14. September 2008 by azarethroy.

Prague is just a magical place. The CzechSurfing event was full of energy. The people were amazing, the weather was amazing and the beer was amazing And the highlight must have been the Free Hugs event we had in Old Town Square. The response was unbelievable and we all left so energized. Great memories, great hugs.

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23. August 2008 by azarethroy.

I :heart: NY. I’ve been to New York a few times before, but I’ve never connected with CouchSurfers there. This time, I headed down especially to hang out with CouchSurfers. And I was not disappointed. New York is an amazing city and even more amazing when you have locals there to party with.

The NYC crew organized an outstanding event, right down to Seth having an open-home all week (a.k.a. The Living Room), Mike organizing couches for EVERYONE and Bastien getting sponsorship for free Red Bull, burgers, beer and vodka. It was a jam-packed week with little room for sleep in the city that never sleeps!

Sunday DAY 1: Arrived in the morning by bus. Hung out with Katryn and Birgit. In the evening, headed to the Pink Party. 3 hours of free vodka. Broke my sunglasses.
Monday DAY 2: Picnic and movie in Bryant Park - The Candidate. Kinda boring movie (Or as Michelle would say - worst movie she’s seen in her life) but it was fun to chill in the park. After that we headed to a bar where it was free PBR beer for 1 hour!
Tuesday DAY 3: Bought a new pair of sunglasses. Petr and I lazed around in The Living Room for most of the day. For dinner we joined the group for yummy Mexican. And then headed out to the Pub Crawl. Broke my new pair of sunglasses by the end of the night.
Wednesday DAY 4: I wanted to do the Bronx Zoo, but Coney Island was much closer. Lots of fun though. Bought yet another pair of sunglasses. In the evening Petr and I headed to McLaren (?) Park to meet my new host Misha. We had a picnic and hung out for a bit. Later, Brishen and I went to catch up with my old host, Dan, so I could get my things. We ended up at Richard’s after-party until 4 am, so by the time we got back to Misha’s with my things it was 7am! Fortunately my sunglasses survived.
Thursday DAY 5: Did the Statue of Liberty tour (by myself because I was late!). But it was nice to spend some quality time with Paddington bear. My sunglasses were still intact which was great too. After that was the Chelsea gallery tour which was very interesting. Especially the last gallery which was not so much about the art but more about the free vodka and helium (an excellent mix). That night was spent at the notorious Revival Bar. Great times.

Friday DAY 6: Friday afternoon was spent doing a fun session of Free Hugs in Union Square followed by a trip to MOMA. And then straight to MI-5 bar, which turned out to be a little overzealous. (Let’s just say that drinking on an empty stomach is bad). Yet I still got dragged to an after-party, apparently. A think a number of CouchSurfers saved my life there. Even my sunglasses somehow made it.

Saturday DAY 7: Quite worn out by this stage, we hung out with Misha for a bit. He graciously made us a yummy breakfast. After that I headed to The Living Room to help set up for Kenny’s Castaways. It was a good night, albeit sad to say goodbye to everyone.
Sunday DAY 8: Had all my stuff with me, but still managed to go to Shoko’s brunch which included all you can drink sangria (yum!) and onwards to Central Park for some Ultimate Frisbee. We headed to the Silent Rave after that, but was too exhausted to participate. So Petr and I chilled out until my bus (Greyhound Neon - NYC to Toronto) came. But of course, I finally dropped my sunglasses and it broke!

• Days: 8
• Hosts: 5
• Sunglasses: 3
• Awesomeness: Priceless

Amazing week. New York City rocks. New York CouchSurfers rock. I would live in New York in a heartbeat, if I could. Ah well, I shall be back.

current mission: Detox

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12. June 2008 by azarethroy.

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…

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