It is difficult to believe that it has been 10 years! Couchsurfing has been a significant part of my life and I think, now it is a perfect time to take a look back. In this post, I will review my Couchsurfing journey.
I want to stress, that everything here is my personal experience. It is mostly limited to Russia and Northern Europe. For me, most of the things have been positive, but I also know about people, who tell a different story. For this reason, I will collect links to other travel bloggers, sharing their Couchsurfing experience. I hope to make this post useful for both, experienced and new Couchsurfers.
(I have photographed Couchsurfers a lot, all images here are done by myself)
What is Couchsurfing? (to me)
I doubt that you read this post, without knowing what Couchsurfing is. So here is the brief: it is a social network for travelers, where you can find someone to provide a place to stay or someone to show around their city. You can be a host and do the same in your own city. How can you trust a stranger? Read the references left by other Couchsurfers. Sharing economy in tourism at its best.
But the important thing is, it is not limited to the above-mentioned. I think the main feature of Couchsurfing is the community. It has managed to gather an enormous amount of like-minded people in all corners of the globe. It is easy to meet someone and easy to get along.
I wouldn’t say I am a very active member, but on Couchsurfing, I met around a third of people I know. Some of them became my best friends. I hosted and surfed, but most of all, have been attending Couchsurfing gatherings in my hometown St. Petersburg and around Europe.
It started as a small Couchsurfing family
In St. Petersburg, 10 years ago, a Couchsurfing weekly gathering was something like 3-6 people meeting at a pizzeria. (It is around 50-100 attendees now). There weren’t many hosts, and because of that, I think, couch requests and communication were a bit more personal. It felt like a small family.
For me, it was life-changing. Couchsurfing gatherings allowed meeting foreigners, practicing English and getting to know about the world from the first hands. 10 years ago, there weren’t many places like this in Russia. If I didn’t join Couchsurfing, most probably, I would never move abroad, travel as much internationally and start a blog.
“Transition period”
In 2011, Couchsurfing moved from volunteers network to for-profit. In the following years, many pioneers of Couchsurfing were abandoning the website. I saw blog posts, discussing the fall of Couchsurfing.
Around 2012-2013, it seems there was a boom of new users. Weekly gatherings started looking less like a meeting of friends and more like speed-dating. You meet new people, talk to them for a while and then never see them again. That was about the time when I moved to Finland.
In Finland, I started receiving a lot of couch requests from 0-references, half-empty profiles. When it came to actual hosting – people would not show up. I was thinking I would start leaving negative references for people, who confirmed their stay and didn’t bother notifying that their plans have changed. But I ended up abandoning Couchsurfing for some time, keeping in touch only with the old members I knew.
Back on track
Around four years ago, I graduated from a university in Finland. The international students I hanged out with moved back to their countries. Looking for internationals, I returned to Couchsurfing gatherings and liked what I saw. In both, Russia and Finland, meetings got big, with enough locals and travelers. There were many new people, who attended them regularly. Once again, it felt like a community.
Couchsurfing hangouts, introduced in 2016, made it very easy to meet with new people. You just specify what you are up to, and people may join. In large cities, Couchsurfers started group chats. Unlike before, you can drop a message and there are good chances, that within an hour you will find someone to have lunch with or to go out in the evening.
About gatherings
For me, Couchsurfing is primarily the community. I don’t know many places, where new people can so easily get along. Some people don’t join Couchsurfing, because they don’t have a place to host and I always explain that it is not solely about that.
In most of the big cities, there are weekly gatherings (one of my favorite things to do in St. Petersburg). I like them because they are good for both: keeping in touch with local Couchsurfing friends and getting to know about travel destinations.
There are all kinds of organized events, from small escapes to nature to huge annual gatherings (Couchsurfing camps). Couchsurfing Camps happen 1-2 times a year mostly in large cities or camping in the middle of nowhere. They last for around 3-4 days with the main events happening on weekends. I know some people, who spend their vacation traveling from camp to camp.
I would say, the events are a nice place to get to know a potential host for the future. It is easier to host someone, who you have already met (and probably had a good time with). Most of the people I hosted and surfed at are the ones I met before.
Hosting
For me, Couchsurfing is mostly meetups, but I occasionally hosted people. The cool thing about travelers – they make you re-discover the place you live. Many times I said something like: “Oh, I see it every day, I forgot that it is so pretty”. I also don’t like traveling solo. When I have Couchsurfing-guests, I go to someplace I wanted to visit in my city.
99% of the experience was positive. I never had any bad experience with people I hosted but had it with the ones I didn’t host. It is not nice when people don’t show up. If a host confirms a stay to someone, they have to make sure they have free time to meet them. When someone tells they cannot come – it is annoying, but understandable. But if they don’t even inform you, you stay close to your home expecting guests, instead of traveling or hosting someone else.
Surfing
My experience is mostly limited to Northern Europe and Russia. The hosts I met were outstanding. Locals can show you the real life in the country and bring you to the places you wouldn’t think about.
Again, 99% of the experience was extremely positive. In 10 years, there was only a single case in Venice. It was my friend processing the couch request, the host agreed, but then declined because we didn’t answer his message in 2 hours (we were in a foreign country with a limited internet connection). We had to move to a hotel in Padova.
Couch requests
Couchsurfing encourages people to write long, personal requests. And, I think, during the whole 10 years it has been debatable. When you study a profile in detail and then write a long personalized message – it doesn’t guarantee you will be accepted. And if you have sent several requests like that – it can take you half of a day (working day basically). If you work this day instead – you have money for a hostel (which is a guaranteed stay).
If I am to give advice, I would say, if you are a new user – write long. It would show the host, that you are committed. When your profile has many references, you may save time and write something simpler (references would do the rest).
When you look for a host, remember that Couchsurfing has thousands of inactive profiles. It is disappointing when you make a long request and host sees it only when your trip is over. You may sort profiles by last login date and response rate, it helps a bit to filter out inactive users.
Another piece of advice – look for a host at new Couchsurfers. I know some Couchsurfers in popular touristic places, who tell the number of requests becomes unmanageable. Also, new users have a sincere interest. Experienced ones may tell: “Here is the towel, bed linen, and the key, I work tomorrow, will go to sleep now”
How do I look for a host?
When I look for a host, first of all, I check if there are Couchsurfers I know. If not, I run the host search and sort profiles by the last login date or by response rate. I send around 10 requests in one day. Normally the answers come within a week, and out of 10, there is a good chance to be accepted.
I think twice, before sending requests to Couchsurfers in locations, that suffer from excessive tourism. Normally people, who show up on top of the host lists can have around a hundred of requests per week.
Conclusion
After 10 years, I feel like Couchsurfing journey is far from over. I cannot thank the community enough. I think I am one of these people, who speak split lives before and after Couchsurfing.
Further reading
Isabel Song tells about her Couchsurfing experience in Europe, as a solo female traveler. Her post is called: Is Couchsurfing safe?
Anita, from Time Travel Bee blog, has couchsurfed in over 40 countries. Here, she tells how to start Couchsurfing and gives some useful beginner tips.
Kathy from Walkabound Wanderer couchsurfed in Europe and Asia, she tells about the unusual places, where Couchsurfing can bring you and gives a lot of safety tips.
Raksha, an experienced CouchSurfer tells how to find good hosts and gives basic tips to new Couchsurfers.
Daisy will tell about her experience couchsurfing in Oman. An interesting read, that could be useful for other travelers to the Middle East.
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