I do like people, and I like meeting new people, and I can be very social… but I don’t think I fit the couchsurfer profile.
I haven’t traveled alone in many years, but Hell, even when I used to, I’ve never been comfortable spending the night in homes of people I know - relatives included. So staying at a total stanger’s house is right out for me. If I can’t afford a hotel room, I’m not going. Similarly, I’m weird about having overnight guests in my house.
But that’s just me. I can sort of see the appeal for a certain type of person.
When I was involved with Pasporta Servo (PS), I hosted a retired Japanese computer executive, stayed at the apartment of a Danish dancer/artist, and met several other interesting people. North America is a little off the beaten track as far as Esperanto-speakers go, so I never met a lot of people through PS; the service is much more heavily used in Europe.
This was around ten years ago, before the whole Couch Surfing idea became well-known here. The requirement to speak Esperanto served as something of a prescreening for PS users, so I don’t think there was quite as much of an intensity in the actual prescreening.
PS wasn’t the first such service either; I think such things were generally known as “hospitality exchanges” fifteen or twenty years ago.
I’ve stayed with hosts in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Finland and even 60 miles away from my own home in the UK. Had good experiences, weird experiences and OK experiences. Keep meaning to host- the job I had until last week involved overnight stays away, and my housemate was a bit unsure about hosting while I was away, but now that’s not happening any more, you’ve just reminded me to update my profile.
I think the oddest experience I had was with a guy who had overdosed on various things, to the point of ‘dying’ in hospital (3 times, on 3 seperate occasions!), who had ‘Found Couchsurfing’ in the way some ex-addicts find Religion. He was very nice, and wow did he take the whole thing seriously, but it was all a bit intense…
The other candidate for weirdness was the crazy party house where I wound sleeping on a matress in the space underneath the shed, shared with a bush turkey nest, because that was the only place that was halfway quiet.
Without knowing the number of couchsurfers, it’s hard to tell how relevant this case is, but the Wikipedia article does mention one woman who was raped.
I love to host people, although I can’t imagine there’s many people that want to come to my beat up town. How do they handle couples? Can you visit in pairs or is that just not done?
i have had a couple visit …they emailed me and within ten minutes i was showing them where to sleep …again it was their email that made them interesting …turns out they were a great couple …they went off during the day and went hiking and such …
Last time I checked, there were over 1.5 million members, so I’m sure that someone somewhere had something bad happen to them. But as far as I know, no one’s ever been killed.
In cases where the surfer doesn’t feel safe and just wants to get away, they can contact the city ambassadors, who are regular members that have volunteered to go the extra mile and help in these situations (among other duties). You have to apply to be made an ambassador, so they’re generally (always?) experienced surfers with lots of references and vouches. So I guess that’s another fall-back.
There are a ton of people like you. It’s not just a website to host or surf. It’s supposed to be a tool for getting out and doing things with people you don’t know. You could meet up with the other surfers in your area and do activities with them. You’ll get to know them over time and they can become like a second family. There’s a reason we call it “the community”. You’ve never heard of Facebook described as a community, have you?
Don’t let inability to host/surf stop you from participating. If you like strangers, you’re welcome in the group.
Actually, a lot of “permanent travelers” purposely seek out small towns. Not everyone wants the vanilla, big-box store experience of tourist cities like New York, DC, or Chicago. One of the regulars in our community actually walked from DC to Chicago and stayed with people just like you in “beat up towns”.
And yes, couples are common. I’ve hosted many couples.
So uh, how do couchsurfers pay for all of this stuff? Ostensibly there are travel and food expenses involved. And they aren’t working while they’re “surfing.”
These sound like basically homeless people. I imagine they’re hitchhiking and eating out of dumpsters (when they’re not eating food provided by a host).
They pay for it the same way anyone pays for their recreational travelling - by saving up wages, using student grants or loans, that sort of thing. They aren’t (as suggested above) homeless people using this as a substitute for an actual job and home.
I don’t host (no suitable accommodation) or surf (insufficient funds to go travelling at present) but my wife and I do occasionally participate in events organised by the local group here in Glasgow. As Chessic Sense says, this is perfectly normal and acceptable, and you meet a lot of interesting people.
The local group meets twice per month at a bar in the city. You meet a mixture of hosts and surfers there. A lot of the surfers are American students touring Europe, but I also recall meeting a cosmetic surgeon from Australia, an English woman who lives on a boat on the Thames, all sorts of people.
That Thames boat lady was really interesting. We did surf one night up at Loch Lomond, during a Kitchensurfing event where everyone brought the ingredients for a dish and we all cooked and then shared dinner. Our host that night does a LOT of hosting, he seems always to have a surfer or three on hand.
We should try to attend a meeting one of these months, now that weekends are free again. I think when we looked in a couple of weeks ago, they were off at a sub crawl.
I don’t, but my vacation is two weeks. If I were wandering from place to place for weeks or months, with no particular itinerary, money would quickly become an issue. (Not just the cost of travel itself or daily expenses, but managing to pay for my rent/mortgage while I was off traveling.)
It sounds exciting, no doubt, but untenable for most people— especially if it’s typical for hosts to be (as the OP said he/she is) prejudiced against those who actually try to plan in advance.
As to the first part, sure, of course. That’s why students and others with relatively few ties tend to be over-represented in the group. I think the point being made is that these are not people who are indigent and trying to scrounge their basic living needs from others. But it may well not suit professionals who are limited to a couple of weeks vacation a year.
The second part, well, I can’t speak for the OP. But in general, most folk wouldn’t go to Couchsurfers and say “Can anyone in London put me up a year from now?” After all, the answer is likely to be “I have no idea.” If someone did make such a request, hosts would tend to think that the prospective surfer had missed the point of the whole thing. The hosts are not running hotels.
it is hard for me to plan in advance as i might be traveling myself …and like i said …someone planning so far in advance is usually going on vacation …
i have a doctor from belgium who has surfed my place and now wants to come back in january …i can not be sure i will be here so …its a maybe …
i do not feed the surfers everyday …i cook one meal while they are here …the rest is up to them …
my profile also says i will not take them touring …they have to do that on their own …
i do not pick them up at the airport …the bus comes right by my house …
this is all worked out BEFORE they get here …
my couchsurfers, all but one, keep in touch with me …
I’ve done couch-surfing a bit in Japan. Saved me a bunch of money and had a great time. I’ve wanted to couchsurf but I don’t think the SO would be so thrilled. My best friend who lives upstairs hosts a lot of couchsurfers though. If anyone wants to come to Aomori, Japan, look him up (He’s the only one in this region IIRC).
We did surf one night up at Loch Lomond, during a Kitchensurfing event where everyone brought the ingredients for a dish and we all cooked and then shared dinner. Our host that night does a LOT of hosting, he seems always to have a surfer or three on hand.
(He’s the only one in this region IIRC).