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| Sebastian and I developed a close relationship during the 11 days I stayed with them in Peru through Couchsurfing. I slept on the lower bunk-bed, Sebastian on the upper part, and his brother and father slept in the double bed. |
When I graduated from McGill University a
year ago, I did not go on to the journalism school in Halifax I had been
accepted to; I did not begin an office job, and I certainly had no intentions
of completing yet another unpaid internship.
I wanted to go traveling.
As I shared the excitement of my upcoming
trip with friends and colleagues, a common reaction was: “Wow, aren’t you lucky.
I wish I had the money for that!”.
If you plan in advance, if you take the
time to find the appropriate resources, and select the right people to help you
on the ground, anyone can travel for months on end in the United States, and especially in South America on a very limited budget.
- Couchsurfing in the US and South America
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| These two Germans, Matze and Lukas, are the first people I met through Couchsurfing. We hosted them in Montreal last summer, and still keep in touch to this day. |
There is no money involved; however, there
are unstated rules. It will seem very rude, for instance, for someone to arrange to couchsurf at someone’s place, to have a 5-minute conversation
with the host, and to leave the next day. The vast majority of hosts want to get
to know their surfers through sharing a meal, having interesting talks, and
showing them around the city. Friendships are often formed, and the surfers usually tell their hosts at the end of their stay that they are welcome
to their place anytime when they decide to go traveling themselves.
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| In San Francisco, Kevin was so generous as to prepare a delicious dinner for his roommates and I. He also lent me a bicycle to ride around the city. |
Some surfers bring small gifts upon their
arrival at the home of the host (sweets from their home city, a CD, etc.); I did
this for the first few places. When I ran out of gifts and money, I instead
prepared a meal for my host – or various meals depending on the length of my
stay.
In the United States, couch surfing was very
easy and convenient due to the high number of participants in every major
city. By sending 8-12 requests about a week in advance, I was almost certain to
find a host. I couch surfed for 2-6 days at a time in Seattle, Portland, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin, and New Orleans. The only city I had
trouble finding a host in was San Francisco, but fortunately my Couchsurfing
host in Portland arranged for me to stay with his friend there.
Although it is not as widespread as in the
US, there is still an active Couchsurfing community in every major South
American city.
I couch surfed in Quito (Ecuador), in three
Peruvian cities (Ayacucho, Arequipa and Cusco, but did not find any host in Lima),
in Buenos Aires (Argentina), in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and in Encarnación (Paraguay). And no, I did not
ever find it dangerous to couch surf in those places, not anymore than in the
US. If anything, my South American hosts were even more welcoming and generous than
my American hosts (who had already set the bar high).
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| In Rio de Janeiro, my mom and I couch surfed at Thais and her husband's place for a week. They loved showing us around the city; here we are with Thais in the botanical garden. |
My longest stays were also in South
America: I stayed ten days with my host in Arequipa (we had time to record a CD
in a studio, and even traveled a few days together), another ten days with my
host in Cusco (I got along very well with his kids), and almost two weeks with
my host in Buenos Aires (he would leave on business trips and leave me the
key to his place). I had only intended to stay a few days in all three cases,
but my hosts insisted I stay longer, and I was more than happy to.
I only ever had extremely positive
experiences through Couchsurfing. How amazing it was to be invited into
someone’s home (I sometimes slept on the living room couch, but most of the
time I was actually offered an entire bedroom to myself!), to exchange stories
about traveling and life in general, and to be inspired by alternate ways of
living (see my articles 0 living
expenses: living in a shack in New Orleans and Meet Hermogenes: the host of 620 couch surfers in 547 days). I maintained contact for a long time with most
of the people I stayed with while traveling.
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| Jeff and his girlfriend hosted me for 2 nights in New Orleans; I forgot my shoes at his place, so he mailed them to me in Ecuador! |
- The risks of couch surfing for women traveling alone
Nonetheless, I do believe that if a woman
is very careful and critical when selecting her Couchsurfing host, chances are
extremely slim that she will fall upon a bad apple.
I actually only ever stayed with men aged anywhere from 22 to 54 years old – not by preference, but because the majority
of Couchsurfing members are men (Jeff's girlfriend was the only female host).
I always made sure to read the full profile
of each person before sending them a request, and carefully read the references
left for them by previous surfers (double-checking they were written by real
people). I almost strictly stayed with
people who had numerous positive references on their profile, and only stayed
in places where there were neighbours close by. Finally, I would exchange
various emails with the host or arrange a phone call before settling on a
place.
Although I didn’t do this, it would have
been wise of me to have passed on to a family member the addresses and phone
numbers of the places I stayed at.
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| The kitchen of the place I stayed at in Buenos Aires; my host told me to use or eat whatever I wanted |
- Ideally be alone. It is much
more difficult to find a place to stay if you are two.
- Speak the language of country
you are traveling to: to build trust with your host, and simply to exchange
conversations with them (even basics will do).
- First acquire references from
people you can host at your place before you begin traveling yourself; hosts do
look at the references of the surfers before accepting them or not.
- Be flexible. You may get lucky
and sleep in a comfortable bed, but you may also end up on a not-so-comfortable
couch and be woken up early in the morning by your hosts getting ready to go to work.
- Be generous. Because there is
no money involved, it is imperative to show your appreciation to your hosts by
inviting them out for coffee, perhaps cooking a meal for them, and simply taking the
time to get to know them.
- Expect a shower, but not doing
laundry at your host’s place. If they offer, then that is a bonus.
