You’ve never met them. All you know about them is the information they share with you on their profile. They are, in a sense, complete strangers. And you’re about to let them into your home and sleep on your couch?
That’s exactly what about 1,300,000 people are doing through couchsurfing.org.
“It was just like love at first sight,” said Jude Hales, 37, a member of the site for more than a year. Hales first joined the site when planning a trip for her daughter’s 16th birthday present, backpacking around Europe. “Emerald (Hales’ daughter) was weirded out, like ‘we’re going to a stranger’s house, mom, what if she’s a total freak?’ And so I played with her a bit and said, ‘what if she thinks we’re total freaks?’”
Taking with them some numbers of nearby hostels just in case, the two embarked on their first couchsurfing experience. “It was just great I could not believe how awesome and trusting and wonderful this woman was,” she said. “There are just those people you connect with.”
Launched in 2004, CouchSurfing International is a non-profit network that exists in over 230 countries. The concept is simple: You let people stay on your couch for free and you have the opportunity to do the same. The site was created to facilitate cultural exchange, friendship and learning experiences — and they do this by providing a sort of virtual travel network. “Global community is what it feels like to me,” Hales said. “These are all people that I would want to know anyway. The free place to stay is almost like a bonus.”
And that is exactly the intent of CouchSurfing. Although the two main ways to participate are to host and ‘surf,’ members can also stay active by giving local advice or meeting up with travelers for an adventure or just a drink. Weekly meetings vary, from gathering at Sam Bonds Garage for Monday night bingo to hosting a potluck at members’ homes.
“Tourism feels kind of fake. Going places and seeing things without actually getting to experience the people who live there when they’re not trying to sell you something,” Chael Graham, a member for close to two years, said. Graham and Hales are active in the Eugene group of couchsurfers, creating social events to increase the social network of the Eugene CouchSurfing community. “It’s kind of more of a taste of reality. It seems more real and more human than other ways of traveling.”
Safety is something the site and its users are all cautious of. “A lot of this is vibes. You get good vibes about profiles. I know it’s the Internet, but you can be really safe,” Graham said. Graham screens surfers and potential hosts by only accepting completely filled out profiles and e-mailing back and forth to gauge whether the situation is a fit.
For Hales, who was traveling with her daughter, comfort came in the form of the Family Welcome Group. “They are just like, ‘we support families traveling together,’” she said.
CouchSurfing offers several ways to find out whether a person is trustworthy — which is the underlying concern of most users. After someone has surfed or hosted, users are encouraged to write references of the other party. These references can be posted on the profile page for anyone to read, and a bad reference could damage future couchsurfing experiences.
The site also offers ways of being officially ‘marked’ as trustworthy. With its vouching system, people can vouch for others, but only after they themselves have been vouched for three times. Users can also verify their address by sending in money to receive a confirmation in the mail, confirming you live there.
Profiles allow users to present a variety of information including hobbies, pictures and friends. This information allows potential hosts to get a good feel for the person. “There is this one guy in northern Italy, and he states very clearly in his profile, ‘If you want to stay with me, you have to wrestle me. Judo.’ He’s serious. He’s not trying to hook up with anyone,” Graham said. “Just by looking at a profile you can get a pretty good sense of someone and what to expect.”
The free part is often the first appeal. “I do couchsurfing for a couple reasons. One, it’s free,” said Saul Elbein, a native of Austin, Texas who was recently surfing in Eugene. “The other thing is that you meet really cool people who you never would have met otherwise.” While in Eugene, Elbein saw “Casablanca” at Eugene’s David Minor Theater, a well-kept secret some Eugeneans haven’t even discovered.
“It’s not for everyone. You have to be open to strangers, basically, open to different kinds of people,” Graham said. “At first, you just want to save money, but then after that you’re just like, wow, this is traveling.”
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