This is officially our first shot at night on our travels with our DSLR Canon Rebel T1I in Rotterdam, Netherlands: Erasmus Bridge. Rotterdam is known for it’s architecture, and in only 2 days, we saw plenty of it!
Tag Archives: couchsurfing
Where the Google is Malta?
The fall of 2008 was my first exposure to the “budget airline”. The US has Southwest, Jet blue, and Virgin Airlines …but they have nothing on the budget airlines of the EU. Who knew you could fly from Venice to Dublin or from London to Geneva for 5 Euro flat, with NO taxes?
Yes, there are some catches if you’re traveling with a check-in, but that’s another post entirely. We only needed our carry on backpacks for most of our trips! I only had a few short months in Europe and wanted to make sure I booked all my flights early. Ryanair’s name (among others) came up quickly. Despite the negativity I’ve read about the airline – including numerous canceled, delayed,and “haha-screw you” flights…- we went with the Dublin based airline and hoped for the best. I’m happy to report that I’ve never had an issue with Ryanair, yet.
Playing at the Park
Ryanair was offering their notorious, limited time, no tax flights, and one of the options was Malta. After some Google-ing , I learn that Malta is one of the smallest countries in the world, and it is south of Italy. Yes, an actual country! Here’s an example of how my geography education has failed me.
The amazing offer was about to expire, so we booked the flight on a whim. We book for early winter and hope that Malta, being south of Italy, will still be supporting warm weather. I figured, 10 Euro roundtrip? If something comes up that weekend and we have to cancel, so be it…but we couldn’t miss out on the chance of a lifetime going to, uh Malta? I’m very glad we followed through with it. It was probably one of the best destinations we hit our entire trip.
Land of the Fighting Irish: Dublin
Last week I made a post reminiscing on past couchsurfing experiences. I’d like to this start this gloomy Wednesday with an in-depth account of one those trips.
Our host - Loch - lives in an incredibly cute, story book, blue house.
Dublin, the head quarters of Ryan Air, was being offered as a 5 Euro (no taxes) trip from London back in the fall of 2008. Karen – my traveling buddy – and I jumped on the chance to buy the tickets and decided even 2 nights in Dublin is better than nothing. We hopped onto couchsurfing.com and sought out a couchsurfer host. I don’t know how we got so incredibly lucky, but Loch – who is usually booked with couchsurfer guests – had some room for us! He even offered to pick us up from the airport.
Despite being delayed, Loch waited patiently for us and was an amazing host for our entire trip! We perused the list of many things to do, and the Guinness Storehouse is definitely a tourist favorite! Unfortunately we had to pass on it due to our time constraints, but maybe we’ll head there on another trip.
We did, however, make some time for some delicious food and a tour of a prison. Yeah, a prison. Kilmainham Gaol is Europe’s largest prison no longer in use. The leaders of the 1916 Rebellion were executed here. I think this prison should be at the top of the list for must-sees due to it’s eerie vibe mixed with its history. The tour is absolutely fascinating and, for 2 Euros for students, it is budget friendly as well.
Couchsurfing, NOT just a free place to crash.
“Isn’t couchsurfing where you surf couches down a hill?”, is what I was asked after I kept raving about how much I loved my experience couchsurfing in Europe. No, not quite. Not even close.
Couchsurfing is probably the greatest idea in travel after Skype, both of which I discovered while abroad. The idea is simple: share your couch with a stranger. The idea completely threw me for a loop, and I was confused on how someone would be willing to let me, a stranger, stay at their place for free.
How do you know the person you’re staying with won’t be a serial killer?
Fair question. Essentially, members have a profile and it works similar to any review system. Instead of reviewing as you would on tripadvisor or amazon, people get rated and references by people who vouch they they are indeed great people. There are also “ambassadors” that are even in charge of couchsurfing groups and host a ridiculous amount of people a year in their region or city. You’ll have to check out the site for my specifics, but I have never regretted choosing a CS experience over a hostel/hotel. I would not have met all of these people, received such great advice, or shared some unforgettable experiences otherwise. All of my hosts that have a facebook are now my friends on FB as well as on CS. I hope to have the pleasure of showing them around my city if they ever hit The States.
What do they get if they let you stay? Nothing is free in life. Didn’t anyone teach you that?
You’re right. It isn’t free necessarily. I think anyone who expects to get a free place to stay (sometimes a couch, sometimes a guestroom) should not expect to walk in there and just use their water and electricity without ever saying a word. While some have donation jars in the room where you can leave money to go toward utility bills, most hosts just expect to hear about you. Yes, you. Share your cultural experiences with them. Share about who you are and get to know them. Some hosts will spend more time with you than others, which is fine. Don’t go in expecting something specific. They likely aren’t expecting anything either, but it would be nice of you to do something. It is completely up to you what you get them. When Richard and I couchsurfed in Rotterdam, we knew we were staying with Canadians. We got them old-fashioned syrup as a gift. For some hosts, I have given gifts and for others, I have restocked their fridge with some things they were low on such as yogurt, bread, and juice. When hosts take us out, we are more than happy to grab a few round of drinks or even dinner. Organize their bathroom, cook them dinner, what have you. If you stay a week, you should probably contribute more than if you stayed the weekend but I’ll assume you could figure that out.
Is it only for free accommodation?
Definitely not! While I love to couchsurf when possible, it often isn’t always possible. I would say I use couchsurfing more for asking questions regarding travel and recommendations on restaurants. There are also couchsurfer meet ups where you can meet locals, sit and grab a beer or coffee, or bar hop. If you’re even remotely interested, check out your local couch surfer city group meet up. It’s monthly!
Okay, it sounds a little less crazy…but how did this idea even start?
How all great ideas start: in college. In 1999, Casey Fenton found a ridiculously cheap flight from Boston to Iceland. He randomly e-mailed 1,500 students from the University of Iceland asking for a “couch” or place to crash. Most of the students probably thought he was crazy (I would). However, he received more than 50 offers. That in a nut shell was the inspiration for the CouchSurfing project that officially became public in 2004. Today, there are over 1 million active couchsurfers.
The CouchSurfing Virgin
At first, the idea of couchsurfing intrigued me because it was essentially a free room. Even cheap hostels in Europe add up quickly, especially when I was abroad and the Euro was 1.5 the USD$. $20-30 per night on a hostel adds up all too quickly, but what ultimately started as hoping for a free place to stay quickly turned into some of my most memorable experiences and my preferred mode of travel whenever possible.
My first couchsurfing experience was with my Euro-traveling buddy, Karen. We wanted to head to Milan for the weekend and thought that would be a perfect time to try out couchsurfing. Our home city of Padova was only a short train ride away and we figured if we thought the people were crazy, we could easily book it. We were lucky to have the best first couchsurfing experience possible. Vincenzo was our first host, and we were his first guests after his trip to the States. He had just returned back from traveling from roadtripping California and beyond, and we were lucky to get him right as he returned. He was more than happy to immediately continue hosting despite being exhausted from his travel! He had some great roomates and friends – Davide and Andrea Paglialonga, brothers from Sweden. Vincenzo was also so generous that he had new sheets and let me and Karen take the bed while he took the couch! If that weren’t enough, they took us on a tour of the city at night, happy hour, and we watched the TV show Friends before we retired for the night. They are now facebook friends and are more than welcome to visit next time they are in the states!
Our first couchsurfing experience with Vincenzo, Andrea, and Davide in Milan!
