CouchSurfing.com
It has been a long time since my last entry. Since then, I've MCed at my brother's wedding, gone to Gen Con and Toronto, spent a weekend at a friend's camp, started my 5th year at UNB, and had a birthday. Normally pictures would be forthcoming as they're the easiest way to close a gap in time, but I'm not feeling a pictures post so much right now. Instead, let me tell you about couch surfing.
Couchsurfing.com is the one website on the internet that has had the largest effect on my real, non-electronic life. It works like this: when you travel, you can find a stranger to lend you his couch and show you around his city; when you're not traveling, you can elect to host travelers on your couch and show them around your city; and it's free. Couchsurfing.com is essentially a social networking site that sets up these connections for you so you can travel more cheaply and more authentically.
When I was in the Dominican Republic, we stayed on a Couchsurfer's couch for a night rather than paying for a resort, and she showed us around Santo Domingo. Both times I've attended Gen Con in Indianapolis, I stayed with a girl I found on the site who was also attending the convention, so we hung out together for the entire four days, and she saved me the cost of a hotel room. When I went traveling around the east coast as described in my last post, it was because a surfer from Alberta who I was hosting invited me to go along with her, and we surfed on members' couches in both Saint John and Charlottetown. Since signing up to the site in April of last year, I have hosted over 40 different CSers and their various travel partners on my couches in Fredericton. Some have returned to stay again; some only crashed for a night on their way through; some planned on only staying a night and ended up staying a week because they had so much fun with us. I've even hosted two CS potlucks at my place this year for the other hosts in Fredericton. Right now, a CSer from France who had surfed with us for nearly a month has decided to move into our empty room for the winter and share rent with us.
Couchsurfing is just about the coolest thing you could do on the internet. That website is the definition of a global community. It's satisfying to share your empty couch with an interesting traveler, and it is awesome to find strangers who become instant friends because they let you stay on their couches for free while traveling.
To those of you who are worry-warts, the site has in place a reference, verification, and vouching system that ensure the integrity of a member whose profile you're viewing, and you can always choose not to host a traveler who sends a request to you. From my own experiences, every single CSer I have met has been awesome -- while the track-record of friends of friends who have stayed with us through real-life connections has been a lot less than stellar. This site has positively changed my life.
If you decide to sign up, add my profile as a friend on the site. The more connected you are on Couchsurfing, the more other members know they can trust you. To view my profile, which has a record of the references other members have left me after our surfing adventures, go here.
Cheers,
Benjamin
Couchsurfing.com is the one website on the internet that has had the largest effect on my real, non-electronic life. It works like this: when you travel, you can find a stranger to lend you his couch and show you around his city; when you're not traveling, you can elect to host travelers on your couch and show them around your city; and it's free. Couchsurfing.com is essentially a social networking site that sets up these connections for you so you can travel more cheaply and more authentically.
When I was in the Dominican Republic, we stayed on a Couchsurfer's couch for a night rather than paying for a resort, and she showed us around Santo Domingo. Both times I've attended Gen Con in Indianapolis, I stayed with a girl I found on the site who was also attending the convention, so we hung out together for the entire four days, and she saved me the cost of a hotel room. When I went traveling around the east coast as described in my last post, it was because a surfer from Alberta who I was hosting invited me to go along with her, and we surfed on members' couches in both Saint John and Charlottetown. Since signing up to the site in April of last year, I have hosted over 40 different CSers and their various travel partners on my couches in Fredericton. Some have returned to stay again; some only crashed for a night on their way through; some planned on only staying a night and ended up staying a week because they had so much fun with us. I've even hosted two CS potlucks at my place this year for the other hosts in Fredericton. Right now, a CSer from France who had surfed with us for nearly a month has decided to move into our empty room for the winter and share rent with us.
Couchsurfing is just about the coolest thing you could do on the internet. That website is the definition of a global community. It's satisfying to share your empty couch with an interesting traveler, and it is awesome to find strangers who become instant friends because they let you stay on their couches for free while traveling.
To those of you who are worry-warts, the site has in place a reference, verification, and vouching system that ensure the integrity of a member whose profile you're viewing, and you can always choose not to host a traveler who sends a request to you. From my own experiences, every single CSer I have met has been awesome -- while the track-record of friends of friends who have stayed with us through real-life connections has been a lot less than stellar. This site has positively changed my life.
If you decide to sign up, add my profile as a friend on the site. The more connected you are on Couchsurfing, the more other members know they can trust you. To view my profile, which has a record of the references other members have left me after our surfing adventures, go here.
Cheers,
Benjamin