July 29, 2010

published in Commentary >> Look What I Did!

Not your average one-night stand: Surfing safari

by: Heather Gott

 

I learned about couch surfing through my friend Sara.  She was attempting a trip around Spain, using the couch surfing Web site to find people to stay with.

I was skeptical. A site that lets people sleep on random couches while traveling. I’ve seen Hostel, I know how bad things can go. 

OK, that’s Hollywood fiction, but the idea still sounded scary. She tracked down people in a specific area, arranged to stay on their couch and made her travel plans.

I decided if she came back alive, I’d give it a shot.

Fortunately, Sara’s trip went well. There were a few hitches here or there, but her experience was enough to convince me to attempt my own expedition. I created an account, filled out my information and checked it out.  

I wasn’t sure of just staying on a couch, so instead of going solo I used Kent State University, where I go to school, as a sort of chaperone. Kent State sponsored a trip to Paris and London. 

While there, I took advantage of the “meet for coffee” option on the site. This is when you aren’t available to host, but you’re willing to meet up with travelers for a drink and show them around your area. 

I contacted about five people in England and two in Paris. The guy from England, James, was very friendly, and through the site had traveled around the world. We met up at a pub, and he showed myself and a few of the other girls on the trip amazing spots throughout London. It was nice to step out of the tourist loop and see how a Londoner (is this the correct terminology) sees things. 

Maud, the couch surf host from Paris, and I had difficulty getting together. A lack of Internet made things hard to keep in contact, and I didn’t get a chance to meet her. Luckily, my impressionable young mind had already set my heart on traveling more with the use of the site. 

In May, my friend Catalina and I planned another trip to Europe. We bought our tickets the week before the trip and left with nothing more than backpacks and contact information for our hosts. Once again, we stayed with James in England. Although he and his family worked and carried about their daily chores, they were more than welcoming. During the bank holiday weekend, they made plans with us to go to the Lincoln, a town three hours north of London.  

Spain was wonderful as well. Our host was a friend of Catalina’s, and she was very friendly. My Spanish was lacking, but despite the language gap, the trip was incredible. 

The culture shock was more prominent there. But after a few days we had made friends, memories and gotten considerably better at speaking Spanish.

These are experiences I would have never had without the site. Couch surfing is a wonderful networking system, without which I doubt I would have been able to afford traveling as much as I did. It was amazing to see things from a local perspective. 

The feedback people leave one another on the site create a trust-system. As you surf or host, you are expected to leave recommendations for that person. They are controlled by the site and cannot be changed or deleted by the person being rated. These become crucial when selecting a host. You learn to trust the opinions of people.

That’s what the site is all about: trust. It’s what sets it apart from other sites I’ve seen. People helping people to experience what the world has to offer. I hope in the future I can have a chance to return the favor to the site that has given me so much.

...and now for your two cents

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