Traditional travel no longer attracts tourists. Increasingly, they are traveling in atypical ways. They do not stay in hotels, but look for other places to spend the night. An alternative has become couchsurfing (from the English CouchSurfing - literally “travel on sofas”). This is an online guest network. On a special website, people post information about themselves - who they are, where they are from, where they travel. And they make requests to other users - whether they can stay with them during the trip. The couchsurfer community shares a place to stay for the night for free. In addition, people have the opportunity to communicate with local residents and exchange experiences. Currently, the couchsurfer community numbers over two million people and continues to grow.
Igor Rozdobudko is a couchsurfer from Kyiv. I started doing this recently, at the end of 2010. Then he needed to stay in Los Angeles for a few days, and did not want to stay in a hotel. True, then there was no luck. “This is a mistake all new couchsurfers make. At first they think the main idea is just to stay the night for free.” Igor believes that this is only a small part of what couchsurfing can offer. “The best thing is that you can exchange ideas and meet new people from different parts of the world.”
Before you go somewhere to couchsurf, you should first receive a few visitors yourself. Igor, for example, received several couples - from Russia, Germany, France. Most stayed for two or three days. He says that at first he was worried, paid a lot of attention to the guests, organized excursions around Kyiv. Having already gained some experience, I decided to travel on my own. “I went to Israel, where I stayed with different people. One sixty-year-old woman even left me the key to the apartment while she went somewhere. And I lived with her for a whole week.” The woman said that she hosted more than 60 couchsurfers.
After this, Igor stayed with a family who lived between Israel and Palestine. From them, Igor learned a lot about the local “pitfalls.” The owners told him where it was safe, about places worth visiting. Igor says that this way he was able to see the most interesting things. Otherwise, I would have simply stayed at a hotel and visited well-known places.
“It’s nice that people really appreciate what you do,” says Igor. - The people I received invited me to their place. I also invited my guests to Kyiv. This is how a community of friends is formed. When you go somewhere, even somewhere you’ve never been, you already have some acquaintances and know that you won’t be on your own.” This cultural exchange is precisely the main idea of couchsurfing.
Polish woman Irmina Jablonska agrees - this way you can see the country from the inside. She lived in Lviv for a month couchsurfing. The owner with whom she was staying invited her to stay with him for the entire time. Thus, Irmina did not have to move from place to place. “This is my best couchsurfing experience so far. The owner showed me the city and was very friendly. And also, it was like being at home, without exhausting moving and searching for new housing.” Irmina says: “It leaves a very good impression of the country, and there is a desire to return there again.”
Ukrainian Natalia Vorobyova perceives couchsurfing as a lifestyle. “CouchSurfers are a separate nation that perceives the world and people in a completely different way, simpler and more relaxed. I have found several good friends (not just acquaintances who left good reviews on my page) with whom I constantly communicate and even visit them.” Natalia says that new people with different worldviews and cultures energize her. “I myself began to think in a new way. Plus I constantly practice English with foreigners.”
However, Natalia warns about the risks of couchsurfing. “You need to very carefully study the profile of the person who wants to stay with you. Just like the reviews others have left about it.” Igor Rozdobudko agrees. He says that when they write about a person: a good guy, then this is just a courtesy. Just a formality. Because when you really like someone, you'll write a lot more."
In general, couchsurfing is a good opportunity to look at traditional travel in a new way, and not just save on a hotel. This especially attracts young people, who try to get as many emotions as possible from every trip. And the fact that hundreds of Kiev residents happily host tourists indicates that couchsurfing will take root in Ukraine.
The solvency of Ukrainian tourists this year, for obvious reasons, has decreased significantly - it’s time to look for cheaper travel and accommodation options. One answer to this question is Couchsurfing. It is interesting and cheap to travel around Europe and Ukraine with it.
What is couchsurfing?
From English couch surfing
translates as “couch travel.”
Abbreviated as CS.
Initially, it was about one online service, and now it is the general name of the very principle of organizing travel, when people in different cities and countries, having previously agreed via the Internet, share a place to stay with each other for free, organize joint trips and develop cultural exchange.
The core network at www.couchsurfing.org, launched in 2003, already had more than 5.5 million members from 250 countries and territories at the beginning of last year. Thanks to couchsurfing, you can spend the night for free in almost 100 thousand settlements.
Couchsurfer slang
entry– free overnight stay by agreement
Host- one who receives a traveler without paying for an overnight stay
Surfer- someone who is looking for a “fit”
The history of couchsurfing has begun in 2000. Then the founder of the site, a young American Casey Fenton I bought a cheap air ticket to Iceland. But the young man did not have enough money for a hotel, and he also wanted a more fun trip. Casey sent approximately 1,500 letters to Icelandic students asking for shelter and company.
This is how Fenton found his first “hosts”, who agreed not only to provide accommodation for the night, but also to show the real youth Reykjavik. After an unforgettable trip, Casey realized that he couldn’t stop - he should involve as many people as possible in such a travel scheme, and began work on an online service. Couchsurfing.org opened for everyone in January 2004.
