Couchsurfing (Part 1)

Mi Casa, Su Casa


Tokyo, a couchsurfer megalopolis
There are thousands of hosts in Tokyo, hotly sought after by countless visitors to the ever-expensive Japanese capital.
Ogimachi, Hida, Japan
One of the traditional villages of Shirakawa-Go commune, one of the snowiest regions in the world. There, the houses were built with A-shaped roofs, in order to prevent landslides due to the accumulation of snow.
Dhukurpokhari
Dhukurpokhari's Inns provide more or less halfway between Chame and Pisang.
Looped ascent
Visitors go up the stairs to the Museo del Campesino restaurant.
Colonial Heritage
Partially isolated from the world due to the rigidity of the military regime, Yangon is one of the cities in Southeast Asia with more colonial buildings.
in the comfort of home
Young family at their home on the outskirts of Suva.
Color balconies
Balconies worked in an alley of the fort.
cubic houses
Very cubic colors and shapes of the San Juan neighborhood.
suzdal-golden-ring-russia-fashion-old-thousand-years-Irina-Zakharova
Dª Irina Zakharova prepares a breakfast in her family inn.
rural affairs
In 2003, a new online community globalized an old landscape of hospitality, conviviality and interests. Today, Couchsurfing welcomes millions of travelers, but it shouldn't be taken lightly.

Sounds simple, Couchsurfing.

You go online, register an account and fill in a profile and provide some more information. From then on, it becomes possible to sleep without spending on hostels or hotels in the homes of literally millions of hosts all countries in the world, North Korea included.

In 2013, there were more than one million registered users, with an average of 28 years. Even Julian Assange from Wikileaks was part of the community, but now it's the Ecuadorian Embassy – as far as we know, not registered on the site – that has been hosting him for a long time.

From Spontaneous Movement to Hyper-Organized Online Community

Initially, I led this community, not for profit and with good intentions, a group of idealistic volunteers, but the unexpected fame of the project came to corrupt the original ideals of sharing and socializing. Even so, countless people continue to strive to make travelers happier.

In exchange for the accommodation we need, it is assumed that at least one or another of these millions of registered users will also be able to stay in our house a few times a year.

From then on, the relationship established depends on the good will and open-mindedness of both the guest and the traveller, but as not always everything goes as expected, here is an overview of the best and worst of Couchsurfing, with some personal examples.

House Saints Don't Always Make Miracles

Couchsurfing Fake Offers:

part of the alleged guests attract travelers to their profiles and even to their properties with the sole purpose of imposing chargeable stays on them, with values ​​similar to those of hostels and inns.

Sometimes this is stated on the profile, but others allow a free first night and announce that there is an amount to pay – for one reason or another – the next morning. This was a question we came across dozens of times on two round-the-world trips and round-trips to the Pacific.

Fortunately, with careful reading of profiles and messages exchanged, as well as attention to telephone conversations, we were able to manage it with relative ease.

Sometimes, even against the founding principles of the Couchsurfing community, we couldn't get affordable accommodation in another place and time and, to be honest, we ended up staying in rooms/houses “advertised” on the Couchsurfing website.

By the way, we remember this problem in the immensely expensive French overseas territories – French PolynesiaFrench Antilles. It is natural that it happens a little everywhere.

The Lonely and/or Guest with Predefined Interests in Couchsurfing: 

is one of the really common situations in the community Couchsurfing. Countless hosts feel lonely or because of psychological, family and social problems or because they live as expatriates, out of step with the places and cultures they have changed to and expect guests to spice up their existence.

This reality becomes really unpleasant when they have already idealized that they will have the company of guests 24 hours a day and hinder their freedom or their plans. We went through several situations of this kind, with completely different experiences and results.

It went well: nothe surroundings of Perth, Western AustraliaTim had recently been divorced. He only lived with a son who completely ignored him. 

He welcomed us and a couple of Germans. He slept on the sofa, offered us the car to explore the Great Ocean Road and took us to see a australian football game among many other incredible sympathies. Despite his somewhat colloquial treatment, we had a lot of fun conversations. 

