RARING TO GET FOOTLOOSE? COUCH SURING MAY BE THE WAY FOR YOU. t2 TAKES A LOOK AT THE PHENOMENON THAT HAS GIVEN TRAVEL A WHOLE NEW DIMENSION
You are planning to visit Berlin. Instead of looking up hotels to stay at, you contact a local person, ask if he can host you during your stay there, and maybe, show you around in his free time. The German guy agrees. All he asks you in return is to let him stay at your place when he visits your city next year. Sound cool, doesn’t it? That’s exactly how couch surfing works.
Orissa and Bihar are yet to catch up with the phenomenon called couch surfing (CS) that has gripped the world. With more than three million members from 246 countries and territories, this organisation envisions “a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter”
To become a member of CS, you just have to create a profile on the website www.couchsurfing.org. Then, when you are visiting, say Berlin, you could do a “couch- search” and find out people who want to host visitors or maybe, just meet up for coffee or a drink. Then you can send them a message and take it from there.
There are also groups on the site, and they may be on anything from a place to music and arts or sports. These groups give members with similar interests the chance to discuss issues online, plan meets, trips and events.
CS tries to make the hosting and staying process as safe as possible with some devices like “vouching” and “references”. Once you have stayed with your host in Berlin, you could write him a reference on the website stating whether staying with him enriched your travel experience and if he was a good host. Likewise, the host gets to write you a reference mentioning if he had a good experience hosting you. Or you can vouch for someone. A member of CS can only vouch for others if he has been vouched for by at least three other people.
All these measures make CS by and large safe. So, if you read your prospective host or guest’s profile carefully before sending a couch request or accepting to host, there is a good chance that you will have a great experience.
“I love CS! It tends to attract fun-loving people, and I’m always excited about the next amazing person I’ll get to meet, share stories, and learn from,” writes Caroline Irvine, 23, from Canada, on her CS profile. Caroline was recently visiting India for a few months.
The CS scene is quite active in the major cities of India. While the Delhi and Mumbai groups on the site have more than 5,000 and 3,600 members respectively, Calcutta has around 830. All these groups are very active with regular meetings and events taking place.
In contrast, the number of members in the Bhubaneswar and Patna groups are 34 and one respectively. The search for a Cuttack group does not yield any results. However, there is a group called Bodhgaya Nalanda Bihar that has 26 members. But these groups are hardly active and there is absolutely no activity in the Patna group.
Twenty-four-year-old Johannes Breitwieser from Germany who was in Bhubaneswar earlier this year, said: “I found there was nothing going on really I texted some people, but didn’t get a reply and also the group seems to be rather inactive.”
Marzia Priori, 34, a yoga teacher, who is originally from Italy, has lived all over the world during the last 15 years and coushsurfed extensively. She has travelled across India right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. “I love this country and its people and I have made a lot of friends through CSing here. But no, I didn’t find much CSing happening in Bhubaneswar. I have been to Bihar as well. I stayed in Bodhgaya for a month but I didn’t do any CSing there,” she said.
However, Marzia said her friend Hanna from Poland couchsurfed in Bodhgaya. “Her host also ran a guest house. I stayed there for one night, but I paid. So it wasn’t really CSing for me,” she said.
So, what do Indian CSers have to say about this phenomenon?
“I have been part of CS for over three years now and have met some of the most interesting people from around the world. There is so much to learn and experience. You meet such wonderful people from all over, it’s like meeting the whole world at your doorstep,” said Sanjay Paul, 35, who is based in Calcutta and is an active member of CS.
For Tanveer Singh, 28, from Gurgaon, it started with a friend calling up from Estonia. “He asked me if I could help with his stay in Delhi. When he came we went out together and he asked me to join CS. Since then, it has been a pleasant journey of meeting and hosting people,” he said.
It’s time travellers from Orissa and Bihar woke up to this phenomenon because Couch surfing has given travel a whole new dimension.
Surf & travel
- Couch Surfing (CS) provides hospitality exchange and social networking services, especially for travellers
- You can find an interesting friend wherever you go, whether it’s on the other side of the world, or right in your hometown
- You can join for free by signing up at couchsurfing.org
- CS has over three million members in 246 countries and territories
- There are also different groups on the site based on interest
- Before you visit a new place, do a “couchsearch” to find people who may host you
- Meet up with them or send them a message asking them for a couch
- CS tries to make the hosting and staying process as safe as possible with devices like “vouching” and “references”