The largest number of couchsurfers are registered in the USA - about 20%. Moreover, the largest couchsurfer city is Paris.
"Shuffle" should help destroy the mythical barrier between the East and West of Ukraine"
In addition to the basic international project, there are also separate national couchsurfer initiatives. Thus, Shuffle.in.ua, “The First Ukrainian Hospitality Network,” is developing in Ukraine.
Couchsurfing in Ukrainian has its own characteristics: it is focused exclusively on domestic Ukrainian tourism and is simpler and more accessible compared to its international counterpart.
“Don’t know where to spend the night on a trip to Ukraine?Create an application and you will definitely be invited"- this is the slogan of the “shuffle”. Its initiator and developer is Andrey Yaremich is an ecologist by profession who, in parallel with his master’s studies at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, works as a geoinformatician.
“Couchsurfing.org also provides an opportunity to travel around Ukraine, but it should be noted that this site specializes mainly in traveling between different countries. There is no convenient opportunity to find an overnight stay or create an invitation for an overnight stay within one country without introducing a bunch of separate settings on Couchsurfing.org, says Andrei Yaremich in an interview with Taste of Plantain. — “Shuffle,” in turn, we are targeting as a network for traveling and finding friends between different cities of Ukraine. “The Shuffle should help break down that mythical barrier between East and West that is still sometimes present in our country.”
“The prospects for internal couchsurfing are very great,” the initiator of “Shuffle” is convinced. “After the recent turbulent events, our fellow citizens began to have a different attitude towards their country, and I am sure that over time the number of invitations will only increase.”
In general, on various tourism forums on the Ukrainian Internet you can find many messages on the topic “stay overnight”, and many specialized communities for searching for “lists” on VKontakte. Therefore, it is logical that there was a desire to combine these requests and offers in one service.
Yaremich says that the activity of Ukrainians on Couchsurfing.org is not as high as it could be, because you can use CS for free only in guest mode - when you ask someone to stay for the night. But the ability to create a request, they say, is paid - you must confirm your identity by paying 12.33 US dollars. On Shuffle, you don’t have to pay anything either for creating an invitation or for choosing an entry.
However, in fact, paid identity verification on Couchsurfing.org is an additional option. It is possible to register completely free of charge - for example, using Facebook.
So far, domestic tourism in Ukraine is quite localized - the Black Sea coast, Lviv, the Carpathians, Kyiv. However, this year, due to changes in the geopolitical situation, many vacationers began to look for new vacation spots.
Now in first place in terms of the number of requests and offers on Shuffle is Lviv. “This is due to the city's reputation as a 'tourist mecca' and the music festivals scheduled for August,” says Yaremic. “But I am convinced that after the situation in Ukraine calms down, a reverse trend will be observed - many applications will appear in eastern cities.”
“I believe that thanks to Shuffle, Ukrainians will discover a new dimension of tourism,” says Andrey. “Couchsurfing will help get rid of the stereotypical image of many cities in Ukraine, and on a level with Lviv and Odessa, young people will begin to go on vacation to Cherkassy, Donetsk, Gulyaypole or Grebenka.”
“Not a ball”, but a lifestyle
It is worth noting here that the mission of couchsurfing, according to the original plan, is much broader than the opportunity to simply spend the night for free. Couchsurfing is a lifestyle. Members of this community are trying “create experiences that inspire.”
It is believed that free travel without paying for an overnight stay awakens a natural interest in a person to learn something new, expands the scope of perception of the world, and ensures continuous cultural exchange.
By traveling freely and communicating with local residents, you can better understand the internal life of the country, learn interethnic tolerance and, of course, find true friends.
Are our compatriots open to “travelling on other people’s couches”?
“I wouldn’t say that Ukrainians are afraid to host strangers at home or stay overnight with them,” says Andrey Yaremich. “In confirmation of this, there are many thematic groups on social networks where people invite you to visit them or ask for an overnight stay. If there are any concerns about security, they are dissipated by communicating with a person on the same social network. Usually, from communication about a person you can get much more information than from dozens of questionnaires... In the end, human nature is such that we always approach something new with caution, and having tried it, we understand that our fear was in vain and hindered us receive bright new impressions and emotions. I myself have repeatedly used the shelter of complete strangers, so my faith in the hospitality of Ukrainians is also confirmed by practical experience. There were some pleasant stories, some not so good ones, but overall the memories warm the soul.”
Over ten years of existence, Couchsurfing.org is known only one very unpleasant case: in 2009, the owner of an apartment in the city of Leeds in the UK raped a female guest from Hong Kong. The man was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Tips for potential couchsurfers
If you want to use couchsurfing when traveling outside of Ukraine, Please be aware of the following rules, customs and requirements.
First follows register visit couchsurfing.org. You need to indicate your first and last name, email, username (this name is needed for login), password, indicate your city of residence, gender and date of birth.
You must agree to the rules couchsurfing: respect other community members, do not spam, do not look for dates, do not ask for money for housing, do not allow persons under 18 years of age to use the site, do not create more than one profile on the site.
