How to Couchsurf

For the uninitiated, couchsurfing.org is a social network basically, which is built toward connecting travelers with hosts. Everyone has a profile, which you fill out with your likes, dislikes, hobbies, all that standard 'about me' stuff with a particular emphasis on travel related details, such as listing where you have lived, where you have traveled, and what languages you speak. The more good detailed writing in your profile the better your chances of hosting and being hosted; what you put on there is going to be scrutinized.

Then when you are traveling, you search in the area where you want to spend a night or three (or more). You look through the profiles of people living there and send out requests. Then those people look at your profile and respond saying if you can come or not. I usually get about a 25% acceptance rate, and the most common reasons for getting rejected are either they already are full with couchsurfers or the hosts are on the road themselves!

Then, after host and traveler have parted ways, they usually write a reference for one another. The more references you have, the better, because these are key to a solid profile. If you've got a lot of good references, other couchsurfers can feel safe in the knowledge that you'll be a kind guest or host. This system works; thus far, everyone I've met who's a couchsurfer has been nothing short of friendly and hospitable.

I've been using couchsurfing.org a lot since I began traveling in May, and it is just the gift that keeps on giving. I've been telling people about it all the time, and I usually get one of two reactions: either "That's so cool, I want to try!" or "I don't want a strange man in my house...". To provide a few examples of what sorts of things happen when you use this site and to try and convert those who are wary, let me describe my three day trip from Raleigh to Austin earlier this month.

The first night I stayed over with some grad students in Troy, a small college town outside of Montgomery, Alabama. My host was Indrani, who is from India and she cooked biryani for dinner, which was just delicious (I love Indian food). We ate and hung out with her friends, and after dinner we went out and had ice cream, then grabbed a sweet tea for me to try (a popular beverage around these parts I have learned).

The second night was spent in New Orleans. I got there in time to join my hostess, Megan, for dinner with her friends, including her first couchsurfing visitor ever (I being her second) who was from France and was wrapping up a year and a half long trip around the world. The restaurant we went to was just outside the French quarter, so it was one of the places the locals go (no one who lives in New Orleans goes to the French Quarter, I was assured). I enjoyed my first Po' Boy sandwich and Boudin sausage there, which were delicious. The restaurant also served us tater tot nachos, which are nachos but with tater tots replacing the chips, which is as bad for you and tasty as it sounds. Then they took me to get snowballs, which are these special sort of crushed ice balls that are loaded with various flavored syrups. My palatte has expanded a great deal lately.

 Just outside the French Quarter

These were really good

Couchsurfers unite!

Though I had a great time out and about in New Orleans, I was worrying a little about the following night in Austin. I hadn't gotten an acceptance yet from all the couchsurfing requests I had sent out, and also my search for a room to rent for a month had been fruitless thus far.

I need not have been worried though.

I checked my mail after we returned from getting snowballs, and I had an acceptance from one Igor, a Russian fellow living with another couchsurfer and two others in a big house, which had seen a lot of couchsurfers. They had over a dozen people staying over during SXSW, so there would no doubt be room for me. He mentioned also there was a big party of couchsurfers going on the night I would arrive, so I would get to meet a bunch of the locals, oh and by the way Igor was leaving the following day for a two month jaunt through Mexico, so would I like to rent his room?

My very first night in Austin

Long story short, since I got here I've been hanging out with Igor's housemates and their friends, being brought along to do all sorts of stuff in and around Austin. But that's story material for another blog post.

Give couchsurfing a try sometime, you will not regret it!

A Rude Awakening

While I was in Atlanta I was introduced to one of the largest varieties of household cat: the Maine Coon. These are biiiiiig kitties, fairly larger than your standard cats and sporting a good amount of fur as well. The place we were staying at housed two of them, and they were a handful in a couple ways. 

 

While we were up and about they acted normal, for cats I guess. They rubbed against our legs, they let us hold them for a little while, they went out onto the balcony and from there climbed up and down the roof of the house.

But when we went to sleep is when they really became active.

