Travel Tip Tuesday: Surf the Couch

     

     You can surf the web, surf the waves and surf on couches. Yeah, that’s right, you can surf on couches.

     What am I talking about?

     I’m talking about couchsurfing.org, a website for the adventurous soul.

     My co-worker, Brittany, happens to be a good friend of mine and knows that I love traveling. 

     She was giving a tour to prospective transfer students and started talking with this 25-year-old transfer student. It’s amazing what you can find out about a person. This transfer student took a break after community college and just wanted to travel, so she did. In the past five years she has traveled to 40 different countries. Naturally, Brittany asked how she paid for it.

     The transfer student answered, “I would come home and work my butt off. Then I would take time off to travel. You can’t live life scared.”

     When Brittany told me in the office we were so inspired we made accounts for ourselves.

     So, how does it work?

     First you have to sign up to become a part of the couch-surfing community. From there you fill out a profile. It’s almost like a dating site but instead of finding your significant other, you’re trying to find the perfect house and couch to crash on.

     Here’s the deal, people who are a part of the online community have three options, to be the traveler, the host or even both.

     It’s really simple. Once you complete your profile you can start surfing for couches. On the top of the webpage you’ll find “surf,” click it. It will then bring you to a page where you can start planning your home away from home. You indicate where you want to go, how many people you are travelling with, for how long and give a brief description of why you are going. Your details will match you up with hosts that are available and you can start making arrangements.

     This is an awesome solution for traveling on a budget because it’s free. Your fellow couch surfers are just as adventurous as you are! All you have to do is pay for your flight, pocket money and pack your bags.

     If you are interested in hosting, you have to complete your profile and must have a background check done. Background checks on this website costs about $25 plus tax.

Couch-Surfing Tips:

     Legitimize. Make sure your host is legit. Is there any missing information?

     Travel in numbers. Let’s face it. You can’t trust everyone in the world. Travel with a couple of friends. Remember, there is power in numbers.

     Communicate. The chances are that there have been other people who have crashed on the host’s couch before you. Most likely they’ll leave a review. Get into contact with them and ask questions that might concern you. Reviews and comments cannot be deleted by the host, whatever couch surfers say, stays.

    Tell your family and friends. Give your family and friends every detail of your stay. Where you are going, who your host is, provide them with the conversation you had with your host, tell them everything! The more details, the better, it gives them something to work with.