To use all the features of the service,verification required
your account (confirmation that you are a real person and agree to contribute to the development of the project).
However, if you registervia Facebook, the service will verify your identity andwithout having to pay $12.
After registration, please follow the details fill out your form- this is really important, because potential owners of “lists” and your guests will judge you by it.
Later they will become no less important
There are a lot of laudatory reviews about couchsurfing on the Internet, but at the same time, people are somehow embarrassed to write about its negative aspects or tell about unpleasant stories associated with it. Therefore, beginners may have high expectations, or they may not be ready for some moments that are customary to remain silent. We need to tell the truth to someone, and let it be us :)
I want to write about our guest experience while traveling in South East Asia and Latin America.
We warn you in advance that this article is not written with the idea that couchsurfing is bad or that there are good hosts and bad ones. The main idea is how to prepare mentally and what to take with you to make travel and cultural exchange as enjoyable as possible for you and your hosts.
Likbez: what is couchsurfing, couch, couchsurfer, host and other scary words
For those who don't know what it is couchsurfing(couchsurfing) is an international hospitality system. You register on the site, and then you can host guests or visit other participants yourself, and it's all free. It's a very positive thing and we've met a lot of great people through couchsurfing, but don't idealize it. Other countries have their own ideas about comfort and how to receive guests.
The one who invites is called host(host). Who comes - guest(guest) or couchsurfer (couchsurfer).
couch(couch) is the short name for couchsurfing.
Request(request) is a request from a couchsurfer to a host with a request to accept a stay on such and such dates.
As soon as they do not distort the word couchsurfing:D This is cousurfing, couchsurfing, couchsurfing, couchserving, coutsurfing, crouchsurfing and even couchsurfing :) :) :)
Couchsurfing website and app
There is only one official site for couch surfing - this is couchsurfing.com. It is the same for the whole world, be it Ukraine, Russia, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc.
There are also Couchsurfing apps for Android and iPhone. It is difficult to send requests through them, simply because of the small screen, but it is just convenient to correspond with hosts or surfers there.
Finding a Couchsurfing Host
Do not think that if you sent a couple of requests (requests), everyone will immediately want to accept you. Requests should be sent as many as possible, and it takes a long time, and it's a boring stupid copy-paste. In large tourist cities, this can be 50 requests. There are few hosts in small towns, but the chances are also small.
We usually send to those who are more or less active (that is, visited the site during the last week or month).
In addition to activity, it would be nice to watch reviews: usually in negative and neutral reviews about hosts important information is written, and in response to these negative and neutral reviews, too. For example, if a person has a hundred positive reviews, and one negative one about the fact that the person promised to accept someone and disappeared, and he replies that he did not have electricity and the Internet for three days, then this is ok. And if out of four reviews two are negative about the fact that a person promised to shelter and disappeared, and there are either no answers to these reviews or some kind of inadequate response, then of course there is no point in writing like that.
Another category that you should not waste your time on is tour guides, who expect that if they shelter you, then you are obliged to buy a tour or a hike from them for big money. Some do not hesitate to write directly in their profile that please do not disturb, they only want guests who are interested in their business! I knocked on couchsurfing on such ones (Report a profile), because this site is not for such people, let them not clog it with their advertising profiles.
Also from reviews and host profile you can get information about security: with whom the host lives and in what area. More often than not, couchsurfing is safe if you are well prepared.
Everywhere it is recommended to write personal requests adapted to each person. But let's be realistic: you just don't have enough time to carefully study all the profiles and write a separate request for each, especially if it's not a three-day trip to one city every two months, but a big trip. A lot of work, but little output.
If someone is ready to accept you, it’s good, but often either no one answers, or there are refusals. You should have a fallback anyway if no one responded or suddenly changed their mind, and this often happens. By a fallback, I mean looking for a hostel for a hotel on booking or on, or at least look at the map where the hotels are located on your budget.
If no one wants to accept you forever, think about whether it’s worth filling out a better profile, or writing requests more attractively, and sending them at a good time (3-7 days in advance), and not too early or too late.
An example of a bad request: "Hello, we are three tourists from Ukraine. Can I stay with you for a couple of weeks? We will be glad to see your city."
Such requests go to the trash!
In the search for hosts there are also positive side A: A lot of people really try to complete their profile well. Some profiles look like artwork. They are interesting and useful to read. Some hosts, when they send a refusal, write useful information / life hacks about their city in parallel.
Couchsurfing Host House - What to Expect
The host will most often offer you a sofa in the living room. Quite rarely, this will be a separate room, and it can be in a house where every sneeze is heard. A couple of times we slept on cots in sleeping bags on the dirty floor in the living room.
About a third of our hosts had a real pigsty at home. Half were normal, and only some had complete order and cleanliness. So if you are pathologically clean, then consider whether it is worth using couchsurfing, or is it better to go to or a hotel.
Remember that the host does not owe you anything, he spends his personal time to receive you.
