A Few Reasons Why!
For those of you who don’t know what CouchSurfing is, it’s a platform that enables travelers to stay at a local’s place instead of a hostel or a hotel. It’s free meaning hosts will not be charging their guests for their stay but everything else is paid for by the guests themselves. Of course, hosts can treat their guests to a meal or show them around the city if they have free time and feel like spending it with their guests, but in no way is it mandatory.
The website is pretty straightforward, a quick look at the website will give you the basic information you need. There are too many blog posts and vlogs that tell you how to avoid freaks and scams if you’re trying to host people and so on.
Now let’s get to the catch.
I live in Iran. There are many reasons why CouchSurfing in Iran is the best way to travel.
First of all, there are not many hostels in Iran; the only ones I know of (through my couchsurfers) are two that exist in Tehran. As for the other cities you have to go with hotels which are not cheap by any means and some hotels (if not all) have different rates for Iranian nationals and foreigners. We know that staying at hotels by yourself especially if you’re a solo traveler is not much fun. I personally love to travel alone but I have had the experience of single hotel rooms and somehow they reduce your enthusiasm to explore the city.
Second reason is while staying at hotels may sound more comfortable and allow you more privacy, it takes away the opportunity to see real Iranian lives. Now because Iran is such a mystery to the people who haven’t seen it for themselves, it is important to see people’s everyday lives and culture first hand. The Iranian restaurants at hotels or even outside the hotel in the city only offer a limited range of Iranian cuisine such as Kebabs and stews such as QormeSabzi, though in reality Iranian food is so much more than that. They never teach you how to eat it at a restaurant and you might just end up eating it with a fork and a knife if you’re from somewhere west of Iran. That is a “blasphemy” in Iranian dining. Also worth mentioning is that Iranians don’t eat kebabs and stews on daily basis. They like people from any other country in the world have adapted to the speedy life of the 21st century and don’t have the time to make time consuming stews each day, so they’re saved mostly for the weekend. Plus they are too heavy to eat on a work day unless you’re planning to take the afternoon off and take a long nap.
If you ever go to an Iranian restaurants whether in Iran or anywhere else in the world please take an Iranian with you so they can recommend the items on the menu you typically wouldn’t order or at least not in that combination.
Third reason why CouchSurfing in Iran is convenient is that although most Iranians take English classes in and outside school, it is not common for shop keepers or bus drivers to be able to speak English. Having a host you can rely on for translation and ticket purchases is very helpful. Iranians love to practice their English whenever they can so you and your host can teach each other a few things. Iranians love to learn about other countries, their enthusiasm for the outside world is very evident when you get here and that is beside their natural hospitality for guests. Iranians have literature on how to treat guests. Treating Iranian guests well is very important but treating foreigners well is even more important. They will engage in an endless conversation about history, languages and politics if you’re up for it.
Reason number four: Iranian money is not easy to understand nor use, so in the first few days you visit Iran, having someone show you how to use it and watch you just in case you give out the wrong bill is very handy. As some of you might know, they amount of money that is written on the bills is different to what people use on daily basis, so imagine you’re buying a bag of chips for 20,000 rials (official currency) which is 2,000 tomans which in casual language is 2 tomans (around 50 cents) . We naturally omit four digits from numbers then say it.
Now for women it’s important that they have a host that shows them how to wear their “Hijab”. Now I put that in quotation marks because now it’s more of an accessory than a religious belief. Though the oppression behind mandatory hijab is very real and different types of hijab in Iran is used to make religious and political statements (it’s a long discussion I’m not going to have). When female travelers come here first they wrap their headscarves so tight it looks ridiculous. After a few hours or even minutes they feel more at ease and soon realize they shouldn’t be wearing it so strictly. They soon find out “the Law” isn’t really as effective and preventive as it sounds. It’s very common for foreigners to be offered alcohol in Iran which is officially “banned” by the state.
Now I don’t want to spoil everything about Iran and save some for when you visit. (I couldn’t even if I tried to. It’s like trying to spoil Greece through Troy the movie or spoiling Japan through Casio watches).
To tell you some of my experience as a host first I have to clarify that I do not live in Tehran or Shiraz or any of those super touristic cities you might see on lonely planet. I live in a fairly small town (population 600,000) by the Caspian Sea. I study full time so I don’t always have the time to accompany my guests wherever they go. I live with my family because I study in my own city and they also work full time. We have a spare room on the upper floor so it’s easy for us to have guests over but even if you only have a couch that turns into a bed it’s completely alright, after all it is called CouchSurfing.
My first guest was M. a full time traveler from France, it was the perfect first time because it was during a long weekend/national holiday. All of us got to take her to the beach, the hills and the dam. She met some of my friends and a bit of alcohol was involved. We talked a lot about politics and especially what it’s like to be a woman in Iran and in the world. She’s a wonderful photographer and I take amateur photos on my camera so that was also something to talk about among so many other things. It was in October so the weather was perfect.
My second surfer was J. from Korea. She also arrived at a convenient time when I had some time off to study for a test and was feeling awfully bored and her company cheered us all up. We got to see the beach together and explore some of the city. She wanted to see Badab Surt which is a natural spring in the area but the timing was not so good weather wise and the roads were snowed close in February so she had to spend more time than she originally planned to due to roads to Rasht (her next destination) being closed.
Third time I had two wonderful Dutch girls in September, they got to see Badab Surt, unfortunately I had to attend class and couldn’t go with them but we went to the beach together and also explored the city with some of my friends.
My fourth group were a sweet Brazilian couple on a 12 month world journey. We didn’t get to see the sea from this side (given they had already seen it in Azerbaijan) but they saw some fantastic natural sites and had a lot to exchange in ways of trip destinations, football memories and language tips.
I’m now on a hiatus from CouchSurfing as I have exams coming up but I’m looking forward to see more and more people taking the time to visit one of the oldest nations on earth and replace the false image media gives them with a more realistic one.
This was all for why CouchSurfing in Iran is a thing! For any other questions about transport in Iran, itineraries, best season to visit and so on don’t hesitate to ask me or google; whichever is quicker!
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