At first I found the idea frightening. You’re telling me that you are willing to place your life in the hands of a stranger? Couchsurfing was a completely foreign concept to me until a few months ago. My boss at work (which is an avid backpacker and traveler) was talking about his upcoming trip to South East Asia. He was planning on going with some Couchsurfers he knows and mainly stay in a combination of hostels and Couchsurfing homes.
This peaked my interest and I found myself browsing the Couchsurfing site over the next few weeks – really trying to gauge my interest with getting involved. It is only when I read a blog post from my fellow travel blogger Traveling Savage that I decided that this community was for us. Not only would I be meeting like minded people while Shaun and I traversed the world, but I could meet new friends when they came to Austin.
So far the experience has been great. One of the things that was a big seller to me was – not only do you have your identity verified through a donation and address check, but you had people vouch for your character. The latter is what really meant alot for me. I started reading up on potential hosts’ profiles and found positive, enlightening feedback from the couchsurfers. I started to get a bit giggly about the potential of this site.
One of the hardest things to do is actually get reviews. How on earth are you supposed to have people vouch for your character when you haven’t been anywhere and no one will host you until someone vouches? This is where your local communities come in. I started researching the Austin Couchsurfing scene and have been pleasantly surprised. Not only is there a bajillion people on the Austin forums, but everyone is so awesome – and ACTIVE! My inbox gets flooded with invites to go kayaking, drinking, karaoke-ing and camping. If I didn’t have a job where I had to wake up every morning at 5am, I would be out more.
I did get to finally meet up with a few of the Austin Couchsurfers at Eeyore’s Birthday Party and had a blast just drinking beer and hangng out with the crew with our dogs on a blanket in the shade. Don John was dancing away to the music pumping and alot of us girls sat and chatted. It was a good afternoon and I can definitely see myself hanging out with alot of these people in the future. Not only am I gaining rapport on Couchsurfing.org, but I am making like-minded friends with similar interests.
A quick note: One of the girls, Rae, whom I had never met previously, had actually picked out my husband and I at a burlesque show in Austin. Apparently my description on the Eeyore’s thread saying, “hubby has pink mohawk, I’m a short Hispanic girl with lots of tattoos” was quite accurate and she came up to us and introduced herself.
Are you a Couchsurfer? What are your experiences? Are you involved in your local Couchsurfing community? Have you been thinking about joining the Couchsurfing scene?
I’m really happy to hear the couchsurfing community in your neck of the woods is so awesome. Can’t wait to hear more CS reports in the future!
Planning on keeping up with the adventures of the Austin Couchsurfing Crew! Thank you for stopping in. 😀
Nice post:) We love couchsurfing…mostly host but have surfed as well…it’s completely changed our lives. You’re lucky you live in a place with a large+active CS community – where we live it’s still picking up and the community is still quite small…
I’m so glad to continue to hear positive things about the couchsurfing experience. I do feel lucky living in Austin. We are such a unique community in that people here are so different than most and I’m glad to have the opportunity to participate. I’m sending you good thoughts! Hopefully the community will pick up!
How fun that you got to hang out with local Couchsurfers. I have never tried couchsurfing, but perhaps in the future. Seems like a great way to meet people.
One of the important things about traveling and the communities is that it has allowed my husband and I to step out of our comfort zones. We’re shy, nerdy gamers and this has allowed us to meet new people.
I went to a couple of meetups back home before heading on my RTW as well. Good way to get your feet wet and test the waters.
Having been traveling for months now, I’ve couchsurfed 6 times and attended countless meetups in other cities and places, I can say that couchsurfing rocks, and makes travel that much better. 🙂
I’m glad that the meetups exist! I am really wondering how many couches I can get away with crashing on…
Well if you’re ever in this part of the world, you have a couch:) — or rather an air mattress:)
An air mattress would be splendid!
Looks like you’ve got a great local cs community, unlucky for me I’ve had two requests to come and stay and both times I’ve been away. Not many active users around near me either but you’ve inspired me to log on and double check!
