Couchsurfing

A new verb has been born: couchsurfing. When I first heard of this phenomenon last year, I was intrigued. When I tell others about it, they are skeptical at best and repulsed at worst. Couchsurfing is the verb coined to describe a network of people who share free accommodations internationally. The main website is couchsurfing.com. When you peruse this site, you will read somewhat lofty explanations of their mission. The founders discuss ideals of their "Couchsurfing Project" such as creating educational exchanges, raising collective consciousness, spreading tolerance and facilitating cultural understanding. But for the majority of people, I suspect it's mostly about getting free accommodations.

It works like this: you register as a member on the site, offer some level of hospitality to other travellers (ranging from meeting for coffee or to show visitors around, all the way to offering up a room in your home to various vagabonding strangers). And then when you are the traveller in a strange land, you too can search for an available "couch" and make those international connections. I actually like the idea in theory. I think most people would have a far better and more memorable experience of a new country if staying with locals. The biggest stumbling block most people have, including my dear husband, is of course the issue of safety.

Not surprisingly, the site cautions people to use common sense, especially women travelling alone. The Couchsurfing Project has instituted some measures to help reassure people. For instance, members can be "vouched for" as well as "verified". Verification simply means the member has paid a small fee to have their physical address verified. Vouching refers to a testimonial by another couchsurfer who has met you face-to-face and deems you trustworthy.

As of today, the site reports that over 800,000 people from 230 countries are participating in couchsurfing. There are also sub-groups within the couchsurfing community and this is where it gets very interesting. I checked out the "Family Welcome Group" naturally since I reasoned one could probably feel relatively safe if staying with another family. The "RTW" group also caught my eye. But the sub-groups get incredibly specific and bizarre. For example, you can search for a free couch among "vampire lovers', "chocolate lovers", "Calvin & Hobbes" afficiandos, "Harry Potter fans", "vegan raw foodies", "people who don't need drugs or alcohol to have fun", "50+ travellers", "the David Hasselhof appreciation group", "barefooters", "SpongeBob fanatics", "single parents of many children" or how about the "people who enjoy silence" group. Better not mix those last groups together. I'm being a bit facetious. There are also plenty of perfectly normal groups like "engineers without borders" or people wanting to practice a specific language.

When I floated the idea to Ted (in truth I went a bit further and actually created a profile for us), he reacted with something close to horror. No way, no how. Oh well. That's what the delete button is for, right? Still I do hope we are able to connect with families who are native to the countries we'll be visiting, and not just other tourists. I also think it would be good for our kids to have the chance to meet international visitors staying here in our own home from time to time. And a free place to stay once in a while on our trip wouldn't hurt either . . .