Couchsurfing and Hospitality Club
It was in April 2004 that I had gone to Film Museum to watch Chinatown. I had gone alone, but there I met a guy I knew from one of Vijay's choirs. He was with another friend of his and after the film, we decided to go for a drink. This friend of his was from the Netherlands, and had been living in Vienna since a year or so (I think); he was an avid traveller, and when he heard that I love travelling and meeting people and making friends too, he suggested that I join Hospitality Club. Later on, via members of Hospitality Club, I found and joined Couchsurfing, another similar organization.
The concept is beautiful. You like travelling and meeting people from various cultures and helping people in general, and when you travel, you tend to travel without luxuries and like to imbibe the local cultural experience and make friends with the local people. Hospitality Club (HC) and Couchsurfing (CS) are for you. You invite members who visit to your city/town to stay at your place (for free of course) and make friends with them, help them, interact with them, take them out, give suggestions... whatever, it all varies from individual to individual, from guest to guest. In fact you need not even host people-- you can offer to meet up with them, show them around, go out for a drink/dinner or invite them for a meal at your place, whatever you like.
Every member has a profile, and ideally a potential guest would browse the profiles of members in the city he intends to visit, and write to people he is interested in. If the potential host looks at the requester's profile and if he is able to s/he may decide to offer accomodation, meetup, whatever. You are not compelled to host if you want to be a guest, and in fact there is no compulsion of any kind, except of course that of respect.
I have hosted a lot of people from both organizations, and met up with many more, both residents of Vienna or otherwise.
My Experiences as a Host
My first guest was Nicholaus from Freiburg, and immediately proved that I would like the concept. He was doing his PhD on telepathy. Yes, telepathy. As a scientist, I would be extremely unlikely to come across someone who was actually doing a PhD on stuff like that. So he was coming to Vienna to attend a conference on the paranormal; since he didn't have a presentation himself, his institute had agreed to pay the cost of registration, but not accomodation. Anyway, he was a very interesting chap to talk to even about the bunkum he was doing. I cooked lunch for him on the last day, Sunday, and then took him to visit the gardens of Schönbrunn. We both enjoyed my first HC experience.
My second guest was Vladas, a telecom engineer from Lithuania (before that I had probably only vaguely heard of this country). He was here for a conference and wanted to stay in Vienna before (at my place) and after (with another member). We had nice discussions, and he enjoyed my cooking very much too. Vladas had emailed a lot of other people from HC and we had my first mini-meeting of HC/CS, where I first heard about CS, and I also met Marcus who is passionately involved with CS. In fact that evening we also went to Marcus' place and played card games. It was good fun.
So far I have hosted people of the following nationalities:
American- 3 (two HC and one CS)
Australian- 2 (CS)
Canadian- 2 (one HC and one CS)
Dutch- 1 (HC)
French- 3 (two HC and one CS)
German- 1 (HC)
Hungarian- 1 (CS)
Indian- 3 (CS)
Lithuanian- 1 (HC/CS)
Mexican- 1 (HC/CS)
Portuguese- 2 (CS)
Singaporean- 1 (CS)
Spanish- 3 (HC)
At their request, I also met up with a Polish girl and a Swiss girl (both HC). The former had a long stopover on her way to SE Asia and I showed her around a bit during that time. The latter had come to Vienna with her class and I took her for a drink and dinner at Kolar.
The guests I really enjoyed having, were the Spanish couple from Barcelona, Marc and Noemi, both in their 30s. Marc is teaches Project Management, while Noemi is an Art Historian. They are lovely people, friendly, enthusiastic, understanding, interesting to talk to etc etc. Of course I cooked for them as I cook for most of the guests I like, and I also went with them to the Leopold Museum. The museum is of course fantastic and I had been thinking to visiting since quite a while, but it was really great to visit it with an Art Historian. I hope I get to see them again, probably visit Barcelona again...
The Australian actors were also very interesting. The girl, Marika is a theatre actress and has moved to London now. The guy, Mark, acts in musicals (he sings very nice), but because it doesn't pay too well, he is going to Business School now. They had hired a car in France and were travelling all around Europe. They insisted that I come with them to watch The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Nice people, I wish they had stayed longer, or that I could spend more time with them.
As a Guest
During my visit to Greece last year, I stayed with Giorgos (CS) for 5 days and with Manolis (HC/CS) for a night, both in Athens.
