Traveling the World

Over the last few years, I’ve been a member of Couchsurfing, a non-profit organization that aims for free accommodation all over the world. How do they do this? By having regular people like you and me sign up, fill out a profile, and have an immense desire to travel, or host people who travel through your area. Today it’s bigger than that. Their forums include people from many countries, and these people discuss getting strangers to travel with them to other places, or build eco-communities together. There are even religious groups such as the Kosher Couch group (so Jews can host other Jews).

I’m a firm believer in this community, which in March of 2009 reached 1 million members. When I lived in America, I never had a chance to host people, as who the hell wants to travel with Gainesville, Florida! After moving to China, however, I’ve had many requests from strangers to stay with me. My first experience was meeting a Chinese girl who was traveling through Wuhan to return to her parents home for the holiday. She had already arranged a hostel nearby, but still messaged me with the intent to meet up. We spent a few hours talking in my apartment along with another of her friends, and they both seemed quite geniune and interesting.

My second experience with Couchsurfing was back in March, when I was messaged by two German guys, one who lives in Xi’an to the west of Wuhan, and the other was his friend traveling from Germany with him. They stayed with me for 4 days and slept on my couch, as the website suggests. Just because it’s called couchsurfing, however, doesn’t mean people are confined to sleeping on the couch. Some people are well off enough that they have spare beds for their guests. Other have no beds, and people must sleep on the floor or in a sleeping bag.

I think the idea of the community isn’t centered around sleeping; it’s centered around the idea of new experiences and sharing yourself with strangers, and it goes both ways. The host doesn’t know who the guest will be other than the information on their profile. The stranger also doesn’t know anything about the host. So when you finally meet, you can share your cultures with each other. I am glad to have hosted Germans, Irish, and Chinese people. As an American, these are people I rarely come into contact with when I live back home, so spending time with them when we’re away from our own cultures to begin with, makes for a much more special experience, and one that lets me learn more about the world.

In July, a filmmaker from Boulder, Colorado plans to spend a week with me. He is coming here to film one of the longest and best total eclipses, and apparently Wuhan is close to where you can see it the best. I am excited by the prospect of sharing in the experience of a total eclipse, as life in China can be quite boring sometimes, and something like this in the middle of summer will be quite enjoyable. So you see, Couchsurfing is more than just having someone stay with you. It’s about the experiences they can give you, and what you can give them in addition to a free place to stay.

I dare you to shed your fear of strangers that all of our societies has burdened us with, and sign up for Couchsurfing today. Make friends from around the world, and maybe even give them a home for a few days. It really makes us feel good when we’re traveling and a stranger opens their home to us. I look forward to my first experience being the guest and not the host.