Why You Should Couchsurf

Vicky and I rarely write about our Couchsurfing experiences anymore because there have been so many it feels like I could write a series of essays on them. That said, it is amazing how many travelers we meet on the road who are not part of the Couchsurfing community.

What is Couchsurfing?

Couchsurfing is a service through which you can bypass the typical hotel experience by staying at the home of a local and learning about their culture. It works similar to many social networking sites. You create a profile and either host other individuals or request to be hosted. It’s a simple concept, though relatively unexplored and still making it’s way into the mainstream traveling culture.

At the time of writing this article Vicky and I have collectively hosted 10 people, mostly from Europe and South America. We’ve also been hosted in many countries:

• Denark – Once
• Netherlands – Once
• Greece – Once
• Japan – 8 times
• South Korea – 3 times
• China – 4 times

It’s my goal to Couchsurf in every country we visit. Almost every time has been a great experience and I’m very glad we did it. On rare occasions I’d say the experiences were fine, but never terrible or dangerous.

While living in DC we got significantly more requests than we could ever accommodate, but that never stopped us from opening up our apartment when we are able. What surprises me the most, however, is how often people who Couchsurf with us talk about how difficult it is to find a host. Usually people have to send out 50-60 requests before being able to find a suitable host.

Why is this?

I imagine it’s simple math – the demand outweighs the supply.

Let’s fix that.

Maybe you’re one of those people who is on the verge of getting on board, but in need of that one extra nudge. Maybe you’re booking your flight to Venice but weren’t aware that this city has nearly 500 hosts.

Think about it.

Why Couchsurfing?

A Chance To Meet A Local

I love how in traveling locals are treated like a nearly extinct bird. There are literally thousands of posts on the web about how to meet locals. Isn’t it somewhat paradoxical that in a foreign country locals seem to be the minority – shouldn’t it be how to meet travelers? Oh well, the fact of the matter is it IS HARD to meet locals. I remember how Vicky and I traveled through Greece for 8 days. Sure, we interacted with locals, but we didn’t meet locals, not until we couchsurfed on our last night.

Couchsurfing is a very direct way to meet locals. You live with them, often have dinner with them, maybe even go out with them. It’s a chance to share cultures and interests. Our last night in Greece was probably my favorite because, unlike any of the previous nights, we actually had the opportunity to sit down and have a drink with a Greek. We got to hear his story and about what the Greek riots were like from the perspective of someone who was both a student and a police officer in Athens. It’s certainly a unique experience and can really add a new dimension to your trip.

Free Accommodation

Let’s face it, traveling is expensive. I don’t think there’s any harm in wanting free accommodation and Couchsurfing is pretty cheap (though as I wrote in another article, it does require some costs). Imagine the amount of money you can save on your travels if you Couchsurf even just a few nights during every trip? It’s significant, trust me. I once hosted a Couchsurfer who was unable to find anyone in NYC to stay with – he ended up paying $40 a night to stay in a mediocre hostel not even in the center of the city. Damn.

Sharing Skills and Passions

There isn’t enough bartering anymore. Call me old fashioned but I still like the idea of I do something for you, you do something for me – utilize my comparative advantage. Numerous times we’ve hosted Couchsurfers and they often share something with us. We’ve had people cook for us or select foreign movies on Netflix that they knew were good. Even our logo was designed by a Couchsurfer who specializes in graphic design. Naturally, we don’t ever demand these things, but people make offers sometimes. On the other hand, Vicky and I always try to share something with our hosts, such as in Kyoto when she cooked dinner for our Japanese host family. Couchsurfing is a great medium to showcase skills and extract tangible value out of them, whether or not you normally get paid for them.

Access To Meet Ups And Other Opportunities

I’ll admit this isn’t something I’ve taken advantage of yet. All the same I get monthly emails from the DC Couchsurfing community about happy hours and meetups. It’s a great way to network with other people in the community, trade stories, and learn a few things.

People always forget that Couchsurfing doesn’t HAVE to be staying at someone’s house. A lot of people set up their profile and simply offer to meet up for drinks of coffee. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a chat with a friendly local in a foreign city, even if you were staying in a hostel or a hotel? I think so.

And what about volunteering? Believe it or not, there are numerous volunteering opportunities that have Couchsurfing profiles. Just two weeks ago Vicky and I did our first volunteering stint abroad at an English College in Yangshuo China. It was amazing and led to even more local connections!

A Feeling Of Home

Many of our Couchsurfing experiences have been some of the “homiest” of all our travel experiences. The lengths that people will go to for hospitality is sometimes overwhelming. We’ve been picked up from the bus station and driven out to the suburbs. We’ve been cooked extravagant meals for. We’ve even slept in the bed of two of our hosts (they insisted, I swear)! Some hosts have pets, which is really refreshing as both Vicky and I have dogs at home. It’s so hard to find that feeling of home on the road and I really think Couchsurfing, more so than hostels and hotels, can fill this niche.

Nothing To Lose

There really is nothing to lose. You create a profile and leave it at that. If someone messages you, you are by no means obligated to host them (but as common courtesy you should message them back). Likewise, you never know when you might find yourself in a position looking to be hosted, and you’ll already have the profile ready with perhaps a few references under your belt. Don’t be shy, this isn’t a young person’s game – Vicky and I have hosted people 20 years older than us and stayed with a man 50 years older than us.

On the reverse, I’m reminded of one of our hosts from Korea who was a tad older than us and frankly, made enough money that he would never have to Couchsurf in another country. Still, he decided to keep his profile up and running just in case, and very luckily, accepted us!

Above all though, it’s a chance to do some good for someone else – so join the community today!

Is It Safe?

The biggest question I get asked is “Is Couchsurfing safe?” This is not to be taken lightly, and if it was a girl I knew traveling alone, I’d certainly be a bit more hesitant to blindly recommend it, but I still would under the right circumstances.

I did a quick search on Google to see if there were any publicized rapes or murders from Couchsurfing and I did find a few articles. To be fair though, could a similar thing happen in a hostel or possibly even a hotel? I think so.

At the end of the day, I don’t know if there is a definite right or wrong answer to this question. As for anecdotal evidence, I can say the following:

1. I personally have never had an unsafe experience or even felt uncomfortable.
2. Whenever I Couchsurf, I always ask our hosts about their experiences, and I can say that they never mentioned any unsafe experiences as well.

Combined that’s probably  100 positive experiences, perhaps more. Moreover, there is a review system in place that helps preserve the integrity of the site. Still, I’ll call out two holes I know of right away.

The first is that there is a general feeling on the site that if an experience isn’t that good, maybe even a bit uncomfortable, people tend to not write a review at all as opposed to writing negative reviews. I know that’s how I feel sometimes and I’ve heard of other people feeling the same way, so it creates a bias for sure. Still, I imagine if anything REALLY terrible happen, the person would jump to write it  and I have seen negative reviews.

The second is that there is really no check on the reviews. As far as I can tell there isn’t really anything stopping an ax murderer getting all his ax murdering buddies to sign up and write fake reviews (lauding each other’s ax murdering skills no doubt) for each other. It’s not full proof.