There were about half a dozen of us sleeping in various places in this small living room. I was sleeping peacefully on an air mattress when in the middle of the night I became vaguely aware of the cats existing near me. I woke up a little more when I heard noises and realized one was clawing away at the plastic of my bed. I pushed them both off. They of course pretty much immediately returned, resuming the destruction of my bed. We went on like this for a while, me pushing them off and them jumping right back on very defiantly.

After a few rounds of this I realized I was sinking into the bed pretty quickly. Retreating, I moved to a comfy chair next to me and settled in to hopefully get the rest I very much wanted, but it was not to be. One of the coons jumped onto the vacant airbed like always, but this time without my weight pushing down on it keeping it firm, the cat pretty quickly sunk into it. The cat was not prepared for this. It panicked and jumped several times across the bed in a loud wild frenzy, then jumped off the bed and onto my bare legs, claws out, and launched onto the floor from there.

With mild lacerations stinging, I thought, "Alright, now they'll leave me alone, since they fear the bed."

But it was not to be.

I was right next to the foldout couch where two other guys were sleeping, and just as I was drifting off I heard in rapid succession:

"OW!"

"WHAT THE?!"

from that direction immediately before claws and fur attacked my face. The cat, for unknown reasons, decided to redo the berserk jumping claw dance, but this time across our heads rather than the half deflated airbed. Those of us who were not victims of the wanton destruction were awoken by the cries of pain and surprise. The cats fled.

After that we slept fine. Maybe the coons realized that their welcome was well and truly worn out.

Atlanta: The Temple

Back in May I couchsurfed my first few days in Georgia with Dan Berry of the Savannah College of Art and Design. I hung out with him while I looked around for a more permanent place to stay for my two weeks there.

A couple days after I arrived I tagged along with him for a weekend with other SCAD students up in Atlanta. We drove up one Friday night, four of us in the car, listening to music, windows down, speeding along in the dark only stopping along the way to grab some much needed late night grub at a Steak 'n Shake. We arrived at his friend's house where several others were staying over as well, and so about a half dozen of us ended up sleeping on a fold out couch, some airbeds and a chair in the tightly packed living room.

The next morning we set off to get to work on art projects. The latter part of the day was spent in a place they call the Temple. It's this large abandoned factory near a railroad yard outside of the city which has had its insides pretty much covered with graffiti everywhere. With spray cans aplenty, they set up shop in one of the larger and more well lit rooms and began doing their thing, replacing old artwork with new.

I spent my time wandering around, figuring out the layout of the place. It's an immense building, and graffiti artists have painted pretty much every corner, to a more or less extent. Most of it was brightly lit from the sun through broken windows high up on the walls or gaping holes where doors and panes of glass used to be, but there were lots of dark, dank places as well, with sagging ceilings that have been collecting rainwater for some time. I tried to figure out what it was they made at this factory exactly but it was anyone's guess, really.

This is just the entryway. There's way more around the back

The poster in the back says "Please keep this area CLEAN"

Natural light gradually making its way back into this place

While I was running around, Dan was drawing a trollface. He recently discovered the site reddit, and he pretty quickly fell in love with rage comics and started making his own. So he decided to practice his art by trolling previous artists, spray painting a trollface over their tags. At one point he called me over and had me shoot a video with his iPad while he did some finishing touches. Notice my expert steady holding of the camera in the second part of the video.

As the sun was setting we packed up our things and headed out. With no electricity or lights I would imagine the Temple is an eerie place to be in the night time, even more so than in the day time. If I pass through Atlanta again I'll stop by, and see what the artists of Georgia have been doing in their spare time.

Quick Update

It's been a while since I've posted. I got out of the habit after spending April in Rhode Island with my parents, doing work, helping out around the house and generally not having a whole lot to write about. I've been on the road though for a month since then, and am now in Austin, Texas where I will stay until I go to San Francisco in June. And how did I get here, what have I been doing in May? Well, that's what the next several blog posts will cover. Stay tuned!