Couchsurfing is my absolute favourite thing in the world
Home » Blog » Craig Neilson » Couchsurfing is my absolute favourite thing in the worldCraig waxes lyrical about an online community designed to connect weary travelers with willing hosts, all for free.
Image credit: Tamakisono on Flickr
I'm saving the bright green technology focus for this blog until after my current journey, but I can't help but sneak in an entry on my absolute favourite thing in the world: couchsurfing.
I have a page on the internet that invites bright-eyed travelers to come and stay with me in Auckland. It's free, of course, it's informal, friendly and really bright green.
How green? Couchsurfing makes available the abundant resource of shelter for friendly travellers, and that of friendly travellers for the willing host. It does so on a by-arrangement basis to the highest quality possible: there's nothing more lonely than a guest room gathering dust, no guest more rewarding than the fresh, worldly eyes of a foreigner, and no traveler's dream more wild than meeting and staying with a local. Couchsurfing helps you organise all that—and imagine what a steady stream of friendly messages from awesome strangers does for your view of the world.
To quickly answer the most common questions, yes, in my experience couchsurfing is very safe. The network employs multiple community-powered systems to show who you can trust, and who you cannot. Like Trade Me, but in more detail, with more layers of verification, and more human.
Next: Yes, you can say no—there is no obligation to host anyone, ever, and there's even settings to give people an indication before they write to you. Guests choose who to ask for a couch, but hosts still choose to host them.
Next: Yes, it is private. Your contact details will never be revealed unless you choose to reveal them.
I'm no newbie, having hosted more than 100 remarkable surfers, but I still feel new. There's something about the flow of hopeful requests, the jet-lagged first meeting, the time spent with a new and exciting person, and the farewelling of a friend you're not sure you'll see again that nothing will prepare you for. You could keep distant, but that's just no way to live.
Of course, when I'm travelling the chance to stay with couchsurfers is a foregone conclusion. In the Northland journey I wrote about last month, I stayed with or met up with some seriously amazing folk. I made friends with a delightful couple of dedicated animal welfarist farmers, and left them this reference:
Aaron and Lisa are awesome, awesome people and incredible hosts. They love their animals and they love their guests! It's always a good sign when the pigs get camembert cheese. We got on like a house on fire, they really put me at ease and had a lot to share … then they invited me back! Thank you, Aaron and Lisa, for your welcoming hospitality and who you are for animals, food and the planet. I think we'll be seeing each other again.
I met up with some Whangarei vegans for a wee bit of solidarity and socialising. They were exceptionally generous and even loaned my (part time) travel-buddy (who I also met on couchsurfing) a bicycle to join me for the East Coast leg!
In Pataua, a lovely but unknown slice of Northland east-coast paradise, I stayed with a big-hearted and environmentally minded couple that spent their days making furniture, painting silk and building an incredible house and garden. I left them this reference:
Lilian is a hard-working and delightfully friendly woman, and Hans is an awesome dude who's nothing short of a genius! Together they make an inspiring duo of beautiful, creative and appreciative hosts with a magical home in a magical place. Staying with you was a peaceful dream I'll fondly remember for a long, long time—thank you and may we meet again!
But it's not just fun, it's worldly, emotional and educational. I once hosted a young couple from Israel. If everybody was couchsurfing, they said, there would be no war.
I have grown accustomed to having a vast, compatible and expanding global social circle, the chance to re-create myself on a weekly basis, and an always-refreshing traveller's view of day-to-day Auckland. I keep in touch with many of my guests, who are off doing such things as running political campaigns, starting businesses, doing ground-breaking research, and cycling the world. I won't hide what I'm saying here: connections—you get 'em.
This won't be the last time I mention couchsurfing—it's very often someone comes through it with a story to tell and a project to share. For me, it hasn't just transformed the way I travel, it's transformed the way I am at home too. You should really check it out.
Wed December 23, 2009 @ 12:34 PM
