ride and buy new batteries for my solar system, also dropping off my singer foottreddle a friend is buying,Any potential riders should get in touch asap, we will head to Yarrow next, probably for the night.
Latest Update Sept 30th 2011
MOBILE COUCH HOSTMAIDEN VOYAGEBUS RIDE FROM LASQUETI ISLAND, BC VIA VANCOUVER TO HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
on the road, but still on Lasqueti, getting barged off any day now, waiting at the abrge ramp for the next Landingcraft to Texada Island, planning on hitting the sunshine coast, then vancouver and then Nelson and onward, compatible clean, positive, fun, nonsmoking, petless riders welcome, get in touch via email, read the previous post about other trip details, we are not out to make as many miles as possible, this is a slow trip, kind of an adveture, meeting interestin people we run in acros Canada, visit friends, see some amazing natural areas, pick apples and such things.Latest Update Sept 7th 2011MOBILE COUCH HOSTMAIDEN VOYAGEBUS RIDE FROM LASQUETI ISLAND, BC VIA VANCOUVER TO HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIARIDERS WANTEDLooking for Riders/Couchsurfers to come along on a road Voyage by Converted Schoolbus , 1985 International/Bluebird, 37.5 foot long, from Lasqueti Island, BC via Vancouver to HalifaxCouchsurfers with well filled in profiles are preferred, as in a tight space it is important that we click together.....starting as early as 18th of Sept 2011, date not set in stone thoughFlexibility required and willingness to contribute to the fuel expenses $6-7/100km.so if you ride the whole way, 6500-7000km cost would be @ $400The plan is to drive across country in a relaxed way with a stop of a few days on Manitoulin Island, the total trip lasting a month minimum,Ontario, to visit some friends, formerly from Lasqueti.We will pass through many natural regions and hopefully see some amazing unforgettable scenery, go for walks and park in beautiful natural areas over night.The trip will take about a month, possibly longer. The schoolbus is equipped with 12V DC power aswell as an inverter for 110 AC, with a kitchen, with blender for green smoothie making, and electric waffle iron powered by the sun via solar panels on the roof.The bus runs on diesel, so the occasional find of clean vegetable oil could supplement the fuel used, storage for fuel and treatment not available.There is a wood stove for heat when needed, and the bus can sleep 4-5 people on bunks, and there could be more room for 2 people sleeping on the natural linoleum floor.Cozy like a cabin, all wood interior, the bus lacks bathroom facilities, but then there are many public facilities and woods along the way to place the occasional turd, or to receive the fertile urine from our organic food diet, and rivers and lakes to swim in for a wash or fun, brrrr, might get cold though.After arriving in Halifax I need to load the bus on a roll on roll off ship bound for Europe and there specifically Gothenburg, Sweden.The earliest ship at a price that i seem to be able to afford leaves Halifax mid October, the next one mid November, at the very latest that would be the one i want to take......This is my personal move back to Europe, specifically Finland's Åland Archipelago in the baltic Sea, to be able to explore more time with my very special friend Ã…sa.So if you are adventurous, clean, positive, fun and are travelling with a minimum of personal belongings, get in touch, and be placed on the list of riders.You bring your own sleeping bag, mat, you are independent traveller and if you really didn't like this ride, you could hop off anywhere and continue your trip independentlyIt is a possible option that we buy organic food collectively and every rider contributes to a food bank with say $7 a day $42 a week, that way we don't have to have space taken up by everyones food stash in separate boxes, there is no refrigeration on board (yet).This food option of course is open to discussion, as you may have special needs (vegan or food allergies)I only want organic food on board, GMO's are an absolute NO NO, if you need to eat shit like that there are other buses, ;-))I'll try posting some more pictures of the bus on my CS profile soonRead my profile!Have your own profile filled insend a phone number where you can be reachedLooking forward to hearing from you.
Riders so far confirmed CSers Birchbarkbobananda, WILLOW-TREEBIG
Update! April 15th 2011, Big Change a comin'found a great quote today that fits my situtation!
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." -E.B. White
Looks like I'm leaving Lasqueti Island soon to go to Europe/Åland/Finland to be able to spend more time with Ã…sa and her kids. If I cannot find a buyer/good home for my bus-stead(yes it's what i have in-stead of a home-stead) i must do what i must do, drive it across canada/halifax leaving here mid may to put it on a ship leaving to gothenburg sweden in @ mid june.Wanna join!? there might still be room or if you have something you need shipped, like a Cello or a box of Comic Books, for a contribution to the fuel and insurance costs!the bus can run on used vegetable oil, so we'd be looking to pick some up when we see it, really the best use for this genetically modified garbage to get rid of it by turning it into Genetically modified exhaust. Phew!Still need to bolt down the roofrack, mill up a few more yellow cedar boards from my beloeved beachcombed stash for a boat i wanna build when i get to finlandinstall a more comfy drivers seat i just culled out of an old red toyota four runner from the junk, load my bikes, concertina, guitar and hand-tools, install the oil cookstove and sell the propane one, need another tank installed too, which is already kicking around, and yes at least 2 of the solar panels need to get onto the roof, Yikes lots to do, running double tracked, like i said in the beginning: Great Quote that came my way.There is no Road to Freedom, Freedom IS the Road!I believe it was Gandhi who said that. I'm saying it too.I Love to Laugh and sing, but haven't taken the outward step with the latter yet, the former can always come from deeper and deeper joy, no end, I'm learning, love to hang out with friends on bicycles and meadows, in kayaks and rowboats, kick back and truly understand life. Not Carreer minded. I like to sample many things in life, many small things, and the big things like a boat I'd like to build myselfI wonder if I am a bit whacky and eccentric, hmmmm? Come and find out! http://dumpsterdivingpippi.blogspot.com
http://birchbarkbobananda.blogspot.com

