http://www.couchsurfing.org

I just joined the Web site and hosted my first surfer. The girl was in Raleigh for the whole week and it was a wonderful experience! She was interning during the day but at night and on the weekends we got to knock about town.

My boyfriend and half of my roommates were gone so it was like importing a new best friend to make the week go by!

Is anyone else on this site or done this?

http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/metricula

3/27/2010 6:58:50 PM

My mom's friend is a member and has had some STRANGE people stay with him.

3/27/2010 7:02:50 PM

i did it when i went to europe in 04

A+++++ will surf again

3/27/2010 7:04:14 PM

Back in college me and my roommate signed up to host.

Had an australian guy coming but my batshit crazy roommate cancelled on him the day of.

It was bullshit.

3/27/2010 10:36:25 PM

countdown to twwers signing up to sleep on metricula's couch...

[Edited on March 27, 2010 at 11:06 PM. Reason : C:\]

3/27/2010 11:05:57 PM

Quote :

"Had an australian guy coming but my batshit crazy roommate cancelled on him the day of. "

Haha, personally this roommate sounds like the grounded one. This couchsurfing thing sounds like a robbery/rape/strange disease transmission waiting to happen.

3/27/2010 11:13:47 PM

it actually works out really well for most people, supposedly

3/27/2010 11:29:35 PM

I need to talk to Metricula.

I don't know any tdubbers that graduated from the English - LRW program.

3/27/2010 11:51:21 PM

Yep! I did it while hitchiking, now I Host. There is a large couch surfing community where I live, so we frequently get together for events. Do it, its fun.

3/28/2010 1:36:04 AM

^^I'm fittin' ta

3/28/2010 1:52:22 AM

hmm looks like fun...maybe this will work for my next road trip

3/28/2010 2:35:52 AM

My boyfriend has surfed and hosted quite a bit and said it was almost always positive and always interesting.

There's a feedback and reference system and the profiles usually are helpful in indicating personalities. I would do it again!

3/28/2010 7:27:35 AM

Quote :

"Haha, personally this roommate sounds like the grounded one. This couchsurfing thing sounds like a robbery/rape/strange disease transmission waiting to happen."

The idea of couchsurfing is pretty much what hundreds of smaller bands do on a nightly basis...except with even less planning as they tend to just go home with anyone that offers from the show

most the time there are never any problems.

3/28/2010 9:15:13 AM

If you're scared to try it you could always surf somewhere close to home like Wilmington or Charlotte. Then if it's horrible you can just go home!

At worst, though, you can use it to help find locals that will show you the cool places to get a drink even if you don't stay with them.

3/28/2010 10:41:50 AM

Quote :

"So, do you live by the book?"

3/28/2010 11:50:37 AM

I don't have a couch.

3/28/2010 12:50:34 PM

this sounds cool

3/28/2010 10:01:28 PM

I don't have a couch.

3/28/2010 10:18:51 PM

Man I so would have hosted a few years ago.

3/28/2010 11:28:56 PM

My partner and I have hosted bands and touring cyclists off of Warmshowers.org. We're also
expecting some more folks this summer. No one of off couchsurfing.org yet. As long as you don't let them in your house when you're not there, and lock up all your valuable shit, it's not a big deal. But, some folks we really liked, we let them hang out all day while we were at work.

I usually trust my gut instinct on folks- and it's turned out right thus far. Then again, I don't have the kind of high-maintenance house I would freak out if people put bicycles against a wall or folks were drooling on my couch. Helpfully, I also have 3 guy roommates that would preclude the idea of anyone trying to crawl into bed with me.

3/28/2010 11:40:06 PM

Have you ever had to turn someone away once they showed up?

Like you saw them and you knew that person was sketch?

3/29/2010 9:00:13 AM

Quote :

"I usually trust my gut instinct on folks- and it's turned out right thus far. "

I would think it only takes once to get totally f*cked

3/29/2010 9:07:12 AM

This will be PERFECT for my global jerkoff-a-thon world tour. See how many countries I can bust a nut in.

Pics to follow.

3/29/2010 10:22:20 AM

i signed up recently but haven't hosted anyone b/c my roommate says no. I did want to get involved to meet more of the local surfers, every week they have a potluck dinner together somewhere in the area. Has anyone gone to one?

3/29/2010 10:54:49 AM

I don't think I'd be able to trust a complete stranger staying at my place.