You owe it to him, so if you are not satisfied with the cleanliness, and it is a pity to pay for a hostel, then take it and clean it. I'm not calling for a general cleaning and throwing out the old dresses of his long-deceased great-grandmother, but washing the dishes or sweeping the floor is ok.
In Southeast Asia and South America, a bed with linens is generally from the realm of fantasy. In the best case, you will be offered a sheet, a pillow without a pillowcase and a blanket without anything. Or no blanket, but only a mattress and a pillow, on which dozens of people have already slept before you. Some of them just sleep like that. Therefore, it is better to have with you (if there is a blanket), the sleeping bags themselves (if there are no blankets, and you are not in hot countries) and (if there is no bed, or if it is some kind of non-folding micro sofa a meter long).
This simple equipment can be bought inexpensively on the Chinese website Aliexpress, just order in advance - delivery takes from 2 weeks to 2 months.
One of our hosts once came home very drunk and did not think at all. Luckily, he wasn't violent and went to bed. Another came home at six in the morning and then loudly cursed with someone. In South America, especially in , many hosts smoked joint after joint, but at the same time they were completely harmless and very friendly.
On the Internet, they write about cases of harassment of girls, theft, etc., but we did not have any dangerous or conflict situations. As for harassment, there are many profiles on couchsurfing in which men directly write that they have a “shared bed” settlement and their preferred gender is “women”. Profiles need to be read so that there are no surprises. Especially if you are a girl who travels alone.
Most hosts are happy to leave the keys to their apartment or house for guests.
Traveling to another city or country does not necessarily mean hotels and a rented car. Sometimes there is no money, sometimes there is no opportunity. Unforeseen circumstances may arise. But sooner or later, probably, any tourist faces a problem when there is nowhere to stay. In this case, you need to look for a way out. I've had to spend the night on trains and train stations in various situations, in airports and with people I don't know. Today I will talk about the last of the methods - couchsurfing.
You will be able not only to spend the night in another city, but also to communicate with interesting people, improve your foreign language skills, and even, perhaps, you will be given a tour of the city and its surroundings, if the owners have free time for this.
What is couchsurfing?
Couchsurfing is a very cool movement. There are sites on the Internet where, after registering, you can ask strangers to stay in the desired city. That is, you planned to visit a city, for example, Warsaw. But there’s not much money. You go to the site and look for a person who is ready to host you on a specified date. It's free for both of you. It is probably difficult to get used to this phenomenon in a world where the majority does everything for their own benefit, but nevertheless the phenomenon has become very widespread, including in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. However, it is no more difficult to find overnight accommodation in other countries: throughout Europe, the USA and Asia, the Middle and Far East.
Couchsurfing: instructions
For those who decided to try to use this service by looking for a “sofa” somewhere in another city or country (couch means sofa in English), I have prepared this article. This part is devoted entirely to how to register on the official couchsurfing website, how to find a place to stay overnight and use it. And below, I will talk about the rules and customs of this movement and answer the most frequently asked questions.
Couchsurfing: registration
It all starts with choosing a couchsurfing site and registering on it. The most common can rightfully be considered two of them - this and HospitalityClub. They cover probably 95% of all travelers who want to host them. Personally, I like the first option better, and that’s what I use. However, I don’t discount the second one either, sometimes you need to find an overnight stay in a rare city, you have to “knock on all doors.”
Register on Couchsurfing
Registering is very simple and takes less than a minute. just go in and press the button sign up and then select Get started with your email address. It is possible to log in through your Facebook account, but in my opinion it is not so convenient. This will only import your photo and first name with last name, that is, it will not bring tangible help.
Fill out the registration form. You need to specify:
- Surname
- Your email
- Password
- Date of Birth
After filling it out correctly, we proceed to further steps, including filling out the profile by clicking Sign Up.
Registration on HospitalityClub
Registration at HospitalityClub is a little more complicated. Here it is built on the principle of a step-by-step wizard. However. already at this stage you will fill out part of your profile (country, city address, etc.). To start registering, follow the link.
Step 1: Please select your country!- Step one - select your country. You must indicate your country of residence. that is, one where you can host other travelers. If there is no such place, simply indicate your or your parents’ home address.
Step 2: Please select your region or state!— indicate the region or region in which you live.
Step 3: Please select your city!— you need to select a city. If this is not on the list, the item will help you not yet in the list — enter manually in order to enter it manually.
Step 4: Full name, address, email, user name and password.— a step where you enter your address, email and password. Be careful as always, you need to enter real data.
Registration ends with the click of a button Submit at the bottom of the form.
Filling out your profile
One of the most important steps that you must take when you first get into the couchsurfing movement is to completely fill out as many fields as possible in your profile, upload a photo, link your page to social networks, and so on.
The fact is that “fitting in” (staying with another coach-surfer for a while is called “Fitting in”), as some have already guessed, everything is built on mutual trust. One person sacrifices his life and personal space, takes risks by letting strangers into his apartment. Another also prepares for difficulties by coming to a family with a different mentality and settling with them. In addition, people are concerned about the safety of themselves and their property. The only thing that serves as an indicator of trust is reviews from other users and a profile.