I was Giorgos' first guest, as he was my first host. Giorgos is an assistant cameraman for commercials. He lives in a small flat close to his parents'. He tool me around on his scooter to the Lykkavitos hill and then around central Athens, on the first evening. He even drove me to Sounion where I wanted to visit the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon. We also lazed on the rocks and when the sun came out, on a secluded beach that he knew from his shooting. We also had delicious sea food at the restaurant and beween the two of us we finished 3/4ths of a bottle of ouzo, quite an achievement for me especially considering that later that evening we met up with Manolis and another CSer and had some foul tasting and horribly strong stuff called Rakimela. I am surprised I did not get drunk.
After touring Greece, on my way back, I had to spend a night in Athens again, and this time I stayed with Manolis. Manny had invited another CSer for dinner and he cooked some stuff (I forget what) and also made his famous Cretan salad that he makes for all guests. Later we went to a sweet shop for sweets (and I got some for the lab).
During my visit to Paris (and Tours) from next week, I'll be staying with 4 CSer (the last of whom has not yet been decided), and hope to meet up with several others. I am looking forward to my second round of experiences as a CS guest.
HC/CS Social Activities in Vienna
I have met quite a few people in Vienna (residents) through HC/CS. I have mentioned Marcus before, and now we even met outside the context of HC/CS last week. Among the nicest members in Vienna are Peter and Ana. Peter is Austrian and his wife Ana is Guatemalan. They had lots of guests all the time and it is only recently that they have cut it down because they were not getting any time to spend with each other. They also like meeting people, and they used to message other members in Vienna and invite them over for a chat and dinner. They also invite people along when they take their own guests out. Peter loves photography and has to take several shots for each photograph, and that is a running gag too. Other CS/HC members from Vienna I have met quite often include Anita, Evelyn, Adam, Darko, Othmar and Gerald.
CS Meeting Linz/Pleschingersee, 2005
Mikky, a member from Linz, and Marcus organized a barbecue and camping event in Pleschingersee area near Linz. A lot of people turned up, including Casey Fenton, the founder of CS, and also Duke, a popular Mexican member who was touring Europe at that time and later was my guest during a visit to Vienna. We had good fun, and I met a lot of nice and interesting people there, starting with Gerald and Othmar when the former gave me and the latter a lift to the place. There was Valentin whose tent I "surfed" and who has since moved to Villach, and the Canadians, Jamie and Pierre-Yves. The latter is a student of film making and he made a beautiful film with his footage and Peter's and my photos (WMV or Quicktime).
Marcus is organizing another 10-day event in Eisenstadt and Vienna (Danube Island) in July. I am looking forward to participating again (in the weekend actvities).
The concept is beautiful. You like travelling and meeting people from various cultures and helping people in general, and when you travel, you tend to travel without luxuries and like to imbibe the local cultural experience and make friends with the local people. Hospitality Club (HC) and Couchsurfing (CS) are for you. You invite members who visit to your city/town to stay at your place (for free of course) and make friends with them, help them, interact with them, take them out, give suggestions... whatever, it all varies from individual to individual, from guest to guest. In fact you need not even host people-- you can offer to meet up with them, show them around, go out for a drink/dinner or invite them for a meal at your place, whatever you like.
Every member has a profile, and ideally a potential guest would browse the profiles of members in the city he intends to visit, and write to people he is interested in. If the potential host looks at the requester's profile and if he is able to s/he may decide to offer accomodation, meetup, whatever. You are not compelled to host if you want to be a guest, and in fact there is no compulsion of any kind, except of course that of respect.
I have hosted a lot of people from both organizations, and met up with many more, both residents of Vienna or otherwise.
My Experiences as a Host
My first guest was Nicholaus from Freiburg, and immediately proved that I would like the concept. He was doing his PhD on telepathy. Yes, telepathy. As a scientist, I would be extremely unlikely to come across someone who was actually doing a PhD on stuff like that. So he was coming to Vienna to attend a conference on the paranormal; since he didn't have a presentation himself, his institute had agreed to pay the cost of registration, but not accomodation. Anyway, he was a very interesting chap to talk to even about the bunkum he was doing. I cooked lunch for him on the last day, Sunday, and then took him to visit the gardens of Schönbrunn. We both enjoyed my first HC experience.
My second guest was Vladas, a telecom engineer from Lithuania (before that I had probably only vaguely heard of this country). He was here for a conference and wanted to stay in Vienna before (at my place) and after (with another member). We had nice discussions, and he enjoyed my cooking very much too. Vladas had emailed a lot of other people from HC and we had my first mini-meeting of HC/CS, where I first heard about CS, and I also met Marcus who is passionately involved with CS. In fact that evening we also went to Marcus' place and played card games. It was good fun.
