Couch surfing: not as lazy as it sounds
Published Sept. 2, 2008
Patrick Dougherty wanted a week. Just one. He needed a place to stay while visiting The Art Institute of Chicago, and through something called couch surfing, the 24-year-old St. Louis native found one.
After finding a host for part of his trip to Chicago on CouchSurfing.com, Dougherty asked to stick around for a week - sleeping on a couch and getting by before starting a new search for another couch, another place to temporarily call home while on his visit. But his host didn't mind.
"She let me stay," Dougherty says.
She gave him the keys and a little responsibility for the cat, he says: "Feed it twice a day. You know, change its litter box."
Eventually, though, it was time to leave his host, along with her couch and her cat. But he's kept the experience and the connection with him to this day.
"Part of couch surfing is about networking, learning to be OK with yourself and with other people," Dougherty says. "It's about enjoying humanity."
Couch surfing was born, according to its official Web site, when founder Casey Fenton nabbed a cheap ticket from Boston to Iceland for a quick trip and realized he left home without two things: a place to stay and a willingness to do the tourist thing, hotel and all. Coming across a directory of University of Iceland students, Fenton e-mailed more than 1,500 potential hosts, explaining his situation and asking for a place to stay. He found a place to crash and a different way to travel.
Today, CouchSurfing.com serves more than 700,000 surfers, listing more than 500,000 couches available for use in more than 230 different countries.
And often, Dougherty says, couch surfing is more about the 700,000 potential friends than the destinations.
"Couch surfing is 90 percent people, 10 percent places," Dougherty says. "It reminds you that differences don't matter. It's gorgeous. It teaches you so much about people."
When Dougherty took an art class in Portland, Ore., he used couch surfing to connect with a family, use their couch and explore his temporary locale. "There's a mountain in the city, a forest in the city," he says. "People bike and there's so many interesting people. There's a lot of art."
After wrapping up art class, he gave the resulting paintings to that same family in Portland. They'll send him pictures of the kids. His Chicago host keeps him updated from time to time. "She'd tell me about all the exams she had coming up," he says.
Sure beats a stay in a hotel room.
"With a hotel, you get a mind-numbing experience," Dougherty says. "It's static. A hotel is the same in Florida as it is in Ohio."
Not having to pay for a room is another benefit. Ask Kat Erdel.
"I'd prefer not to put money in Paris Hilton's pocket," Erdel says.
But just as with Dougherty, the 25-year-old says money isn't the focus of couch surfing.
"You meet all kinds of people and they show you the best part of their community," Erdel says. "They take you to their favorite spots. When you do the tourist thing, that's not the true part of the town. There's more to it than that. It's about feeling that you're part of the global community."
Through couch surfing, Erdel has seen Portland, Seattle and Idaho. She's eaten at new restaurants, seen new environments and met new people. For the MU graduate, it's also a reminder of the good in humanity that's sometimes so easy to forget.
"There's a lot of negativity in the world," Erdel says. "The media creates a culture of fear. I think that's one reason people would be hesitant to join or participate. For me, couch surfing, allowing people into my home or going into someone else's home kind of breaks that fear. Couch surfing gives you a greater sense of trust towards others."
And, upon meeting other couch surfers, it's comforting to know that other people share similar views no matter where they are in the world.
"It's just exciting to see that people thousands of miles away share the same ideas," Erdel says.
MU senior Lauren Kilberg has only been couch surfing since last April and has already traveled more than many ever will.
"I spent the summer living in Prague and backpacking Eastern Europe and utilized the project through my travels," Kilberg says.
She's even started hosting surfers herself, including travelers on their way to Madagascar and an MU graduate who will be in town for the School of Journalism's upcoming centennial celebration.
While traveling in Europe this summer, Kilberg had to stretch her dollar. She'd be overseas for several months. Originally, couch surfing was just a way to make money last.
"But after having done it, it's really about the experience, meeting new people and getting a more localized perspective on the places I've visited," she says. "Saving a few bucks has just become an added perk."
Kilberg says that though she hasn't kept in contact with those she's met through her couch surfing experiences, she believes that they've still made their mark.
"In some way or another, everyone I've met through couch surfing has an impact on me," says Kilberg.
And they've been good to her, she says.
While in Vienna, her host entrusted his flat to her after just one night while he shipped off to Romania for business. A couple in Budapest gave her access to their spare apartment and cooked her breakfast and dinner each day of her stay.
"All in all, couch surfing has taught me about trust and generosity," Kilberg says.
And as Hurricane Gustav threatens to displace thousands of evacuees from the Gulf Coast, many couch surfers have offered to open their homes through a special registry on CouchSurfing.com. Efforts like this couldn't be done without the help of strangers - and the power of the Internet. Couch surfing, Dougherty says, just couldn't exist without it.
"Couch surfing is designed to get people to shake hands from all over the world, he says. "It's about being a good neighbor wherever you are."
The philosophy behind couch surfing is not just about a different way of traveling or of doing things. It's a different way of seeing the world, literally and figuratively.
"The world is so tiny," Dougherty says. "This is a great way to connect all the pieces."