We have already praised him in several articles about Melbourne and we will never forget it. If you come to Portugal, we insist that you stay with us.

Did Bad: in Utsunomya, in the Japan, halfway to Nikko and her temple complex, we were taken in by a Japanese teenager obsessed with learning English who, in addition, despite not informing him, lived in a tiny T0.

As we arrived at his house late at night and we were far from any alternative, the three of us ended up sleeping on the floor, side by side with our legs under a table.

But that wasn't even what bothered us the most. The worst thing was that, the next day, he tried to stick to us in such an overt and oppressive way that we had to invent an excuse to leave him in the middle of the afternoon.

Homes Sweet Homes or Not As Sweet As This

We also stayed in pristine, sophisticated homes and avoided or left, as soon as possible, homes for us uninhabitable. It's not that we've always managed to fulfill it, but it's important to always have an alternative plan from other Couchsurfers or, if that's not possible, from another type of accommodation, for when things don't go as expected.

It went well: noone of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Tokyo, the American host, a consultant in a multinational company, received us saying that we had broken the record for the delay in arriving at the entrance to the building. à door of his house, such was the technological complexity of the building in which he lived.

As you can imagine, in this case, we feel physically comfortable in his modern, almost futuristic home, even if he turned out to be too corporate and “numerical” by our standards – the typical American eager to become the next "wolf of Wall Street".

went wrong: in Christchurch, in the south island of New Zealand, we had a response from a student in his twenties.

When we arrived at his house, he wasn't there. But there were six or seven other young women, almost all of them women, also couchsurfers, scattered all over the house. One of them welcomed us and told us to settle in wherever we wanted.

All around, everything was a messy, dirty and repulsive chaos and we are far from spoiled. We appreciate it, but we transmit it in the most sensitive way possible to that friend that we weren't going to stay after all. It still occurs to us today that either the host was, himself but only he, irresistible, or those girls were really penniless.

SexSurfing and the Pitfalls

It goes without saying that, even if some countries are practically unworried, no matter where you go, the issue of safety should be on the mind of any couchsurfer.

One of the most recent criticisms of the community is that it houses too many guests and also travelers whose interests are purely sexual. Although almost all relationships end up being consensual, the news of forced sexual relations became more and more frequent, some with extreme violence.

It is Couchsurfing's own directives to advise women traveling alone or even in small female groups to avoid seeking and accepting male guests.

Finally, in some countries with recognized criminality problems, even Couchsurfing has come to be used as a tool for robberies and kidnappings. Malicious procedures are simple to calculate, the malicious host creates a fake profile and attracts victims where it is most convenient for him, not necessarily his home.

To avoid these two problems above, carefully read the profiles and all references of the people you contact and respond to. Don't trust guests without full profiles.

By the way, trust only guests with many positive references from other couchsurfers from different parts of the world. Also investigate as much of the person's remaining online presence as you can. Here, the Facebook obviously has a prominent role.

The Couchsurfing site also launched, some time ago, a paid credit card verification system that allows you to securely associate a name and e-mail to an account with a payment of around €20. .

This verification has become Couchsurfing's main source of income, but it is much criticized because, in practice, it is largely ignored since what it commits to do does not provide any guarantees of real safety.

For more information and safety advice on Couchsurfing itself, go to the Couchsurfing website Safety Tips.

Effortless Traveling

Sync with Check In and Check Out Hours

After a long flight or sequence of flights, he arrives at the hotel on a slop, but has to wait to be admitted to his room. Find out what you can do to prevent or soften this drama.
Effortless Traveling

Book Comfortable Stays for Your Finances Too

As with flights, booking accommodation has its secrets. Find out what the strategies are to ensure a welcoming and financially rewarding stay.
Travel does not cost

On the next trip, don't let your money fly

Not only the time of year and in advance with which we book flights, stays, etc. influence the cost of a trip. The payment methods we use at destinations can make a big difference.
Houses