A very important nuance is to fill out your couchsurfer profile in detail.
That is why the profile is filled out very carefully. Understand that no one is obliged to accommodate you, and therefore, when you first come to the site, without reviews, the only thing that will testify for you is your personal data. Therefore, fill them out in as much detail as possible. Please indicate your first and last name, place of work and place of residence. Take the time to indicate your interests (very often you will also be invited to chat with a person who has the same interests).
Enter your contact details - E-mail, postal address, landline and mobile phone, ICQ, AIM. Upload photos, not just one, but at least 10. Other users should see that you are a real person and not a fake. An excellent solution would be to provide a link to your personal website or blog and profiles on social networks (Facebook, VK, Twitter, etc.).
When they ask me “What should I write in my profile?”, I answer - the maximum from your biography!
Finding a place to stay overnight
Finding a place to stay overnight begins with choosing the country and city you want to visit. I will explain using my favorite CouchSerfing as an example, but the procedure at HospitalityClub is not much different.
I go to menu item Surf. There's a step-by-step, fancy search here that I don't understand and don't like. I always press skip to search and use a convenient filter. Everything else is nonsense; it’s not convenient for me personally.
I always skip the "search wizard" and go to the standard one
You should be redirected to the standard search form. At the top you need to enter the name of the city where you want to stay, then click the button Search!. You will see a complete list of all project participants who are in this city.
On the search page, brief information about the person, his photo and a link to his profile are available. The left side of the screen contains a filter to more accurately search for a suitable location.
Search example - CouchSerfing in Poland (Warsaw)
These filters will be very useful. After all, you must find a participant who will not only agree to accept you, but will also be free at this moment, will not seem suspicious to you, and your interests should coincide at least a little. I will analyze each of them in detail.
The topmost item is not even a filter, but a “ search by map". It allows you to display participants on the map and select the most convenient location (for example, close to attractions or a few minutes from the station).
Age, Gender or Keyword— group filter for work by age, gender and keywords.
Age: ** to **- filter by age. You can set the age of the apartment owners from 18 to 100 years. This is done because young people are much more interested in being with their peers (they can chat or even go out for a drink or a walk together). while older people will prefer peace and quiet.
Gender selection - Male(man), Female(woman) or Several people(several people), which will allow girls, for example, to sleep more peacefully. It's up to everyone to their own discretion.
Keywords in profile— you can enter a keyword, and only people who have it mentioned in their profile will be sorted. Let's say, if you are an avid numismatist, why not try to spend the night with people who are also interested in collecting coins? Many topics for communication are provided.
Your Network— groups of filters that allow you to limit the search to only friends.
My Friends— checking this box will search only among your friends on the site (if you have them).
Friends of my Friends— slightly expands the search area. Friends of your friends will also be counted.
Safety Features— a set of filters whose main purpose is to protect you and help you find the most verified profiles.
Has Photo- Shows only those who have uploaded at least one photo.
verified— shows those who have passed the paid verification procedure and confirmed their physical address.
Vouched- another security scheme. I haven’t fully understood its essence, but, as far as I understand, it is based on a system of 3 handshakes. Additional security. After all, not everyone will pay money to verify their account.
Advanced Options- the rest of the filters are collected here.
language— you can select only those users who speak the same language as you.
Last login— you can remove from the search those who visited the site more than a day ago, more than a week or a month... This will increase the likelihood of a quick response, because you will only contact active users who check the project for new applications.
Smoking allowed- choice of apartments where you will be allowed to smoke
Host is non smoker— for non-smokers like me, it is very important that the host does not smoke, and the apartment is not saturated with the aromas of cigarette smoke.
Pets allowed- for those who travel with their pets.
Host has no pets— if you don’t like pets or are allergic to their fur, be sure to use this checkbox.
Suitable for kids- Is the room suitable for children? And are people even ready to host guests with minor children?
Wheelchair Accessible— Is the apartment suitable for people in wheelchairs?
Ambassador— “ambassador” of the project. This is probably the highest level of trust, but getting to such people, especially without a high rating, is difficult.
Each profile in the results will have brief statistics. Based on this, you can roughly imagine whether the hoster is suitable for you, and whether you are ready to live with him.
Here you will see the name or nickname where he lives. In addition, information is available on the number of friends and reviews, photos, the percentage of applications to which he responds (no matter whether positively or negatively) and how much time passes on average before responding.
Below is a brief description, age, gender and occupation of the hoster. His goals and the language he can speak.
At the very top are labels. Here the green circle indicates a verified account, 4 hands connected - vouched, flag - ambassador's label. And pay attention to the sofa icon. If there is a question mark on it, then the person is not sure whether he can accept you. If the sofa is without badges, then it can. The absence of a sofa means that the hoster is not currently hosting surfers.
Open several profiles and study them in detail. Choose those people who are interesting to you. And write to them. The letter must be unique and personalized. Remember the name of the host and address him by name. If in his profile there is a request to write some information in the request, do it. Your letter should contain brief information about you and your trip and its purpose. A request to be allowed to spend the night for a certain number of days.
