I remember hearing about couchsurfing a couple of years ago when I was listening to NPR. The people on the program were talking about some of the pro's and con's that were associated with sites like couchsurfing and one other site that allowed you to exchange houses with another person/family. I thought the idea was neat but not necessarily for me.
I come from a family that seems to have a constant flux of people from all around the world that visit (right now, my mom's best friend, a German named Uwe, is staying at my parents' house for the next two weeks). My mom goes over to Germany for several weeks each year and ends up staying with people that she just met, only speak German (of which my mom can basically say "The airplane is dead") , and then inviting them to stay with her in the US. This is the sort of ability that I envy since she is very comfortable staying with people she barely knows if it means she is having an adventure. I can't do that.
In setting up a couchsurfing account, I can see how it would be useful to someone like my mom or even college students who are looking to save money and still have fun, but for someone like me, I just don't know. As I'm getting ready to plan a trip for my husband and I to visit the New England area, I'm almost halfway tempted to throw in one night of couchsurfing just for the experience, but I think there is still that hesitation that we could end up in a bad situation. I definitely wouldn't do it by myself, but with my husband, there is a little more security. So we'll see about that.
I like that you can look at other people's profiles in couchsurfing and read some of the comments that people have made. I looked through a lot of profiles though and didn't see any negative comments. It seems sort of impossible that out of all the people who do couchsurfing that there are no negative comments. It even seems like couchsurfing discourages negative comments since you have to message the couchsurfing honchos to process a negative experience. So does this mean that couchsurfing is just that awesome or does it mean that only the positives are being highlighted?
I set my profile up to have coffee since I live in a house with virtually no room for someone to spend the night. We had a guest room at one point, but it was converted into another office. I joined a few local groups, and I was able to see how people could just throw out a "hey I'm going to be in the area these dates- who can help me out?" I actually answered a question that one woman had on trying to plan a western NC trip since I knew that one of the roads she wanted to travel on was closed for construction. Couchsurfing is one of those communities where it seems like everyone is really nice, so much so that I keep thinking there has got to be some catch to it all. Some dark underbelly that isn't being revealed.
After writing a few references for classmates, it seems that you could really just get anyone to write something nice about you. I don't even know in-person some of the people I gave a reference for, for all I know, they could have a collection of severed heads in their basements (I seriously doubt it, but you never know).
Couchsurfing seems like the sort of site that you go to for specific reasons, but not necessarily to hang out like some of the other social networking sites (i.e. facebook). There aren't games to play or the like, but what makes couchsurfing so different is that a lot of your interactions on couchsurfing could result in possibly meeting the person or people that you talk to on a message board or get in contact with to meet up or stay with. This is something that makes couchsurfing a whole different beast than other social media. The other social medias allow you to display yourself for others to look at. Couchsurfing seems more like a place to put yourself out there to actually meet people and make real interactions- not just comments on a blog or wall.
After going through my meetup meeting, I'm not as hesitant about couchsurfing as I might have been when I first started putting my profile together. So maybe, just maybe, this will be something I'll be using when putting my trip together.
You actually can leave a negative reference, and you do find them here and there- but in general that's a sort of kiss of death, so you wouldn't do it lightly- You don't need any permission to do it, but should consider things like whether it was just a misunderstanding, or really something that makes the person unworkable.
ReplyDeleteI'm on a couple groups that really don't relate to getting together so much as talking about world travel, getting advice, etc... though of course travel is the end goal...