Jul 16 2008
Couchsurfing Success! But Not So Good for Working
I am fresh from my first ever Couchsurfing experience and it was pretty amazing. I stayed with a local girl in Kaili, a small city that I am really impressed with. She’s part of the local minority Miao people and has started her own business teaching English to local kids. She and her twin sister have made names for themselves by teaching themselves English after having left school at age 14. I stayed in her apartment she shares with her father and his girlfriend and even sat in on her English class one morning.
The night I arrived I found myself out at a local nightclub which was an experience complete with drinking beer in shots and a flamethrowing bartender. The following day we headed off with some of her friends to an area a bit out of town where locals swim in the river, drink beer, have BBQs and play mahjong and cards. It was truly the sort of place I never would have discovered for myself and I loved every minute of it.
So I am definitely a fan of Couchsurfing but I never would have expected not to be. The only downside is that it’s pretty much impossible to get work done if your host is good enough to show you around. If you get a host who might be busy with work of their own then you might be able to spend your days getting things done.
But then again, for me the whole point of Couchsurfing is to immerse yourself in the local culture and hiding yourself away on your computer sort of defeats the purpose so work be damned! At least until the next stop.
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I've been travelling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow me as I bum around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as I go.
Wow pretty cool.
I have never tried it… well, I am not sure it would work well with 2 young kids ?
I’m so glad you had a typically good CS experience
As a fellow nomad worker, I agree that the conditions of Couchsurfing are not ideal for working. The whole point is that the host enjoys your company; otherwise it would just be free accommodation and hosts would get nothing out of it. It’s perfect for those on a budget who have saved up a little and are travelling around. Typically those working are less likely to need to Couchsurf. But I have contacted people in advance to ask if it was possible for me to lock myself away for a few hours with wifi and got surprisingly positive answers from those who would be away at work at the same time.
What I personally usually do is travel as a CS host
That way I get to meet all the interesting people by welcoming them to the place I happen to be renting briefly. Requires you to have a non-curious landlord though!! 
Do you think you’d consider hosting now that you know it really does work? Giving the guest your undivided attention isn’t necessary; I let them explore during the day, show them around at weekends and in the evening have someone similarly minded to chat to after work! is my profile again if you want that neutral, yet encouraging reference!
Remember the CS motto: Changing the world, one couch at a time!
Sorry messed up the html code there… Here it is. BTW Fab, there are actually some parents that travel with children through CS! It’s not as common, but it happens. If you live in Montreal, get in touch with Couchsurfing. It’s not all about the free couch for a night; there are a lot of meetings and parties and it’s a great way to get to know other cultures without needing to travel. Montreal is actually the most active CS city in the world after Paris!
Thanks for this info Benny
! I did not know Montreal was that active with CS…
I will draw this to the attention of Bryan Clark at siteflipu….as we were talking about couchsurfing just the other day.
Shots of beer and flamethrowing bartenders sound like a lot of fun!
It sounds like you had the perfect experience… this encourages me to give it a try on my next trip. Although I have a hard enough time working while traveling as it is!
I’m glad that you had such a lovely couchsurfing experience! We’re looking forward to being couchsurfing hosts sometime soon (when we get a bigger place) and I’m excited about meeting people from all over the world.