Homes Sweet Homes

Few species are more social and gregarious than humans. Man tends to emulate other homes sweet homes in the world. Some of these houses are impressive.
Perth, Australia

the lonely city

More 2000km away from a worthy counterpart, Perth is considered the most remote city on the face of the Earth. Despite being isolated between the Indian Ocean and the vast Outback, few people complain.
Apia, Western Samoa

The Host of the South Pacific

She sold burguês to GI's in World War II and opened a hotel that hosted Marlon Brando and Gary Cooper. Aggie Gray passed away in 2. Her legacy lives on in the South Pacific.
Osaka, Japan

In the Company of Mayu

Japanese nightlife is a multi-faceted, multi-billion business. In Osaka, an enigmatic couchsurfing hostess welcomes us, somewhere between the geisha and the luxury escort.
Mendoza, Argentina

Journey through Mendoza, the Great Argentine Winemaking Province

In the XNUMXth century, Spanish missionaries realized that the area was designed for the production of the “Blood of Christ”. Today, the province of Mendoza is at the center of the largest winemaking region in Latin America.
Okavango Delta, Not all rivers reach the sea, Mokoros
Safari
Okavango Delta, Botswana

Not all rivers reach the sea

Third longest river in southern Africa, the Okavango rises in the Angolan Bié plateau and runs 1600km to the southeast. It gets lost in the Kalahari Desert where it irrigates a dazzling wetland teeming with wildlife.
Prayer flags in Ghyaru, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 4th – Upper Banana to Ngawal, Nepal

From Nightmare to Dazzle

Unbeknownst to us, we are faced with an ascent that leads us to despair. We pulled our strength as far as possible and reached Ghyaru where we felt closer than ever to the Annapurnas. The rest of the way to Ngawal felt like a kind of extension of the reward.
Itamaraty Palace Staircase, Brasilia, Utopia, Brazil
Architecture & Design
Brasilia, Brazil

Brasília: from Utopia to the Capital and Political Arena of Brazil

Since the days of the Marquis of Pombal, there has been talk of transferring the capital to the interior. Today, the chimera city continues to look surreal but dictates the rules of Brazilian development.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Adventure
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
MassKara Festival, Bacolod City, Philippines
Ceremonies and Festivities
Bacolod, Philippines

A Festival to Laugh at Tragedy

Around 1980, the value of sugar, an important source of wealth on the Philippine island of Negros, plummeted and the ferry “Don Juan” that served it sank and took the lives of more than 176 passengers, most of them from Negrès. The local community decided to react to the depression generated by these dramas. That's how MassKara arose, a party committed to recovering the smiles of the population.
Magome to Tsumago, Nakasendo, Path medieval Japan
Cities
Magome-Tsumago, Japan

Magome to Tsumago: The Overcrowded Path to the Medieval Japan

In 1603, the Tokugawa shogun dictated the renovation of an ancient road system. Today, the most famous stretch of the road that linked Edo to Kyoto is covered by a mob eager to escape.
Meal
World Food

Gastronomy Without Borders or Prejudice

Each people, their recipes and delicacies. In certain cases, the same ones that delight entire nations repel many others. For those who travel the world, the most important ingredient is a very open mind.
Newar celebration, Bhaktapur, Nepal
Culture
Bhaktapur, Nepal

The Nepalese Masks of Life

The Newar Indigenous People of the Kathmandu Valley attach great importance to the Hindu and Buddhist religiosity that unites them with each other and with the Earth. Accordingly, he blesses their rites of passage with newar dances of men masked as deities. Even if repeated long ago from birth to reincarnation, these ancestral dances do not elude modernity and begin to see an end.
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Sport
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Composition on Nine Arches Bridge, Ella, Sri Lanka
Traveling
Yala NPElla-Kandy, Sri Lanka

Journey Through Sri Lanka's Tea Core

We leave the seafront of PN Yala towards Ella. On the way to Nanu Oya, we wind on rails through the jungle, among plantations in the famous Ceylon. Three hours later, again by car, we enter Kandy, the Buddhist capital that the Portuguese never managed to dominate.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Ethnic
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
sunlight photography, sun, lights
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 2)

