Showing posts with label couchsurfing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label couchsurfing. Show all posts

First things first: I subscribe to everything Lena wrote about getting to Chris’ apartment. Let’s just say I have never been happier to be greeted by a doorman – not that I have ever been to an apartment building with a doorman before - except the fact that he made fun of me for not being able to pronounce Chris' last name. (Exactly what happened to L the year before.)

The summer after L’s first stay at Chris’ we decided to meet up in NYC and he was kind enough to host us (again), even though he had loads of visitors that weekend. We were 6 people in his one-room apartment. How we did it? I have no clue. I just remember Chris’s friend sleeping on some towels in the hallway, because there literally was no more inch left in the room. Hello there, hardcore sleepover!

I didn’t want to admit it back then but I was quite nervous, since I didn’t know our host and was on my own for the first night. As soon as I got to his place though, all my worries were forgotten.  Chris was super nice and even though he had to go to work the next morning he listened to all my stories until late at night. I felt so welcome at this apartment, it was ridiculous, considering the fact that this was a complete strangers house. What flustered me most was that within ten minutes of knowing me, Chris gave me a key to his apartment and told me I could come and go whenever, even if he wasn’t there. How can a person be that trusting? It still baffles me. And then there was the food sharing thing. “Feel free to eat anything you find around here. But it might be safer to check the expiration date before” I mean I get the hosting people for culture exchange purposes thing. But don’t touch my food, person. That’s where the friendliness stops. Not in Chris' world, though.

But this weird concept some people call food sharing didn’t stop there. The next day I was invited to come by Chris’ work. To pick him up and then get some dinner, at least that’s what I thought. When I got there, though, I received a text saying “Tell the doorman your name and come up. You’re on the list” THE LIST?? 

Now, you have to know that back then he worked for a pretty well-known media company with a huge office building just off Central Park. Telling the doorman my name, letting him take my picture to put on my Visitor Pass, then being thrown into this world full of busy and important people and shown around didn't feel like anything remotely close to reality anymore. But forget all that. More important was the fact that the waiting area was full of food. Full to the bursting. With anything you can imagine. And I was allowed to take whatever my heart desired. It was the BEST DAY EVER. I remember sitting there, on a huge pink couch, not daring to get up and messaging my friends because I couldn't believe it. (It was so good that two days later, Lena and I forced Chris to put us on “The List” again – mainly to show Lena all the food.)

But even all the food aside, it was a great weekend. We explored the City some more, went out with the whole apartment crew – which might or might not have been the time when Lena pretty much asked the bouncer if he knew that we weren’t quite old enough yet to enter the club, but that's another story – and generally had a really good time. 

blurry picture - great memories

I still talk to Chris sometimes and I know that we are always welcome back in New York. What I’m trying to say is this: Without Couchsurfing we would have never seen the inside of a NYC office building. We would have never even dreamed about going clubbing in the City. And we would have never had a friend there we could go back to visit. So if you are still skeptical about the whole concept, don’t be! Try it! I’m not promising that it will be great, but it might be. And just the possibility of such a unique and different trip is worth the try. Even if your host turns out to be horrible, it's still a good story to tell.

Have you tried CS yet? Tell us about your experiences. The good, the bad, the ugly, we want to hear about them all!


xx Kathi


Photos taken in: New York, USA

This is going to be a story about both our first time Couchsurfing, which happened to be with the same guy: Chris from New York. For the ones of you who do not know what "Couchsurfing" is - it is fairly simple: There is this website (www.couchsurfing.com), where you can sign up and look for free places to sleep. Traditionally you sleep on a couch in someone's apartment, sometimes you even get a bed and - if you are especially lucky - your own room (but do not expect that to happen on a regular basis). It is a great way for broke travelers like us to be able to go on a trip regardless their empty wallet and to engage with the culture and everyday life of the locals. Just keep an open mind and your priorities in order and you will be guaranteed to have a unique and unforgettable experience. You might even make a friend along the way, which is exactly what happened to us. 

My first contact with Couchsurfing was back in 2013 when I was living in the United States and wanted to visit christmassy New York. I had just heard about this website and got curios, so I signed up and sent out my first few surfing requests. After a few declines I received a very nice message from this guy living on 4th Avenue offering his couch to me and my friend Tiana. There cannot be any harm in that, right? Well, imagine this:

You arrive in the city at 12AM and the bus driver lets you off in a dark, abandoned alley and you have no idea where you are. "Okay, no need to panic. We only have to find 4th Avenue and Chris' apartment now. Easy peasy. No need to panic." Then you run around in circles - because turns out 4th Avenue is pretty long - without finding the right apartment but instead crossing ways with a bunch of creepy people in the biggest city you have ever been to, not knowing anyone. This is probably the time when you actually start panicking, just a little bit. "So, where is this apartment now?...we have already been here...this guy looks scary...he is coming closer...OMG! We are gonna die out here!! Okay, he just passed. No need to worry...but WHERE ON EARTH IS THAT APARTMENT?! Oh, here it is."

We had passed said apartment three times already by the time we actually found it. But our little adventure did not end there. After an actual doorman told us where to go - you have no idea just how fancy we felt in that moment - we ended up standing in front of the door we thought was our host's both being too scared to knock. What if it was a rapist or a serial killer? You never know. While we were still deciding who would stand in front of the other and take the first bullet, we already knocked and prepared for the worst. Fortunately, nothing happened. I mean literally, nothing happened. Turns out we knocked on the wrong door at 2AM in the morning. I guess the person was not at home. But Chris was, and we had loads of fun getting to know him better over the next few days. He definitely was not a creep and the best first Couchsurfing host possible!

Read about my second time staying at Chris's, our summer trip to NYC and how we ended up being friends with our Couchsurfing host in Kathi's post on Saturday.

xx Lena


Photo taken in: New York City, USA
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