CouchSurfing.com

I have a lot to say about CouchSurfing. Probably way more than what people would be interested in hearing! (That’s the great thing about blogs, you can pretend that people are actually interested in what you have to say)

So I first heard about the “hospitality concept” about 4 years ago. My friend Isabel from New Zealand had been living in Copenhagen and told me about SERVAS. She had just come back from a trip to Italy (I think). To be honest, I thought it sounded completely boring. I like to go out and party, not stay at someone’s parent’s house.

A year later in early July 2005 I first heard about CouchSurfing. I was in Pampolona doing Running of the Bulls.(Yes, I ran. And yes, I was hit by a bull. Twice. But that’s a story for another day.) Anyway, I met this American guy who was staying with this Aussie bloke and “crashing on the floor” in his  hostel room. They had met on CouchSurfing.com.

Uh suuuure buddy. My first reactions was it was some sort of gay hook-up site and they were just embarrassed to admit it.

Almost exactly a week later, I found myself back in London at work. I wasn’t excited to be back. The London bombings had occurred a week earlier, so everyone was preoccupied with that. I wanted to get away. Unfortunately, I had already visited everyone I knew in Europe by that stage (some even twice). And I didn’t like doing the touristy thing. Then I remembered “couch surfing”.

The moment I got to the site, I realised that I had stumbled across something special. It wasn’t just a “free couch”, it was a new way to travel. It’s almost like Identity Tourism - you turn up to this new country and someone interesting hangs out with you, you chill with their friends and you get to spend a few days like a local there.

I think CouchSurfing only had about 17,000 members back then, but I still remember being annoyed at myself for travelling for over a year without finding about it sooner. So I signed up and I read profiles of some of the most interesting people I could imagine. And then I was greeted by Dani! Imagine that, someone actually taking time out to say hello. I was still apprehensive, so I started emailing random people to hear about their experiences.

A few months of this, then I realised that I had to just bite the bullet and try it out. I didn’t have a destination, but instead trawled for a “safe” looking member to surf with. I came across Dave’s profile - a “veteran” CouchSurfer at the time with lots of positive, interesting references. Perfect - I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland and if things turned awkward, it’d be pretty easy to find a hostel, being an English speaking country and all. So I sent him a Couch Request. About a day later he replied yes! So next I had to buy a flight (I guess this is reverse CouchSurfing!).

Long story short, hanging out with Dave was awesome. After a couple of beers, we were like old friends catching up. I was hooked on CouchSurfing (And relieved it wasn’t secretly a gay dating site!). My second host Kaara told me about Hospitality Club which sounded like an awesome site for traveler parties or “camps” (CouchSurfing did not have regular events back then).

I think at the start, no one really “knew” what CouchSurfing represented. I think a few of us dreamt that we would improve the world somehow. That by opening our homes and actively seeking cultural exchange, we would challenge social norms. And that CouchSurfers would eventually band together to help do volunteer work, contribute towards social causes and help fight prejudice and inequality around the world. They were great ideas, and unfortunately I think we have somehow settled for something much easier.

Nevertheless, Couchsurfing has permanently changed how I view travel and the kindness of strangers.

p.s. I wonder what happened to those two “original” CouchSurfers I met…

This entry was posted on 12. June 2008 at 21:17 and is filed under couchsurfing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.