By Monica Tan
MSN NZ Travel writer
CouchSurfing is a web-based community in which members from around the world open their doors and offer their couches to other visiting members, without charge. And this weekend, I had my first taste of this extraordinary, goodwill-based network when I was invited to stay at a CouchSurfing member's place in San Francisco.
Established as a non-profit organisation in 2003, CouchSurfing International Inc (couchsurfing.com) is a social networking site designed to hook up travellers looking for a place to stay with hosts willing to offer a spare couch (or bed). What might seem like a strangely utopian, almost naïve, idea has attracted more than 400,000 members in 233 countries and territories.
The benefits for travellers are obvious — who wouldn't take up the opportunity to forgo those costly accommodation costs? But the real attraction for me was the opportunity to meet some local residents and hopefully get a small taste of life as a San Franciscan.
While the site reminds you the extent of your host's goodwill might be limited to a place to stay and some handy tips about where to go, there is also the chance you'll develop new, lifelong friendships and have the time of your life with memorable experiences that no guidebook could ever have plotted out for you.
San Francisco was the only place on my itinerary I would be travelling without a friend. Had I checked into a hotel, I would have endured a lonely four-day stay. And if I had opted to stay in a hostel, I was bound to only meet other tourists. So I decided to be bold and take my third option — apply for a CouchSurfing stay.
At first I was nervous about the prospect of embarking on a couch surfing experience. Personal safety wasn't my concern as each profile page is extremely detailed, revealing the host or surfer's age, occupation, likes, dislikes, philosophies, countries they'd travelled, photographs and references from other couch surfers they had put up or stayed with — it's surprising how much this information can tell you about a person.
What concerned me was the possibility that perhaps I wouldn't get along with my host. Maybe they wouldn't find me interesting or even likable — after all, isn't this why they're offering a place for me to stay? The chance to hang out with some awesome chick called Monica from Down Under? Was my 'awesomeness' up to scratch?
If you find it difficult to understand what motivates a host to be so generous as to offer their place to a complete stranger, the best advice I can give to you is to simply roll with it. Many hosts were one-time couch surfing virgins and are now looking to give back to the couch surfing community that afforded them so many great experiences. For others, their interest was perked by the surfer's profile page and application email. Others are simply generous people who love the opportunity to show off their city.
Martin, a 25-year-old web developer, lives in San Francisco's hip and gritty Mission District. He greeted me with a big smile and my own set of keys. After warmly inviting me into his home and life, I spent the next four days partying and hanging out with Martin and his super sweet group of friends. We had burritos and beer in the Mission, coffee in North Beach, went shopping in Union Square, strolled through Chinatown, watched The L Word in a Castro lesbian bar and early one very hung-over morning, we took in an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the rooftop of a Marina apartment.
My assimilation into life as a young San Franciscan was surprisingly fast and by the end of my time there, I felt I'd been in the city for four months, not four days. Martin assured me that I had just experienced, what was for him, a typical long weekend (luckily for me, Monday was a public holiday in the States). And I had loved it, confessing that I was even thinking of moving there.
The CouchSurfing project is a wonderful idea and a shining example of all that is good and honourable about the internet. Yet to be exploited by commercial interests, now is the time to try your hand at this truly unique way of travelling. And while an open mind, a willingness to bend a little to the life and personality of your host, and a gutsy, friendly attitude are required, you're guaranteed to have a far more honest and revealing experience than your hotel-staying counterparts.
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