I’ve really been interested in Couchsurfing and have been actually thinking about trying it if I end up going to Austin in the fall (school has fall break and I’ve been wanting to visit Austin for a couple of months now…) before trying Couchsurfing in other places abroad. I’m wondering if I could host people in my college dorm? Hmmmm. Great post, i’ll be adding you to my google reader or twitter!
@Poi: I’m still working on my rapport so I’m yet to actually have someone contact me. I’ve tried contacting a few people who are in town but I think they are a bit concerned about my new-ness. Keep it up! You never know who may show up at your door. <3
@grace b: I’m not sure a college dorm will allow for hosting, but there is no harm in asking right? Looking forward to seeing you around in my comments. 🙂
@Poi I’d recommend logging in more frequently if you are looking to host more often. I know when I’m looking to surf, one of the things I put in the advanced search is when they last logged in. Better chance at a response with more active members I figure.
CS has changed my life in so many incredible ways! I promise you that you made the right decision to join. I have met hundreds of people from all over the world and have yet to have 1 problem. 🙂
@Dustin: Its one of the websites I make sure to ping every day…. just in case.
@Andi: Awesome! I’m actually heading to a CS potluck later this month to hang out with some more people. I really love my Austin CS peeps – not to mention they have awesome advice for Central/South America.
I’ve been active about couchsurfing for quite some years already, i mostly host, sometimes also surf when i travel. It is an amazing way to meet new really cool people and get contact from all over the world. And when you surf, it is a truly interesting experience to stay in somebody’s private home, get the feel of the way people live close-up. I haven’t personally experienced anything specially bad about couchsurfing, though i did have a shouting match over an e-mail with a Moroccan guy who misrepresented himself on the Couchsurfing site and actually wanted to charge me and my friend over 200 euros for few nights stay! He didn’t realize until the very end that it’s people like him who ruin this wonderful program, not cheap and stingy people like me who don’t want to pay :). If anybody’s interested, i’m writing longer about it in my blog http://sshiksa.blogspot.com/2009/06/couchsurfing-in-morocco.html. But all in all, couchsurfing is great, highly recommend!
Thank you for your awesome heads up! I have absolutely no clue what I would do if someone tried to charge me for their couch in this community. I’ll head over to your blog though. Thank you for dropping in. 😀
Couchsurfing is something I wish we did more of while we were traveling, especially through Europe. We had looked into it before we left but it was one of the things that just fell by the wayside. It looks like a great way not only to stay with people, but get in touch with things of the tourist trail.
For instance, we went to London and had a great time, saw the sites. But we met up with people in Asia who were from London and they started telling us about these cool little pubs, a club that’s under the London bridge and other urban art places that are up our alley. And that’s the thing that we missed in London was the alternative lifestyle information. It’s tough to find on the i-net where a cool art show is going on, local club night or that cozy pub to sit and have pints in.
We’ll def use it in our future travels, to not only stay in but just meet people who may want to have a coffee or beer and chat about the city.
While we did have friends when we went to London, their flat was a bit too small to host us in. At least we had the opportunity to see a few things off the beaten path due to their amazing suggestions, but man, it would have been awesome to get more than one opinion on the amazingness of London.
I’m really excited to try it out when we head down to South America at the end of the year. So many people to meet and adventures to be had!
Ive always wondered about the couchsurfing thing. I really want to try it someday. Good info you gave here.
Thanks! (and thanks for stopping by *wave*) You should do it – the community is fab.
Couchsurfing ROCKS! I couched surfed a couple times during my travels through Europe back in 2008. I had the time of my life. Each of my hosts had their own special charcteristics to them and each of the
were the most welcoming and generous people that I have met to date. Open your mind and don’t be afraid to sign up for CS! We’re hoping to CS as much as possible on our upcoming RTW trip.
