Globally, solitary travel and low-cost travel have changed the perception of how many popular mobile apps and websites, perhaps the top five, will be couchsurfing. CouchSurfing is basically a free travel-accommodation platform. Solo travelers, low cost travelers use this medium a lot, especially travelers from western countries.
If you are a low cost traveler, travel around the world regularly and look for low cost accommodation or free accommodation, couch surfing is for you. An account on this website and its proper use can reduce your travel costs by 25-30%. Although couchsurfing is not yet very popular in our country, Indian and Pakistani travelers within our Indian subcontinent use this medium a lot. Today we will learn the beginnings and uses of couch surfing.
That's how couchsurfing came about
Casey Fenton, a computer programmer from New Hampshire, was the first to come up with the idea. When Casey was 21, he got a low-cost plane ticket from Boston to Iceland, but had no plans to stay in Iceland. He then hacked the University of Iceland's student database and e-mailed 1,500 students for free accommodation. He received a response from about 100 people who agreed to give him a free place to stay. He chose one of them and finished the trip to Iceland from his home.
When Casey returned to Boston, he got on the plane with the idea of couchsurfing. On June 12, 1999, he registered its domain. Couchsurfing became a non-profit multinational company in 2003, and a website called couchsurfing.com was launched in 2004. Currently, this medium is used by both 12 crore traveling hosts and surfers in different countries of the world.
How to become a member
Open an account at couchsurfing.com. And it's like opening an account on ten websites. Couchsurfing has two types of members. Verified and non-verified. You will have to pay a fee of $ 60 to get a verified account. Fees can also be paid with a credit card or dual currency debit card. Then do the phone verification. National ID card verification can also be done. Having a verified ID will help you get a host and surfer. No one wants to host or surf on a non-verified ID.
Couchsurfing but a website built entirely on the concept of social service activities. This $ 60 couchsurfing of your verification is entirely spent on social development work. If you are a regular solo and low cost traveler, it is advisable to have a verified account in CouchSurfing. This $ 60 investment will come at once if you travel to a host's home for a week for free.
After opening the account, write in detail what benefits you can offer to a surfer as a host. If you have any restrictions on hosting your home, write down the details. Sort your profile well. And if you can't afford to pay 60 for a verified account, host a few surfers with a non-verified account. Your contacts Add some personal references about you from other couchsurfing users. Even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person.
How to use
Always try to stay at the home of CouchSurfing Verified Host. Request a host on the couch surfing at least two weeks before the travel date. Take a good look at the profiles of people who have responded to your request. Read other people's reference comments on their profile. Always try to accept the invitation of the host who has hosted the most.
Accept the invitation and give him a message. Make the relationship a little lighter by sending messages for 2/4 days. Just text him again 2/1 days before the trip. Travel by knowing his home address, phone number and location on Google Map.
If you are a host, take a good look at Surfer's profile. Explain your home address, phone number and location on Google Maps. And if the surfer is free when you arrive in your city and you have your own vehicle and if possible pick him up from the airport, train station, bus terminal and pick him up again at the end of the trip. When looking for a host, try to get a host in the middle of the city or in the vicinity of the city center, then you will get a lot of benefits in travel. When requesting a host, write down the details, then the hosts in the vicinity of the city center will invite you.
Do's and Don'ts
As a host or surfer you must have some human qualities. You need to be humble, travel-loving, story-telling, hardworking and clean. You just have to be more discriminating with the help you render toward other people.
You go to someone's house, go there and try to be a member of their family for a while. Try to mingle with everyone in the host family. While at home, like a family member, take part in their family activities, cooking, eating, chatting, if you can cook a good local food in your country, cook and feed them one day. It will also have a family chat, learn about the lifestyle of the local people, the environment will be beautiful.
Share your travel stories, family stories, country stories, cultural information, etc. with the host's family and get to know them. If you are a host, make Surfer a member of your family. Be friendly to the children of the host family. If possible, buy small chocolates or similar gifts for the children when returning to the host's home after each day's travel.
Surfers Always follow the host's family etiquette, keep the space you are given neat and tidy. When you return at the end of the trip, leave it as you found it.
Couchsurfing courtesy
Whenever you go to a host's house, it's not like you have to take something with you. Couchsurfing is a travel-friendly website built on the concept of social and free housing and is completely free. It is also not mandatory. But you are going to a man's house, stay for a while, eat, he will take you around his city when he has time, even many hosts do the work of picking up and dropping guests from airport, train station or bus terminal, so this host is quite a surfer for a man. Money-time-labor is spent. That’s why couchsurfing always supports providing some gifts for the host, although it’s not something mandatory. This courtesy is actually good for the host-surfer. It makes the relationship between the two more beautiful.
Now you may think, what to take as a gift? All you can do is introduce your country, take your country's tourism sector as a gift. For example, a map-embroidered T-shirt of Bangladesh. Such t-shirts are now available online for 250-300 rupees. You can also take a show-piece of your culture as a gift, which will decorate his living room. He will be happy to give the gift to the host in a beautiful packet and if you leave this gift in his living room, it will be a memory for you for the rest of your life, just as it will introduce your country's culture to a different country in the world.
There is one more thing that can be done. Make small key rings by printing on wood with your name, picture and contact information. This low-cost gift is like leaving your memory to the host for a lifetime. It can also be a way for him to communicate with you throughout his life. With a visiting card he may one day forget, but this key ring will remind you everyday if he uses it all his life, occasionally communicating. A friend will grow for a lifetime. If you are saving a few thousand rupees on a trip to someone's house, you should spend a few hundred rupees there. Please follow this courtesy of using couchsurfing.
Caution
Is there any risk in using couchsurfing? The question must have been on my mind for so long. Absolutely not. To date, there has been little evidence of cheating, robbery, or rape using couchsurfing. However, before using it, read the references of both the host and the surfer's profile carefully. Since there will be a few online conversations before the trip, you will get an idea about the host or surfer. And keep the local police number of the place of travel with you while traveling.
After all, travel to know yourself, to know the creation, to know the world. Travel should be beautiful, safe and affordable. Proper use of couch surfing will make your trip affordable, safe and enjoyable.
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