That article is my speech #3 for a toastmasters organization of which I am a proud member.
Fisrt speech was about myself and i did it couple of months ago and the second was about Chile, longer version of which i posted earlier.
Enjoy)
Their motto is:
"Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch at a Time"
Today I want to shear with you something I got really excited about few months ago. And when I get really excited about something it normally can mean 2 things: 1) that can really be cool stuff worth paying a lot of attention to 2) I am mistaken and it’s really worth nothing.
I have a feeling that it is case number one this time otherwise almost 3 million people wouldn’t have joined the organization. It is more people than entire population of Jamaica. And I am talking about a Couchsurfing project. And the idea behind it is incredibly simple. When someone travels from one place to another and has no friends or relatives to stay with at that new place, his options are pretty much limited to the following:
- Hotel
- Hostel (started as a youth hostels in Europe I think)
And that’s about it.
But in the year 1999 a guy named Casey Fenton, an American, came up with the option #3, nobody thought about before. And that was to stay at the house of the local people who live in a destination city with no monetary exchange taking place except for voluntary compensation of incurred expenses. Think about it like you are visiting your friend. You would probably pay for something after all… may be food…
The idea arose after finding an inexpensive flight fromBoston to Iceland in 1999. Fenton randomly e-mailed 1,500 students from the University of Iceland asking if he could stay. He ultimately received more than 50 offers of accommodation. On the return flight to Boston, he began to develop the ideas that would underpin the CouchSurfing project.
Since then organization grew and grew and as of today it has almost 3 million member (me included) speaking on 339 different languages. 246 Unique countries represented with 80,000 different cities. Most spoken language – English (almost 2 mln people) followed by French, Spanish and German.
Top 3 cities by number of surfers are all located in Europe – Paris (48,000), London and Berlin. New York is on number 8 with 18,000 surfers.
Their mission as an organization is to create inspiring cross-cultural experiences that are fun and engaging, in the world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter.
I personally found out about them about a year ago from fellow travelers in Colombia and thought that the idea of staying in strangers house is absolutely nuts and I quickly forgot about it. But after that I heard about them again and again and more I thought about it more sense it was starting to make.
Why do we normally travel to a new country?
- To relax. We get an all inclusive hotel on the beachfront and do not care about any local experience. All we need is sun and buzz. I have done that number of times before too, but would not want to do it again.
- To experience something new. And getting new experience through knowing local people and local culture in their own homes in my opinion is just amazing. Ask youself - what can you really experience in a hotel watching a TV in the evening in the language you don’t even understand? Chances are that nothing. And the best part about Couchserfing is that you can choose where to stay! Of course they can choose not to host you so that need to be mutual.
Needless to say one has to be selective while picking a place to stay or accepting a surfer in your house. Website makes that process easy by posting references by other travelers who has already been in contact with that person. If you don’t like references – no need to meet the person.
My personal experience (the first and so far only) in Chile was truly fantastic. I stayed with the guy in his apartment with amazing view on Santiago and he could not be more welcoming. We both benefited. I got an expedited intro to the culture and in 2 days met his mother, drank till 4 in the morning on Monday with his cousin, brother, and few friends and received a bottle of pisco as a gift. And he practiced his English and learned a great deal about US and Russia. And we both left positive references to each other. Its all about positive intercultural experience.
Here is one of the profiles of New Orleans girl I found interesting to say the least.
She says - I let people sleep on my couch and take them out to the secret good places in New Orleans. Except during Mardi Gras, because I hate outsiders who only come to my city during Mardi Gras in an attempt to get shitfaced on neon green daiquiris and puke on a stranger while having sex with them. Also, I just don't have room for you during goddamn Mardi Gras already. FUCKKKKKKKKK.
She has no positive references btw.
To conclude everything I want to say that this kind of experience is NOT for everyone. But if you are adventurous, love to travel and get bored at the hotels (like I do) than definitely, definitely try it no matter what age you are. Its worth it. I promise. Or your money back )
Their motto is:
"Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch at a Time"
Today I want to shear with you something I got really excited about few months ago. And when I get really excited about something it normally can mean 2 things: 1) that can really be cool stuff worth paying a lot of attention to 2) I am mistaken and it’s really worth nothing.
I have a feeling that it is case number one this time otherwise almost 3 million people wouldn’t have joined the organization. It is more people than entire population of Jamaica. And I am talking about a Couchsurfing project. And the idea behind it is incredibly simple. When someone travels from one place to another and has no friends or relatives to stay with at that new place, his options are pretty much limited to the following:
- Hotel
- Hostel (started as a youth hostels in Europe I think)
And that’s about it.
But in the year 1999 a guy named Casey Fenton, an American, came up with the option #3, nobody thought about before. And that was to stay at the house of the local people who live in a destination city with no monetary exchange taking place except for voluntary compensation of incurred expenses. Think about it like you are visiting your friend. You would probably pay for something after all… may be food…
The idea arose after finding an inexpensive flight fromBoston to Iceland in 1999. Fenton randomly e-mailed 1,500 students from the University of Iceland asking if he could stay. He ultimately received more than 50 offers of accommodation. On the return flight to Boston, he began to develop the ideas that would underpin the CouchSurfing project.
Since then organization grew and grew and as of today it has almost 3 million member (me included) speaking on 339 different languages. 246 Unique countries represented with 80,000 different cities. Most spoken language – English (almost 2 mln people) followed by French, Spanish and German.
Top 3 cities by number of surfers are all located in Europe – Paris (48,000), London and Berlin. New York is on number 8 with 18,000 surfers.
Their mission as an organization is to create inspiring cross-cultural experiences that are fun and engaging, in the world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter.
I personally found out about them about a year ago from fellow travelers in Colombia and thought that the idea of staying in strangers house is absolutely nuts and I quickly forgot about it. But after that I heard about them again and again and more I thought about it more sense it was starting to make.
Why do we normally travel to a new country?
- To relax. We get an all inclusive hotel on the beachfront and do not care about any local experience. All we need is sun and buzz. I have done that number of times before too, but would not want to do it again.
- To experience something new. And getting new experience through knowing local people and local culture in their own homes in my opinion is just amazing. Ask youself - what can you really experience in a hotel watching a TV in the evening in the language you don’t even understand? Chances are that nothing. And the best part about Couchserfing is that you can choose where to stay! Of course they can choose not to host you so that need to be mutual.
Needless to say one has to be selective while picking a place to stay or accepting a surfer in your house. Website makes that process easy by posting references by other travelers who has already been in contact with that person. If you don’t like references – no need to meet the person.
My personal experience (the first and so far only) in Chile was truly fantastic. I stayed with the guy in his apartment with amazing view on Santiago and he could not be more welcoming. We both benefited. I got an expedited intro to the culture and in 2 days met his mother, drank till 4 in the morning on Monday with his cousin, brother, and few friends and received a bottle of pisco as a gift. And he practiced his English and learned a great deal about US and Russia. And we both left positive references to each other. Its all about positive intercultural experience.
Here is one of the profiles of New Orleans girl I found interesting to say the least.
She says - I let people sleep on my couch and take them out to the secret good places in New Orleans. Except during Mardi Gras, because I hate outsiders who only come to my city during Mardi Gras in an attempt to get shitfaced on neon green daiquiris and puke on a stranger while having sex with them. Also, I just don't have room for you during goddamn Mardi Gras already. FUCKKKKKKKKK.
She has no positive references btw.
To conclude everything I want to say that this kind of experience is NOT for everyone. But if you are adventurous, love to travel and get bored at the hotels (like I do) than definitely, definitely try it no matter what age you are. Its worth it. I promise. Or your money back )
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