Hi all,

I've recently come across a new website after reading a report in the guardian. I'm sure many of you will have heard of this. It is www.couchsurfing.com and seems to be form of social networking travel site that is used primarily as a means of finding a free place to stay no matter where you are in the world. Its got me intruiged I have to say and was wondering if anyone else had come across it?

Chris

Yes, I signed up a couple of months ago.

Yup. Its pretty much heaven. I've surfed from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Morogoro, Tanzania, and have only had awesome experiences.

I'm a member but is the whole thing not just a bit odd? Did you not find it a bit strange Bramble meeting someone for the first time and staying at their house.

Never mind the fact they could be crazy (so many people are that I try not to let that worry me anymore) but is it not really awkward?

We are on the couchsurfing network and have hosted quite a few people. It's been wonderful, for the most part. We did have one guy who kind of moved in and stayed - ended up staying 10 days. I wouldn't have minded, but when he started smoking pot in his room I got a bit upset.

There is another website - warmshowers.com - that we've used a lot. It's basically the same thing except it's specifically for bicycle tourists. We stayed with a lot of people and they were wonderful.

It is an incredible thing to know you've got this enormous network of people you can rely on. On our last tour I got word that my mom was dying when I was in a little tiny town in Ohio. I immediately got on the warmshowers website and sent out emails to every person on the list in Columbus asking if I could store my bike at their house while I flew out. I had no idea how long it would be there - maybe one week, maybe one month. I had an incredible ersponse and had a place to stash my bike within a few minutes.

The wonderful thing about it is that it's all based on trust and you learn that 99.9% of hte people in this world are wonderful!

Even not for the free bed, it's a great way to meet locals and be a host to other travelers. I've only done coffee/dinner through couchsurfing and all the experiences are quite positive.

I'm a little apprehensive about staying with strangers but would love to meet like minded locals. Places where a solo female traveling is not considered norm I will look into CSing. I recently emailed somebody about Pakistan and the gal said she would be happy to host me. She only hosts female CSers.

Meet couple of them at a potluck they had in SF (3rd Sunday of each month). They are trying to make it a global event.

quote:

Originally posted by nancy sv:
We are on the couchsurfing network and have hosted quite a few people. It's been wonderful, for the most part. We did have one guy who kind of moved in and stayed - ended up staying 10 days. I wouldn't have minded, but when he started smoking pot in his room I got a bit upset.
!

I hope you reported this to the CS bigwigs.

A quick search brings these up...just a sampling:
Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing

Opinions on Couchsurfing!

Couchsurfing: Do's & Dont's

Couchsurfing is Dead
Off the Wall Couchsurfing Question

Embrace the search!

Good to hear of peoples experiences of this. I'm seriously thinking about using it for my trip next year, particularly in Cambodia as I really want to see different parts of the country and not just stay in the main areas.

I might even meet up with a few surfers for coffee in my local area before that

I just recently joined there (as I just recently joined here too!), and I'm getting quite into hanging around on the site, joining groups and getting into chats, and all of that.

Though I can't host as I live with my hermit-like family (or.. at least they aren't really into overnight visitors), I'm planning to surf at least twice on my Europe trip in the fall... if those work out, I'm planning to surf at half of the cities I'm staying in!

quote:

Originally posted by Dharker:
I'm a member but is the whole thing not just a bit odd? Did you not find it a bit strange Bramble meeting someone for the first time and staying at their house.

Never mind the fact they could be crazy (so many people are that I try not to let that worry me anymore) but is it not really awkward?

I've stayed with many a bootsnaller, but at least three of them I met in person for the first time when I showed up at their door with my backpack (planned, of course!). I was worried it would be awkward, but it turned out great. And I'm still alive to tell about it

quote:

I'm a member but is the whole thing not just a bit odd? Did you not find it a bit strange Bramble meeting someone for the first time and staying at their house.

No.

I'm not a member of couchsurfing and probably subscribe - because I like to have my trips as unplanned and flexible as possible. But the concept of sleeping at a stranger's place is definitely not a 'uncomfortable' one.

I presume, you have never made the experience of being invited to stranger's houses while traveling. I've stayed at plenty of places of people whom I had just met on the train/bus/station/etc and they had invited me to sleep at their place. With some of them, I couldn't even converse properly, because we didn't speak each others respective language.

quote:

Originally posted by HooleyHoop:
Good to hear of peoples experiences of this. I'm seriously thinking about using it for my trip next year, particularly in Cambodia as I really want to see different parts of the country and not just stay in the main areas.

I might even meet up with a few surfers for coffee in my local area before that

Couchsurfing has some decent "features" that help potential hosts and guests ascertain that the total stranger they're about to entertain isn't a complete psycho. You'll not only need to register/join, but completely fill in your profile as much as possible. Post a few pics, fill in some details about yourself, your interests, etc. You'll likely need to get a few "references" on your profile, for and from people you've met in person and would write nice things about you. Join the CS group in your town, check out their meetups, and you'll be exchanging those in no time. You might also want to get "verified"--a small, tax-deductible donation of $25 assures others that you've at least been confirmed as having a real address somewhere. They have, as posted upthread, a reporting system for when "good couches go bad" or "when good guests need to go."

I've had some absolutely fantastic experiences with the people I've hosted, stayed with, and otherwise met through there...and think it a great "companion' website to this one for like-minded travelers.

Yeah, i am completely in awe of this concept and deeply intrigued by it. Recently we met a kid from England traveling in mexico and headed our way. We drove him 14 hours to San Diego and ended up liking him so much we offered our couch to him. I think he too was a little hesitant but went for it and we had a great time with him! it was a ton of fun and it was really cool to show someone the local side of San Diego. I can't wait to visit him when we go to England on our trip and get an insider view as well. Without us, he would never have known where to get a gin and tonic for 2 bucks!

That being said, i would probably never stay somewhere by myself. I just don't think i would really sleep, i think i would be to nervous.