Be sure to note the nuances that the user identified. Some may give you a separate room with a bed, while others may only give you a place on the floor for a sleeping bag. Keep this in mind so that there are no surprises later.
Submitted requests will be reviewed by users. If they agree to accept you, they will contact you through the system. Discuss the time you will arrive (so that neither you nor the hosts have to wait), exchange contact information and find out the address, and also ask how best to get to your accommodation.
Nuances of couchsurfing
I’m just starting to use couchsurfing, but now, based on my experience, the experience of friends and careful questioning of those who have been doing this for several years, I decided to highlight several nuances, or even rules, of couchsurfing.
1. When I first used the official couchsurfing website to find a host in Brest during my first trip to Belarus, upon arriving at the place, I constantly felt awkward. It seemed to me that I was somehow infringing on, interfering with, or embarrassing the housewives. Two female students actively treated me to tea and zucchini pancakes, and I only informed them that I did not want to cause them any inconvenience. This is a fundamentally wrong model.
Of course, you shouldn't get in people's eyes. But when a person agrees to host surfers, he takes responsibility in advance and realizes that he will have to give up a little personal space and freedom. He consciously goes for it and is clearly ready for some of the inconveniences that you will cause him. And if you are called to eat, go and eat. If you are offered tea, drink it, unless, of course, you want it and it does not contradict your traditions and religion. Otherwise, explain everything to the owner so that he doesn’t get offended.
You shouldn't be complex. The owners do not want their apartment or house to be used as a free hotel. They also want communication. Just like in hitchhiking, where you often take a travel companion so that you don’t get bored and fall asleep while driving, you were invited, perhaps to chat in the evening over a cup of coffee or learn something interesting about you or your country. It is clear that this is not an interrogation and it is not necessary to lay everything out as it is, but also to sit gloomily in the corner. It's not a good idea to stare at your laptop. Talk to the owners if they want to and it doesn't take up your very important time.
2. You were sheltered for free. That is, just like that, someone allowed you to go into his apartment, sleep on his couch. Your laundry has been done. most likely bed linen. You will be treated to tea, coffee or even a hearty meal. All this is free. And of course, although this is not mandatory, you need to thank the owners.
As I said, which I realized when I found myself in a difficult situation in Cyprus, we must motivate and encourage others to do good so as not to stop this process. Good needs to be encouraged and multiplied. And in order not to forever discourage a person from hosting travelers, you should not only carefully take care of his things and the rules of his home, but also thank him!
There are many ways to give back! You can bring some small souvenir - a trinket from your homeland, or help around the house (clean up, wash the dishes). If you are a good cook, you can ask the hosts for permission to cook your own signature or national dish and feed it to your family. Believe me, they will be very grateful to you if you don’t just spend the night and “sneak away.”
3. A rule that you probably already guessed. I mentioned it briefly in the previous paragraph. Of course, “they don’t go to someone else’s monastery with their own rules,” and this is an important rule.
Keep in mind that not everyone in this world shares your views, and no one is obligated to do so. If you don’t like children and are convinced of “childfree”, and your owners indicate. that they live with a child - it’s better not to go to them than to complain later. Try to find another hoster.
You may like to walk around the apartment in your underwear, which will completely confuse the owners of the apartment if this is not customary for them. You may hate cats, but if you agreed to live with people with cats, please be patient.
It is for this that profiles are filled in, there are filters in the system. So that you can find a host whose views on life will not differ greatly from yours.
4. Three taboo topics. Yes, they operate everywhere. You know them, right? If not, I'll remind you. According to the rules of etiquette and negotiations, there are three topics that should never be discussed with strangers unless you know 100% that their views coincide with yours. Such topics can provoke disputes and even fights. Do you need such trouble?
So. Never talk about: religion, sports and politics. Never. Remember and try to apply this rule not only within couchsurfing. Firstly, you don’t want to spoil the mood for yourself and your owners, do you? Don't want a "holivar"? No desire to be kicked out into the street in the middle of the night?
Politics is generally the main topic that should not be discussed. If you are asked a question, answer very carefully, cutting corners. Remember, you do not know all the rules and laws of this state. And you don’t know 100% who is sitting in front of you. Be careful.
5. If a surfer has asked to come to you, and you are not ready to accept him this time, think, maybe you can take the time to just meet and show the person the city? This does not apply to those cases when the person does not inspire confidence in you, but if there is simply no way to hook up a person, but you have the time and desire... why not? After all, travelers usually know well not only other cities and countries, but also carefully study their small homeland!
6. Be sure to leave reviews if you stayed with someone or someone came to you. The review system is the foundation of reputation in couchsurfing. And the more reviews about a person, the easier it is for him to find a place to stay.
FAQ
Couchsurfing is very dangerous. I read a lot of negative reviews!
Naturally. you must understand that by letting a stranger into your apartment, or staying overnight with him, you are taking a risk. However, the rating system makes itself felt. You study a potential hoster or surfer, look at photos and reviews. This reduces the risk. It drops even more if you travel on your own.