Awesome! I’m hoping to be more involved when we go to South America. Good thing hubby is a mechanic so we have something to offer our hosts if need be. <3 We need more CS cheerleaders like you!
I’ve been couchsurfing for the last four years. I’ve done it alone, as a family. When I travel, I get to know local communities, and I’ve found the more I’m part of the community, the more I feel I can go anywhere on this planet and find a place to stay and a local person to show me around.
I’ve written quite a bit about it on my site as well, including advice for your profile and how to be a good guest. You can see those here:
http://thefutureisred.typepad.com/onedayatatime/couchsurfing/
Now that I’m not traveling full time anymore, we host people all the time. We have a real community of friends here and a constant stream of people visiting. It’s been amazing, particularly as an expat in Argentina.
I see quite a few people here are relatively new to the site. If you have any questions about Couchsurfing, feel free to ask. I’m happy to answer.
Thank you so much for offering your advice and awesome blog information. We’ll be in Argentine sometime next year so even if you end up not hosting us, I will definitely need you as a resource for what to check out. Thanks a million Leigh! <3
I’ve been travelling using couchsurfing for a long time. It worked wonders throughtout mexico and now that i’m making my way through Turkey, it’s been an excellent starting point. Never had a bad experience with it and I’ve done it maybe 20 times. Now I’m setting off on a year of profiling villages in Eurasia… take a look at my blog, any feedback is alway very appreciated. Thanks!
vladicravich.wordpress.com
I’m so glad that people have had such positive experiences with Couchsurfing. I know we’re going to use it when we make our way from Mexico to Argentina and getting some stories/feedback about it makes me feel more comfortable. Checking out your blog now. 🙂
My partner and I just returned from a RTW trip and in our 10 months of travel we met so many incredible CS hosts. It’s our favourite way to travel now. We found it the easiest to find hosts in Turkey and Switzerland 🙂
@corina: Hopefully I won’t have too much trouble finding hosts in South America! I’m really looking forward to meeting new people.
Couchsurfing ROCKS! I couched surfed a couple times during my travels through Europe back in 2008. I had the time of my life. Each of my hosts had their own special charcteristics to them and each of the
were the most welcoming and generous people that I have met to date. Open your mind and don’t be afraid to sign up for CS! We’re hoping to CS as much as possible on our upcoming RTW trip.
I’m still not sure if I’ll ever try this one out, but your post at least makes me consider the possibility of doing it. It sounds like a great way to make some good friends, and be part of a unique community. Thanks for opening my mind up for more options and possible experiences.
We’re going to try it out. I’m a little scared, but life is no fun unless you take chances right?
@JR Definitely consider it. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.
@Erica What are you nervous about exactly? I ask because after reading a lot of the responses here, I think I want to write a blog post addressing the reasons why people are reticent to try couchsurfing. For some, it’s just not for them. That’ I get. But I know so many travelers (many of them bloggers) who would love it.
Leigh, its more of addressing my introverted-ness. I’m extremely shy and its more like I don’t want to disappoint than anything. There are quite a few things that we are doing that are pushing our boundaries (for the better) and I’m sure that I will feel much better after we have our first experience. 🙂
@Leigh Thanks, I hadn’t realized how experienced you guys were at couchsurfing. I’ll def check out your link more.
@Erica We’re pretty much kindred as that’s the same reason why I’m so hesitant. Although I’ve been traveling on and off for years now, I’m still very introverted and shy by nature. It takes me a while to open up, but once I do you can’t shut me up. I’m pretty awkward when it comes to talking on the phone to people I haven’t met yet, and it kind of freaks me out to think I’ll just be staying in there house without even doing that. But I’ve checked out the info a little and it sounds like there is a period of in depth introduction and an interview process somewhat. And after years of pushing my boundaries as you say, I have learned that if I open myself to the people around me, than I’ll usually come away with great friendships, so despite our shyness, this couchsurfing scene may be a great experience.
@Leigh and @JR: I love finding kindred spirits!