Couch

couch
“couch” is a travelogue of one hundred stories about people from Couchsurfing – a global community of travelers, facilitating stays with locals or opening your home to visitors.

The book captures the author’s backpacking trips from 2014 to 2022 in different countries, such as the U.S., India, Thailand, Gulf Countries, and various parts of Europe, from Lisbon to Saratov. About a third of the stories in the book recount how the author himself hosted travelers, both in Penza – his native Russian province – and in Berlin, a city in which the author found a sense of home.

The focus of the book is on people and their cultural diversity. Ultimately, the reader will learn from this book not only how travelers interact with their hosts and how both hosting and surfing work – but also the endless permutations, from camaraderie to conflict. $0.99 on Kindle.
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Memoirs of a Starving Artist

memoirs-of-a-starving-artistWhat if you risked everything to follow your dreams… and they didn’t quite come true? Would you regret having tried at all? How about if those choices led to a life full of freedom and adventure? This is the story of one man whose 25 years as a struggling writer meant learning to accept near constant rejection while at the same time traveling the world on a shoestring and reveling in all of the wonders that life has to offer. It is a tale of love and loss, hopes and aspirations, and ultimately the realization that true happiness comes not from succeeding on someone else’s terms, but in the ability to redefine success on one’s own.

“Memoirs of a Starving Artist” follows the author on a lifelong journey from Australia to Tahiti, Ireland to Estonia to Budapest and beyond. It is an inside look at what it means to be an ex-pat American writer in the era of the ebook revolution.

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