Choice between past tense and present tense?

Todd is asking Dan about his concept of slow travel. The below is part of Dan's reply.

Yeah, I mean especially maybe because I'm a blogger, we're always
seeking to define things in unique ways. And there’s a lot of terms
out there. There’s expat; people that have left their native country.
There’s backpacker, which is someone who tries to keep their cost very

low and they’re continually moving from place to place. There’s flash
packer, which is a term that means you still have income from
somewhere and you have more tech and toys, and you stay at maybe nicer
hotels.

But what I did was always a little bit different, which is I would go
and get long term leases or medium term leases at apartments. So I
would go and get a house or an apartment in a place for anywhere from
one to six months, and enjoy what it feels like to actually live
somewhere.And that to me is so exciting, you know. Although the

sights and everything are cool, and hanging out with tourists can be
fun, I much prefer to go down to the local café, open up my laptop,
talk to the people that are working there, and really get a sense for
what it’s like to live in a city. (From
http://www.elllo.org/english/1301/T1325-Dan-Slowtravel.htm)

At first the speaker is using the present tense (the entire first paragraph). Then he suddenly starts using the past tense(did, would go, would go), and then returns to the present tense again.

The speaker could well have said the following instead to keep the tense consistency.

But what I do is always a little bit different, which is I go and
get long term leases or medium term leases at apartments. So I go
and get a house or an apartment in a place for anywhere from one to
six months, and enjoy what it feels like to actually live somewhere.

I want to know why the speaker chooses the past tense over the present tense in the beginning of the second paragraph. Thanks for the comments and the answer which help me clarify my question.