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sounds_sound  ·  4597 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: You’re Welcome -- Couch-surfing the globe.
I would totally do this. It's the kind of thing that makes me happy I'm a guy though, because I think if I were female, it'd be a whole different game. When my brother and I traveled Europe, we had been told to disregard anyone at the train stations offering places to stay. So we did at first, but after growing tired of trying to find a room after a train ride, we thought 'hey, maybe the rooms are coming to us'. So we just started saying yes to people. We would follow them through unknown streets in unfamiliar cities. In Prague, we stayed with an old man in his huge apartment with a group of Armenians. In Florence, we hopped on the back of a golf cart and were carried off through tiny streets. We arrived in what felt like a college and shared bunkbeds with cute Irish girls. The places we stayed were ALWAYS more interesting, comfortable, and cheaper than any hostile could ever be. Deciding to say yes was the best decision we could have made on that trip.

For me, this couch-surfing service is a way to get real local, real fast. Fuck the guide books. Travel, put yourself in unfamiliar places, trust strangers, and see the world.