PHILOSOPHY

"Peace begins with a smile" Mother Teresa
try it out not when you are walking in a beautiful virgin forest but when confronted with something that first off triggers your indwelling anger, as when standing aghast at the destruction in a clearcut forest or as when riding a bike in Poland or Lithuania, and they are really nutty drivers, let me tell you, my friend Dave was really, literally one inch from getting run over right in front of me...

Oh here's one I like:
"When you're one step ahead
of the crowd you're a genius.
When you're two steps ahead,
you're a crackpot."

not sure really who said so

how about this one:

Fall down!
Who cares if you're a clown,
When enemies are friendly,
And errors are trendy!
Live life fully!

By Superhero "Compashman" I believe

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
Host and be hosted, inspire and to be inspired. As in hitchhiking it is the pay-it-forward principle we are keeping alive here!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

It's the Pay-it-forward type activity I love so much in Couchsurfing as in Hitchhiking.
Had my first official CS couchsurf in Wilhelmshafen in May07, but hey, you guys didn't invent this stuff, hahhaahaha
so then I hosted Helgur and Sigrit for one week in fall 07, awesome time, I just was at their place in Estonia august09, by bicycle all the way from switzerland.
Radio-Man Jürgen in Bratislava, June09, who had it coming when we arrived with loads of dumpsterdived foods from Austria, after that the dumpsters were miraculously well guarded or simply in villages in not so wealthy countries much more gets used after the date is up, showed us some nice place to have a beer;
Suzanna and Ducan near Detva, Slovakia, who let us use their computer at some wireless pizza place, since there was no internet cafe in that town, and that was really all I had asked them about in the supermarket aisle, and then we stayed at their cottage with them for four days, superduper...
And at Fred and Danka's in Krakow, just ahead of their baby;
Egle, the easygoing "come and get the keys" before having even met me "i"ll be home late" kind of host, who i still managed to get know a little despite "our each and own very busy days in Vilnius;
Darius and Renata in Klaipeda, he chatted me up while i was waiting by a small square foot window to have my shoes repaired and invited me fellow long distance bicyclist to their place.
Eva, the wonderfully hospitable and accomodating travelling translator, got some good tips I I ever want to take it up part time, was able to readjust her bike so she could show me the area...
Errki my superhost just outside Tallinn, we even went on a trip together, and together we left Estonia by ferry to magical Åland, not knowing yet i would have growing reasons to come back there
Said Noshirvani, another superhuman superhospitable traveller, long distance bicycle being originaly nfrom Tehran, was the one who must be credited for a lot that i allowed to happen during my stay at his magical little old red house outside mariehamn, built him a cannibal tub and continuall filled his fridge with goodies from Affluenza infested territory, through him ultimately met.......
