Things You'll Need:
- Profile on hospitalityclub.org or couchsurfing.com
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Step 1
Set up a profile on Couchsurfing.com and/or Hospitalityclub.org, the two biggest hospitality-exchange websites (about 700,000 couches worldwide between them!). The main differences are Couchsurfing (CS) was started in the US, and is more States-centric, and Hospitality Club (HC) was started in Germany, and has more Euro couches. HC also has a processing time of near two weeks on all new profiles. They are both free (but if you want to donate or get verified to the tune of $25, bless your heart).
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Step 2
Fill out your profile. No one wants to host (or stay with) a new member without any idea who they will be hosting. Fill in the sections creatively, giving readers an idea of who you are, what you do, what kind of music you like. Upload a nice, recognizable headshot, and maybe another picture of you having fun or hiking a tall mountain.
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Step 3
Do a search for the city you want to stay in. The couches you can request will be in the thousands in New York, but there might only be two in an out-of-the-way village in the French Alps. Check out your prospective hosts' profiles, giving the comments they've been left by other members close attention. These will be your best tips to what you can expect when staying with your host.
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Step 4
Pick five or seven of the most interesting people, and be open-minded as to who you pick. It might be fun to stay with an American attending the American University in Cairo, but it might also be fun to stay with a nice family. Make sure it will be a good situation -- if you want to party all night, don't pick that family.
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Step 5
Write a clever form letter a week or two before arriving, telling your prospective host who you are, why you're going wherever it is you're going, and why you chose them. Put some thought into it. Change a sentence here and there to "personalize" it, but your host will understand that you don't really know them and time in the internet cafe is short.
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Step 6
Check your responses, confirm with the best host who invites you in a reasonable amount of time, and ask how to get to their place. If you're lucky (and this, in my experience, is often the case), your host will pick you up at the station.
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Step 7
Bring a bottle of wine, accept any hospitality (i.e. drinks, food) they force upon you, and write them a glowing comment if they warrant it. This is the best system for travel that independent travelers have, and if you respect the system, it will treat you amazingly well. With my hosts, I have celebrated Day of the Dead in Prague, gotten a motorcycle tour of Istanbul, infiltrated a fortress via catacomb in Serbia and received countless home-cooked meals. Coming home, these experiences were the only things I talked about.
Comments
adyster said
on 9/21/2009 Cool! Great tips! Should check out www.liftsurfer.com as well. Lets you find lifts from city to city (i.e. the next couch!)