Coachsurfing: How And Why
Do you want to find out more about the country? Then talk to the locals. Sometimes, it is necessary to run away from pesky tourists, from the crowd of other foreigners, from noisy roommates in the hostels. And that’s when couchsurfing comes to the rescue.
The system is simple:
- You register at https: https://www.couchsurfing.com/ и начинаешь искать.
- The interface is simple, no problem will appear.
- There are a lot of offers – choose whom you like. Someone will immediately remember the unreliability and the element of surprise – you never know what the person whom you decide to stay with is in fact. But back to the positive side: let’s talk why we insist on going for it.
Communication with locals
The first and the most important reason is the opportunity to see how a country is living in fact. You find yourself in a home environment with all its tradition and comfort, and become a part of the family, even if it happens for one night. You will learn more about the country on the whole, because the key element coachsurfing is communication. If a person invites you, they expect more than a few sentences and greetings on arrival. You may ask what you’ve been always interested in and tell about your country and living there. Discover something new, destroy old stereotypes.
Taking another look at some things
It often happens that people you stay with live quite differently. Not better or worse, not right or wrong. Just differently. And often their point of view concerning some things will be different from yours as well. It could be interesting to look at certain things from a different perspective. You might even find something interesting in it.
New discoveries
People of different nationalities, religions, and ages, people with different interests. Different climate, time zones, culture. This is, unquestionably, a wonderful experience, a great opportunity to learn how to adapt to different environments and find out directly about it while being a part of this environment. When you stay in a hostel, you remain a bystander. And most of the discoveries you are going to make can be done on the Internet while sitting at home. Moreover, locals can tell about the incredible non-tourist places, most of which you won’t be able to find on your own.
Traditional food
You can easily visit one of the restaurants or cafes and try the local cuisine. Without this no journey can be considered complete. But think about it: perhaps there is a difference between how the chefs and ordinary people cook. And chefs weren’t the ones who came up with the ideas of traditional dishes…
Daily life
If you stay in the country for a long time, you may have to move several times and stop in at different people’s places. And they can live differently. It is even more interesting – to watch how the daily life of the inhabitants of various localities in some unfamiliar country differs. Where people work, where they rest, what they eat, what they watch and listen to, what they are interested in, what they are talking about, what they buy and what they love… This allows to get a complete picture of what is happening around. If you don’t trust couchsurfing, you can only guess about it all.
Forget about stereotypes
Everyone, without any exceptions, has certain stereotypes about a particular country or its inhabitants. And often this perception is formed by some fragments seen on TV or read in books, heard of anecdotes, horror stories or the stories told by friends. But stereotypes are what we should fight with. Not all are Muslims in Turkey. Not everyone is poor and suffering from the lack of food and water in Africa. The Japanese do not eat just sushi. When you communicate with the locals, you begin to understand more about real country.
New friends
The very fact that some unknown people from across the world are ready to invite you to visit their places can tell a lot about them. Even if turns out that you don’t have a lot in common, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to be interesting. Share your experiences, tell some stories, invite people to visit your country.
Memories
Every journey is a memory. But memories become more numerous when there is more communication. You meet the variety of people with diverse life stories. And there is something connecting you with each of them. Travel is worth at least for that reason.
Leave your comfort zone
Many are frightened of annoying chats with strangers. Couchsurfing is a great opportunity to get out of your bubble. Occasionally, some incidents or misunderstandings can happen. But who said that it is bad? Sometimes new meetings lead us to pleasantly unexpected deeds.
Get further than tour guiding books lead you
One cannot get to Paris and fail seeing the Eiffel Tower. To come to Venice and miss riding a gondola. To come to Los Angeles and leave without taking a picture near some stars on the Walk of Fame. But if it all ends at these places, you’re not traveling right. Couchsurfing is an opportunity to learn about the places which locals visit and about things they love to do. And crowded places of tourist interest are exactly what they are trying to avoid.
It is safe
For some reason, people sometimes do not even think about couchsurfing, because they are scared to stop at some robbers’ place or get into the family or serial killers. In fact, those cannot be found on the website. Or, at least, it is extremely difficult to find them here. Every suspicious person can be seen a mile away. Choose people you like, people with common interests, couchsurfing experience, and positive feedbacks. It’s simple.
It is available for everyone
Coachsurfing works everywhere. People of all ages, nationalities, religions (this list can go on until you get really bored) are registered here. If you like traveling, you don’t necessarily have to receive visitors at home. If you like meeting guests, it is still not necessary to travel if you don’t want or don’t have an opportunity.
A wonderful option for those who travel alone
When it gets lonely, couchsurfing can be your salvation. People registered in the system are very friendly. The housing will certainly give a feeling of comfort, because you are not staying in a hotel or hostel any longer, but you visit someone’s home, one’s family. If you are traveling for a long time with friends, it is a great way to change the company and take a rest from each other.
Take a break from planning
Close the tourist guide book. There’s no need to look where to stay. No need to get puzzled over where it is best to go first, how to get there, where to eat, how to manage to see everything that is worth seeing and decide what to do list must look like. You are staying with the locals. They know everything.
Saving
This factor is no less important. So why didn’t we put it among the first ones? Because the entire system of couchsurfing is based on communication and assistance. If you decide to stop in just to save on housing, the communication won’t bring you a lot of fun.
Местонахождение участника с точностью до города автоматически определяется при входе на сайт и отображается в его профиле. Однако, определяется оно не всегда верно, например, при входе на сайт во Владивостоке часто как место последнего посещения сайта отображается Москва.
Насколько мне известно, это можно исправить с помощью формы редактирования – начать вводить название и выбрать город из выпадающего списка.
К сожалению, практически в каждой онлайн-системе остаются свои недочеты 🙁