Åsa Pepita, we're like close family now, turned her on to CS, while staying on her couch for 2 month, actually had my own room, putting in wooden floor in her cosy house with kids all over me, she came down to mallorca to spend time with me during my bike trip south and she was just here on Lasqueti Island Nov 2010 for 2 weeks, we think so much along the same lines, uncanny! I will be back
Constanze Alder, one of the people who made me think we need a "mobile host" category on CS, had a ride down to Spain with my birchbarkbike in and on her RV from Köln, and slept on her couch while on the way for two nights, there was another french Couchsurfer aswell for one night, how does one look for mobile hosts like that specifically through Couchsurfing, surely there must be sailboat hosts, and riverboat hosts, going from holland to the black sea and back and who knows where else, I know there are tent hosts on bikes, i know of at least two, but one happens upon them by chance, make it a search option, so one can hook up to sail from canaries to caribeean or anywhere, ride and walk along hore drawn carts, bus to india via iran, a bunk in a millionaire jet, you name it... to be continued

Interessen

Spirituality, hanging out with friends, playing with words, ein Bierchen zischen, couchsurfing with or without CS, shooting the shit, gibberish and wordplay, bicycling, hitchhiking, wilderness, paying it forward, off-grid-living, the small pleasures, Beachcombing, thingfinding, hummingbirds, naked feet on warm rocks or pavement, tradewinds, fruittrees, throatsinging, blackberries, plums, mangoes, cherries, kissing, peaches, tropical fruit, lovemaking, sungazing, cloudwatching, Quantum physics, mind over matter, spoonbending, siesta, music, joy, bliss, sound-healing, ciderpressing, woodfires, inventing things, building devices, chocolate, laughter, hands, silence, Iceland, Russia, Finland, harmony, keyed fiddle, nyckelharpa, Greenland, Joyful moments in the sun on a beautiful islet, dumpster-diving, hiking naked, swimming naked, rolling in the sun and hot sand naked, gurgling sounds of small waves on a gravelly beach, orgone energy, zero point energy, sustainability, backpacking, kayaking, birchbark canoes, woodenboat building, timberframing, cleaving wood, primitive technology, SUPERHEROES, Superhero-Rides, organic food, canning and drying fruits and herbs, photography, conservation, natural hotsprings, cannibal-tubbing (ask me about that one, hahahaha), peace and social justice, breatharianism, free energy, mind healing, integrity, holographic Universe, Geo-ecology, sailing, New Caledonia, Hawaii, Norway, Sweden, Alaska, Germany, West Africa, British Columbia, Permaculture, Central Asia, Yurts, Gers, Natural building, cob, Outdoor Gear Manufacture, Foottreaddle, Sewing, Woodcarving, Romance, Clogmaking, Green Woodworking, cropcircles and MANY MORE

• arts
• books
• singing
• photography
• cooking
• chocolate
• cheese
• beer
• vegan
• organic food
• meditation
• walking
• gardening
• boating
• technology
• traveling
• cars
• restoration
• blogging
• painting
• woodworking
• music
• guitar
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• canoeing
• kayaking
• sailing
• swimming
• agriculture
• ecology
• forestry
• languages
• medicine
• physics
• hitchhiking
• carpooling
• beaches
• lakes

