Couch Surfing and travelling
Have you discovered Couch surfing yet? Are there a few visits to far-flung places (i.e. expensive!) on your Bucket Lists? Then you will have realised that accommodation is often the most pricey part of the trip.
There are plenty of ways to reduce this cost, sometimes right down to zero.
One of those ways is by sleeping on the sofa, or floor, of a stranger on the internet… I am not selling it, am I?
Stay with me though, it’s worth it.
Local Knowledge
While I fully appreciate the whole thing sounds a bit dodgy when putting it like that, hear me out.
There is a lot to be said for a bit of local know-how when visiting any city.
Many Couch Surfing hosts are generally very knowledgeable about their local areas. Most are more than willing to share all manner of tips with you. They often know all of the best things to see and places to visit.
So if sharing a strangers house is not for you, how about joining your local Couch Surfing community?
Could you help visitors out with your own local knowledge?
Here are a few of the things I got up to when I attended a Bristol Couch Surfer “Gert Weekender”.
The Couch Surfing forums as a friend finder
I initially joined the couch surfer website in 2015. It was at this time that I was in the throes of planning our trip to Japan.
The idea had been that just Harri and I would be going. So what I intended to do was make some contacts with whom we may be able to stay to eke out our funds.
However once my Mother asked to come along, and then Harri asked to bring her then-boyfriend, Jack. Couch surfing wasn’t really an opinion anymore.
The Couch surfing forums, though, were a great place to do a bit of networking. I joined a number of language learning groups, as well as forums about Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
It was through the language exchange forum, that I met Yumi.
We talked extensively over Skype. I hadn’t booked any of the accommodation for my trip, so when she suggested that all four of us could stay with her, we jumped at the chance.
It meant we got to stay in Nara – a place we may have possibly not visited had I been planning all of the travel alone – and we also got a real local perspective on places.
Yumi even helped us source cheaper travel tickets for the trains, and without her explaining the system to me, I certainly would not have looked as experienced on the Tokyo trains as I’m pretty sure I did; I know my Mum was impressed and she is a tough audience.
By asking locals questions about a place you hope to travel to you may have new ideas opened up to you. I certainly would not have thought of visiting a calligraphy master and making my own ink if Yumi had not organised it for us.
But, I don’t even get a chance to leave my city, much less visit the other side of the world…
The Couchsurfing squad have you covered Fam. (I am 100% confident that reference will never date). Look up what is happening in your home town.
You can potentially look a little bit farther afield if you live somewhere a bit ‘quiet’. There will often be requests for advice from people planning a visit, or to meet up for coffee.
There may be people wanting to swap their language for yours. Sometimes there may even be locally organised events.
As someone who doesn’t get out and about as much as I wish I did, these events can be a great opportunity to meet people from all over the world.
One such opportunity was the ‘Gert Weekender’; a 3-day spectacular where people from all over the world descended on Bristol. I got to enjoy a tour of the city which culminated in a picnic by the Observatory, overlooking the Bristol Suspension Bridge, where people got to try out lots of local ciders.
As an aside if you are writing a Bristol-based Bucket List – the Suspension Bridge needs to be on it!
Here is a Vlog about the last weekender I attended, which was pirate themed. As the ‘local’ I got to escort our visitors around the historic docks. I also got to share my Brunel knowledge and watch drunk Germans do karaoke.
The amount of travelling these guys get to do has really inspired me to start saving up and try out more visits to places. Now I just need to work out how I fit in all the international travel I want to get done in the next 10 years.
I’m also looking forward to the next chance to meet new people and see more of my own city through their eyes. Being a tourist in your home town is an interesting experience, and maybe even another idea for an additional Bucket List.
Over to you
Have you got local knowledge you could pass on? Tips you could share with visitors about the ‘must-sees’ in your hometown? What one thing would you recommend to someone coming to your area?