3/29/2010 12:41:56 PM

^

3/29/2010 12:56:19 PM

this is super cool.

3/29/2010 1:01:35 PM

Sounds like a good way to get raped.

3/29/2010 1:14:51 PM

There are hardly any thin decent looking females who live alone willing to house a single male.

3/29/2010 1:18:08 PM

its supposed to be for a cheap way to travel, not meet women.

3/29/2010 1:21:14 PM

Trying to kill 2 birds with one bone

3/29/2010 1:41:04 PM

If I didn't at least get some head while couch surfing, I would rob the house blind.

3/29/2010 2:02:46 PM

My roommate is involved with the couchsurfing potlucks.

3/29/2010 9:09:16 PM

does ur roommate ever say anything about it?

3/30/2010 9:28:18 PM

Quote :

"Sounds like a good way to get raped."

3/30/2010 11:24:58 PM

I was going through the process of signing up for this until I realized they require a donation of $25 I thought this was free. BS

6/8/2010 12:11:01 PM

^ it is free. Or at least, it was when I signed up.... Doesn't the donation just get you verified and run a background check? I didn't think it was necessary

6/8/2010 1:44:44 PM

I just searched in charlotte, and all of the people look really interesting and outgoing. I could see this as being a fun way to travel, and get an insider's view/experience of where you are traveling. I could see some very fun nights or weekends using this. I would be like gaining an network of freinds anywhere (logistics and little details). That being said, I wouldn't want to sleep on a couch. Fuck that--Hotels exist for a reason.

Could be useful for euro backpacking, work travel, etc.


Don't know about hosting though... I'm not that much of an extrovert.

6/8/2010 2:58:07 PM

6/8/2010 3:40:10 PM

I've known lots of people to do this in Europe, all highly recommended it and said that they really got to know the locale and had their most wonderful experiences there

not me though...hostels ftw

6/9/2010 4:59:24 AM

bump

7/1/2011 12:37:20 PM

We recently hosted a girl from Portland, OR who is kicking around the US and recently graduated. She has a pretty good couchsurfing strategy- stay in a town for 3 or 4 weeks, but move to a different house every 4-5 days to avoid being too much of a burden on her current hosts. She also stayed with married or long-term couples to avoid any awkward encounters. We didn't see her much during the day- she was doing a garden install and working some other odd jobs- but overall had a lot of fun hanging out at bars at night and biking around.

Only thing I wished she had done was tell us she was going to stay over a dude-of-interest's house one night- I kept thinking she was in a ditch somewhere, instead of getting some booty.

7/1/2011 12:57:42 PM

damn she stayed with you for 3-4 weeks?

7/1/2011 1:24:13 PM

i read the title and thought this was the new "planking"

7/1/2011 2:07:31 PM

^^ No, she stayed with us for 3-4 days. She stayed in town, but at new houses every 4-5 days as I outlined.

7/1/2011 3:56:32 PM

Quote :

"Or at least, it was when I signed up.... Doesn't the donation just get you verified and run a background check? I didn't think it was necessary"

I just signed up and yeah, it requires $25 right now in order to get "verified", although the process for verification is just slow and doesn't really offer much added security. It's obvious that all the people who aren't verified just didn't want to pay the money.

I was really really surprised by how many people are on the site at this point, going on 3 million right now. For some reference, Wikipedia has 15 M registered accounts and facebook has 600 M. It also seems that it's still going strong, and I'm curious if it'll have problems continuing to scale.
http://www.couchsurfing.org/mission_stats.html

If I search a town for places, even a fairly small one, I'm like "does this list ever end?" That kind of opens up new possibilities that I'll have to chew on for a while.

I do need friends though. PM if you're on it.

7/1/2011 7:17:30 PM

make sure your gat works before the visitor comes

7/2/2011 9:01:46 AM

Because making your visitor the first Couchsurfing casualty is so much more preferable over having something stolen. Which they could probably do in the middle of the night anyway. My mind boggles over what possible logic could make sense of that.

7/4/2011 6:37:51 PM

I'm a member of this site. Haven't surfed anywhere yet but me and my friend Stephanie have hosted quite a few people from the States and Europe. Its been cool and interesting...

7/4/2011 7:19:34 PM

Quote :

"My mom's friend is a member and has had some STRANGE people stay with him."

This would be my concern. Or that they steal what little shit I have worth stealing.

7/5/2011 10:37:12 AM