Couchsurfing, despite the reviews, is a fairly safe phenomenon. It's worth being careful though. If you are a lonely girl, let’s say, you shouldn’t let Turks, etc., come to you. Elementary caution never hurt anyone. And when you go to someone, be sure to leave the address and contact information to your family and friends, so that if you suddenly don’t get in touch, they can contact the police.
I have problems with the encoding on couchserfing.org, what should I do?
The site does sometimes have problems with encoding, which is why Russian text turns into “kryakozyabra”. The only way to deal with this is to switch to the English interface language. This is very easy to do - just go to settings, open the fourth tab on the left and change the language at the very bottom of the page.
Is it true that I won't be able to stay with a zero rating?
With a zero rating, your chances are really smaller, but if you filled out your profile in detail and made a good request, then I’m sure you’ll find a place to stay the night. In my experience, out of 5 applications without feedback, two agreed to accept, one girl agreed to accept, but ended up in the hospital (I wish her to recover quickly after the operation!), and two did not respond. That is a very good statistic.
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In the last article, we discussed in detail , where any traveler, if desired, can find accommodation for the night, even for several days, and good company in almost any, even the most expensive city in the world, and absolutely free. But as we know theory without practice is dead, especially if it concerns traveling to unfamiliar cities to visit unfamiliar people, there must be at least some experience and confidence before daring to hit the road
Therefore, today we will deviate a little from the usual format of my monologue, since I do not have much experience in couchsurfing, but especially for you I found a person who has it. Therefore, along with my comments, let’s listen to reviews of couchsurfing from my good friend, traveler Svetlana, who, by the way, is also a part-time professional photographer and simply a wonderful, bright person.Couchsurfing experience
Svetlana already has sufficient experience, since during her short acquaintance with couchsurfing, she has sheltered in her apartment, absolutely free of charge, more than a dozen travelers unknown to her, from more than 10 countries of the world. And during this time she managed to live for her own pleasure in more than one exotic country.
Therefore, I will try to interfere as little as possible with her presentation, especially since I know that Svetlana is a very creative person and is able to motivate by example no worse, and sometimes much better, than me. I simply asked Svetlana to leave her impressions about the couchsurfing website and reviews about those people who have already experienced her hospitality.
Couchsurfing reviews
“I learned about couchsurfing from my Odessa friends, and my very first experience with this phenomenon was at their home. That same month I registered myself and less than a month later my first guests arrived: two friends from Denmark. I still remember these guys, what they said and their unusual life experiences, after that I had many more couchsurfers (more than 20), but the life of one of these guys is still the most unusual and interesting for me, but this It's a completely different story.
After that, for a long time I only received guests; like most ordinary people, it seemed to me that traveling was something very far from me. Traveling takes a lot of time, courage and money, I thought.And since I couldn’t learn about the world by traveling, I had to satisfy my curiosity and learn about the world only by receiving guests, besides, this was an excellent reason to learn English, and even help good people. Armed with the motto: “ If you can’t travel around the world, invite him home.”— I became a frequent guest at couchsurfing.
Couchsurfing in Ukraine
At first, I prepared very carefully for the arrival of guests from another city, felt responsible for them, provided them with the most comfortable living conditions, and spent all my free time with them. I did excursions and was such a mother hen, but then I began to take it a little easier, and there were people who simply left things with me and made the excursion themselves.
Usually I like to discuss all this in advance so that the person understands where and under what conditions he is going. But in any case, I try to spend some time with couchsurfers, show them how I live, answer all their questions, and make their stay here as comfortable as possible.
I always try to find out whether a person likes company, if he does, then I invite friends of whom I have a huge number. And if a couchsurfer wants to relax, on the contrary, then naturally I choose those days when I am alone at home, processing photos, and the person can sleep off in silence.
Of course, if in correspondence I promise to show the city and life of Odessa, then I definitely do a walking tour of old Odessa, to my favorite places, invite you either to a club for salsa, which I have been dancing for a long time and even sometimes teach, or to my favorite cafes for a get-together or a game of mafia.I also always wonder about the usual sleep schedule of visitors, and I warn guests in advance about early rises or late going to bed when due to work I cannot return earlier.
Of course, I try to receive guests on free days, but there were a couple of times when guests stayed on weekdays. And I still don’t trust people enough to leave them the keys on the very first day, so we usually come and leave together, but twice there were exceptions when I left the keys with people whom I had already begun to trust in the short time we had known each other.
But mostly I like it when couchsurfers follow certain rules accepted in the couchsurfing community, then my reviews and impressions about them remain the best. For example, I can note the following rules from memory:
couchsurfing rules
The first rule of couchsurfing is not to stay longer than the agreed date, and not to ask for an extension, since it would be awkward to refuse such a person, if he asks for another day, even if he really wants to. It’s a completely different matter if the owners themselves offered you to stay. Because such a moment can create some discomfort for the owner if you were definitely not soul mates or he simply had personal plans for that day.