So far I have hosted people of the following nationalities:
American- 3 (two HC and one CS)
Australian- 2 (CS)
Canadian- 2 (one HC and one CS)
Dutch- 1 (HC)
French- 3 (two HC and one CS)
German- 1 (HC)
Hungarian- 1 (CS)
Indian- 3 (CS)
Lithuanian- 1 (HC/CS)
Mexican- 1 (HC/CS)
Portuguese- 2 (CS)
Singaporean- 1 (CS)
Spanish- 3 (HC)
At their request, I also met up with a Polish girl and a Swiss girl (both HC). The former had a long stopover on her way to SE Asia and I showed her around a bit during that time. The latter had come to Vienna with her class and I took her for a drink and dinner at Kolar.
The guests I really enjoyed having, were the Spanish couple from Barcelona, Marc and Noemi, both in their 30s. Marc is teaches Project Management, while Noemi is an Art Historian. They are lovely people, friendly, enthusiastic, understanding, interesting to talk to etc etc. Of course I cooked for them as I cook for most of the guests I like, and I also went with them to the Leopold Museum. The museum is of course fantastic and I had been thinking to visiting since quite a while, but it was really great to visit it with an Art Historian. I hope I get to see them again, probably visit Barcelona again...
The Australian actors were also very interesting. The girl, Marika is a theatre actress and has moved to London now. The guy, Mark, acts in musicals (he sings very nice), but because it doesn't pay too well, he is going to Business School now. They had hired a car in France and were travelling all around Europe. They insisted that I come with them to watch The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Nice people, I wish they had stayed longer, or that I could spend more time with them.
As a Guest
During my visit to Greece last year, I stayed with Giorgos (CS) for 5 days and with Manolis (HC/CS) for a night, both in Athens.
I was Giorgos' first guest, as he was my first host. Giorgos is an assistant cameraman for commercials. He lives in a small flat close to his parents'. He tool me around on his scooter to the Lykkavitos hill and then around central Athens, on the first evening. He even drove me to Sounion where I wanted to visit the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon. We also lazed on the rocks and when the sun came out, on a secluded beach that he knew from his shooting. We also had delicious sea food at the restaurant and beween the two of us we finished 3/4ths of a bottle of ouzo, quite an achievement for me especially considering that later that evening we met up with Manolis and another CSer and had some foul tasting and horribly strong stuff called Rakimela. I am surprised I did not get drunk.
After touring Greece, on my way back, I had to spend a night in Athens again, and this time I stayed with Manolis. Manny had invited another CSer for dinner and he cooked some stuff (I forget what) and also made his famous Cretan salad that he makes for all guests. Later we went to a sweet shop for sweets (and I got some for the lab).
During my visit to Paris (and Tours) from next week, I'll be staying with 4 CSer (the last of whom has not yet been decided), and hope to meet up with several others. I am looking forward to my second round of experiences as a CS guest.
HC/CS Social Activities in Vienna
I have met quite a few people in Vienna (residents) through HC/CS. I have mentioned Marcus before, and now we even met outside the context of HC/CS last week. Among the nicest members in Vienna are Peter and Ana. Peter is Austrian and his wife Ana is Guatemalan. They had lots of guests all the time and it is only recently that they have cut it down because they were not getting any time to spend with each other. They also like meeting people, and they used to message other members in Vienna and invite them over for a chat and dinner. They also invite people along when they take their own guests out. Peter loves photography and has to take several shots for each photograph, and that is a running gag too. Other CS/HC members from Vienna I have met quite often include Anita, Evelyn, Adam, Darko, Othmar and Gerald.
CS Meeting Linz/Pleschingersee, 2005
Mikky, a member from Linz, and Marcus organized a barbecue and camping event in Pleschingersee area near Linz. A lot of people turned up, including Casey Fenton, the founder of CS, and also Duke, a popular Mexican member who was touring Europe at that time and later was my guest during a visit to Vienna. We had good fun, and I met a lot of nice and interesting people there, starting with Gerald and Othmar when the former gave me and the latter a lift to the place. There was Valentin whose tent I "surfed" and who has since moved to Villach, and the Canadians, Jamie and Pierre-Yves. The latter is a student of film making and he made a beautiful film with his footage and Peter's and my photos (WMV or Quicktime).
Marcus is organizing another 10-day event in Eisenstadt and Vienna (Danube Island) in July. I am looking forward to participating again (in the weekend actvities).
posted by A.S. at 9:47 PM
2 Comments:
I grew up moving around a lot too, but for the last two decades I have been mostly in one place. Nice article.
Hello Paul! You're the first commenter on this blog!!! Thanks for visiting and commenting, and of course for liking the article. If you like meeting and helping people from all over the world, do check out CS and HC!
20 years at one place! Wow! I wonder whether I'll ever manage to do that :-)
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