Musik, Filme und Bücher

Books: Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot; Power of Now and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle; Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda; Secret Life of plants; My Atlas; Shelter, Homework, Builders of the pacific Northwest all by Lloyd Kahn; Legacy Of Luna, Julia Butterfly, Modern Miracles by Erlendur Haraldson which is about Sathya Sai Baba
Joshua Slocum's "Sailing around the world Alone" or his Voyage with the Liberdade.
Thor Heyerdahl
Worldmusik, Folk Music in all the Regions I have visited, Throatsinging, Jojk, Scandinavian Folk and Fiddle, Keyed Fiddle, Accordeon
Movies: La Belle Verte/The Green Beautiful/Der Grüne Planet by and with Coline Serreau, "Once" which i have seen twice, "Travellers and Magicians", "Pippi på Rymmen"(Pippi Longstocking and her friends take off on their own), Kukushka (the Cuckoo) The Shawshank Redemption.
Documentary: "The Real Dirt on Farmer John",
Animated: "The Man who Planted Trees"

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

*Living in Nigeria West-Afrika as a kid for 6 Years
*viewing Rift Valley, and Mt.Kilamandjaro, Kenia
*10 day Vipassana Silent Meditation Retreat
*Hitchhiking alone from Seattle to Fairbanks, Alaska, in the winter with temperatures of -40, and subsequently from Alaska to New York in springtime with a friend
**Built a 21 foot Birchbark canoe using only handtools and utilizing only materials gathered from the forest, no nails, no plastic no glue, 100% organic, this was in the end of the last thousand years (1993). Me and one of my best friends took it on a river journey in northern Yukon and Alaska, paddling 800 miles of wild Rivers, such as Eagle, Bell, Porcupine and Yukon;
*Fallen in Love a few times
*Vikingboatbuilding in Norway,
*given away a good swedish 25 foot wooden sailboat in Stockholm, hahahaha
*Paraglided off the Crater of Haleakala a few times, Maui Hawaii
***lots of hitchhiking, thank you everyone who picked me up, great times
*fitted a traditional Norwegian wooden rowboat
(Nordlandboat) with a chinese junk rig fashined from an old green poly tarp for almost no cost at all, to the dismay of my employer at Norwegian wooden boat museum. I still sailed well with it and almost beat those sailing experts, even though I had never even sailed before.
*lots of wilderness travel in the arctic and subarctic
*Living solarpowered off the grid in my veggieoil bus on Lasqueti Island;
*bought the bus as the only bidder with only 168000kms from a schooldistrict in the Kootenays at a sealed bid for CAN$ 866.36, they said " You know, you stole that bus!!!" and we all cracked up in roaring laughter together, sooo much fun!!.
*Sunset while sea-kayaking @home last Sunday May 14th06
*bought a travel size accordeon(concertina)
*Superhero Bicycle Service Ride across Ireland Sept 2006 with a group of lovely humans from 5 countries
2009 ongoing biking from switzerland to estonia via Bratislava slovakia and the high tatras, @7000 km as of Dec, 2009, trip crested in Åland archipelago of Finland, spent 3 months there from Sept., met some great human beings there, one of them and and her family i became especially fond of and have been back in 2010 for 2 months, summer up north is so light and compares to nothing.
2010 spring-summer bike trip spain and portugal @4000kms
2013 bought a home, scary thing to pin oneself down like that, but fun to be non-evictable at least in theory for the first time this lifetime

Lehren, lernen, teilen

Building restoration, Timberframing, Sewing/Manufacture Outdoor Gear, Green Woodworking, Birchbark Canoes, Yurts/gers, Basketmaking, Woodenboat building, ecological Building Materials, organic foods, free energy, Languages, Dumpsterdiving, Reusing Things, Improvising, Finding Stuff, Repairing things, I can repair your bike, or show you how to do it in a nutshell,
languages

Was ich mit Gastgebern teilen kann

any of the above

Länder, die ich besucht habe

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, Egypt, England, Estonia, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Wales

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

Canada, Finland, Germany, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden, United States

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