It is natural to bring someone else with you who was not agreed upon in advance incorrectly. Don't over-host someone else's house, unless the green light was given. Every house has its own rules. But everyone I met were polite people and always asked what was possible and what was not. Half of them even offered to help me around the house if they stayed at my house for more than 1-2 days.
I, in turn, always first offer a shower, a clean towel and tea, these are the most long-awaited things after the road, and it’s more pleasant for me if a person sits with me in the kitchen clean, relaxed and happy.
When I decided to travel myself, I began to follow the same rules that I want them to follow at home. For example, I have a rule: if I didn’t bring at least some gift with me, then I need to help around the house ( wash the dishes, cook something, clean the house, of course, if the owner doesn’t mind).
In general, to at least somehow thank for the hospitality, many couchsurfers do this, although this is not the rule; of course, not all, but most travelers do this.
Couchsurfing gratitude
At the same time, there is no point in counting on any kind of gratitude, because couchsurfing is not for profit, but for your own interest, no one forces you - you accept the person whether you want it or not, no one owes anyone anything. It’s difficult to talk about any other code, mainly ordinary human norms of behavior and politeness.
Plus, it also matters how far you are traveling, if I’m traveling nearby - to Lviv, of course, I’d rather buy something for dinner or help a person clean up, how can I surprise him? But when I went to Indonesia, I brought buckwheat, pearl barley, halva, and all sorts of local Ukrainian products, which are really difficult to get there. And when I was in Singapore, I even brought real Balinese tea with me.
That is, it all depends on how many days you are traveling for and from which country to which, I think so. But often, in my experience, it is enough to buy food for dinner at the nearest supermarket. My gratitude is always individual, I don’t have a single rule. Sometimes you get away with a small keychain, sometimes you carry a bag of gifts. And I don’t even know what it depends on.
It also matters to me what country you are traveling in, somewhere a hotel costs 10 dollars a day, somewhere, for example in Singapore, the cheapest option is 35-40 dollars, and then you need to look for it, then I try and thank you more.
And in general, a lot of things, do you have a habit of bringing gifts and buying food to the couchsurfer’s house in order to get better reviews, or do you just get off with an irreplaceable “thank you” and they will also feed you for free there. All cases are individual, anything can happen, but in any case this is a decent saving compared to any rental housing, the question is the degree of its significance.I haven’t had any cases where they promised to accept, but have not yet accepted, but I heard that this is quite likely, so just in case it is better to prepare some kind of backup option, anything can happen in life. And even more than everything :))) - that’s why it’s beautiful, this life. Precisely because of its unlimited number of possible options and space for improvisation.
Couchsurfing experiences
You can also sum it all up with a phrase from the site: C ouchSurfing isn't just a free hosting tool; this whole system is organized not only and not so much because of economy, but for a deeper penetration into the life of a given city, country, culture.
Couchsurfing for me is also a great way, when traveling alone, not to remain lonely while living in one city, and also to encounter the cultures of different countries and cities, to learn them from the original source, and not from the stories of half-educated guides.
My impressions and reviews of couchsurfing are by far the best; for me, every trip turns out to be a personal growth training session. It seems to me that couchsurfing teaches you to find a common language with people who are different not only in character, but also in their worldview, even if you have difficulty speaking a common language. Couchsurfing teaches you to trust and believe that there are many interesting, kind people in the world.
Couchsurfing opinion
Сouchsurfing helps to make your heart wider, because when there are a lot of people in the world whom you miss, and they are all scattered across different countries, you are energetically stretched. But the most important thing is that thanks to him, I decided to travel myself, I realized that this does not require a lot of money and a big company.
All this can be easily found on the road itself, and if this is not there, but you want to go, then this is far from a reason to abandon your journey and the opportunity for self-development. It’s just incredible, all these people who became my acquaintances thanks to couchsurfing, conversations, meetings, and much, much more, all this gives me the feeling - how small this planet is. After everything, I have only one piece of advice: just get in and drive, even by hitchhiking, no matter how, and To do this, you don’t need to prepare for 5-6 years to travel to another state, as I did before and as many people still do.
And no matter how much money you have, even a million, the impressions from an independent trip will always be brighter than from an excursion tour in the company of a herd of tourists of different ages and interests. Which are always driven at a frantic pace to the same standard attractions.
Just imagine, it’s much more interesting to walk through cities at night, even in rain or fog, to ride around an island at night on a motorcycle on the first day of arrival, instead of taking a taxi to an empty hotel. Bored of sitting alone in a cafe on Gogol Street, or wandering through God-forsaken old Odessa courtyards.
Instead of a boring sightseeing trip by bus, get to a multinational apartment complex or spend the night in an Israeli hostel, or even get to the top of the bald mountain in Lviv at sunset. It’s so beautiful, you just won’t believe it... It all gives a billion times more emotions than a map in your hands, a bus in your butt and the tired voice of a tour guide in your ears.”
Read the continuation of the story about and practice of their travels around the world in the next article. And also on our website you can find separate articles with practical recommendations about, and, and of course, I hope they will help you in your independent travels.
