Couchsurfing

25 November 2008 Aaron and I have decided to join the Global phenomenon Couchsurfing. When my sister Sarah joined it I have to admit I automatically thought “ooh dodgy”. An Internet site that puts you in touch with people who will provide you with free accommodation as you travel the world? Who on earth would do that? Why would they do that? This was surely as dodgy as Internet dating. I worried for my sister and the age difference between us seemed immense. At what point had backpacker lodges become passé and strangers couches become acceptable? Mum worried as well. So much so that eventually she joined Sarah on her travels. I think mum had this idea that they’d stay in motels. Sarah had other plans. They would both couch surf. I can only imagine how mum felt. In some ways mum’s more conservative that I am and I found the concept altogether too weird and just a little scary. Left with no choice mum found herself travelling around Europe meeting and staying with complete strangers. From what I understand mum found the first few days a little strange and not altogether comfortable. However, by the end of the 3 weeks mum was a convert and is now a keen couchsurfing member. I was both stunned and impressed. I accessed Sarah’s couchsurfing profile and started reading the references given by the people who’d hosted her. http://www.couchsurfing.com/mapsurf.html?SEARCH[skip]=0&view=detail&sid=d4c3c10eb27eade60a5b74504d623df3 Wow, not only did these people write the most fabulous things about Sarah but they also seemed to be genuinely nice people. Then I read my mum’s profile and her references and suddenly it clicked. There are actually thousands of genuinely nice people out there who want to share their home, their life and their slice of the world with others. What a fantastic way to meet people and share knowledge. I emailed Sarah and said I quite liked the idea of opening our own home to travelers but that I wasn’t sure how Aaron would feel. And of course it did cross my mind that it would mean more work for us in terms of housework, and obviously there’s money involved in providing meals. I thought maybe I’d wait for Sarah to return to NZ and tell us about her travels and then suggest it to Aaron in the New Year. Then one afternoon Aaron said he wanted to join Couchsurfing and there and then he opened the site and started creating a profile. Within 2 days we’d finished writing our profile and were set up ready to take in guests. http://www.couchsurfing.com/mapsurf.html?SEARCH[skip]=2&view=detail&sid=d4c3c10eb27eade60a5b74504d623df3 It turns out Aaron is even more keen than I am about the whole idea. I don’t expect we’ll be inundated with requests for free accommodation but I’d be quite happy to host people every couple of months. While we can’t offer to spend our days taking people on tours around the local area, I hope that we can offer people a unique view of kiwi life. Of course I’d love it if we could host people with knowledge of things that could help us with our goals on our block but that’s a big ask. In the end I’d just like to meet some nice people and learn more about the world. Just from the short surf I’ve had of the site it amazes me the range of people who use it; from young to old, singles and couples and numerous nationalities. Just from my own sister’s experience I think this concept could do amazing things for tourism. I’m not saying it won’t affect motels and backpack lodges in a negative way but it could encourage people to travel to places they may never have considered, either because they couldn’t afford it or because they just never knew about them until they met someone from the area. For me this is a great way of learning about other cultures, only not through history and architecture but through people. I hope by opening our home in this way it will also make me feel less selfish. I certainly don’t want my whole life to be about hard work and no pleasure.