One Sun, So Many Lights

Most travel photos are taken in sunlight. Sunlight and weather form a capricious interaction. Learn how to predict, detect and use at its best.
Registration Square, Silk Road, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
History
Samarkand, Uzbequistan

A Monumental Legacy of the Silk Road

In Samarkand, cotton is the most traded commodity and Ladas and Chevrolets have replaced camels. Today, instead of caravans, Marco Polo would find Uzbekistan's worst drivers.
Glass Bottom Boats, Kabira Bay, Ishigaki
Islands
Ishigaki, Japan

The Exotic Japanese Tropics

Ishigaki is one of the last islands in the stepping stone that stretches between Honshu and Taiwan. Ishigakijima is home to some of the most amazing beaches and coastal scenery in these parts of the Pacific Ocean. More and more Japanese who visit them enjoy them with little or no bathing.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Winter White
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
shadow vs light
Literature
Kyoto, Japan

The Kyoto Temple Reborn from the Ashes

The Golden Pavilion has been spared destruction several times throughout history, including that of US-dropped bombs, but it did not withstand the mental disturbance of Hayashi Yoken. When we admired him, he looked like never before.
VIP lights
Nature
Moyo Island, Indonesia

Moyo: An Indonesian Island Just for a Few

Few people know or have had the privilege of exploring the Moyo nature reserve. One of them was Princess Diana who, in 1993, took refuge there from the media oppression that would later victimize her.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Seljalandsfoss Escape
Natural Parks
Iceland

The Island of Fire, Ice and Waterfalls

Europe's supreme cascade rushes into Iceland. But it's not the only one. On this boreal island, with constant rain or snow and in the midst of battle between volcanoes and glaciers, endless torrents crash.
Jeep crosses Damaraland, Namibia
UNESCO World Heritage
damaraland, Namíbia

Namibia On the Rocks

Hundreds of kilometers north of Swakopmund, many more of Sossuvlei's iconic dunes, Damaraland is home to deserts interspersed with red rocky hills, the young nation's highest mountain and ancient rock art. the settlers South Africans they named this region after the Damara, one of the Namibian ethnic groups. Only these and other inhabitants prove that it remains on Earth.
View from the top of Mount Vaea and the tomb, Vailima village, Robert Louis Stevenson, Upolu, Samoa
Characters
Upolu, Samoa

Stevenson's Treasure Island

At age 30, the Scottish writer began looking for a place to save him from his cursed body. In Upolu and the Samoans, he found a welcoming refuge to which he gave his heart and soul.
Mangrove between Ibo and Quirimba Island-Mozambique
Beaches
Ibo Island a Quirimba IslandMozambique

Ibo to Quirimba with the Tide

For centuries, the natives have traveled in and out of the mangrove between the island of Ibo and Quirimba, in the time that the overwhelming return trip from the Indian Ocean grants them. Discovering the region, intrigued by the eccentricity of the route, we follow its amphibious steps.
Herd in Manang, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 8th Manang, Nepal

Manang: the Last Acclimatization in Civilization

Six days after leaving Besisahar we finally arrived in Manang (3519m). Located at the foot of the Annapurna III and Gangapurna Mountains, Manang is the civilization that pampers and prepares hikers for the ever-dreaded crossing of Thorong La Gorge (5416 m).
Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
Bright bus in Apia, Western Samoa
Society
Samoa  

In Search of the Lost Time

For 121 years, it was the last nation on Earth to change the day. But Samoa realized that his finances were behind him and, in late 2012, he decided to move back west on the LID - International Date Line.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, StreymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
Devils Marbles, Alice Springs to Darwin, Stuart hwy, Top End Path
Wildlife
Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia

Stuart Road, on its way to Australia's Top End

Do Red Center to the tropical Top End, the Stuart Highway road travels more than 1.500km lonely through Australia. Along this route, the Northern Territory radically changes its look but remains faithful to its rugged soul.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
PT EN ES FR DE IT