Hello travelers, have you heard about couchsurfing? It’s the new coolest thing, and you should be a part of it. For those of you who don’t know, couchsurfing is a bit like a social networking website for people on the move. If you’re traveling, you can find a person who lives in your destination and stay with them. For free. If you’re more of a hotel or hostel kinda guy, you can at least meet up with a couchsurfer for drinks and a good time. It’s an amazing opportunity to meet locals or fellow travelers, make friends, see parts of your destination you may never have thought of, etc. Did I mention that you get a free place to stay? Because you do.
I’ve been using this website for a couple years, nearly every time I travel now. Multiple times, couchsurfing has been the highlight of my trip. In New York, my stay with two middle aged brothers was something I’ll never forget. Not only did I have a private bedroom with a garden view in the middle of Manhattan, but I was treated to some delicious food and met one of the coolest middle aged gay man I’d ever met. Most recently, I stayed with a couple here in Nantes who I’m in love with. I was staying in their living room on a couch with a possessed cat, but that only served to make the experience more memorable. If you don’t get the idea, I’m recommending you go to couchsurfing.org, add me as a friend and leave me a reference so people know I’m not crazy.
Until this last week, I’d never hosted a couch surfer. I was benefitting from everyone’s generosity without returning the favor. Sure, I was gracing them with my wisdom and charm, but I never gave up my couch. I had only ever received requests from people coming into Austin for the ACL music festival, anyway. Finally, I’m in a city that attracts tourists and I have a spare bedroom to offer.
My first couch surfer is a 24 year old surfer from Rennes named Antoine, stopping in Nantes for a month en route to Chile where he’ll visit his girlfriend. I was a little nervous about hosting someone for the first time, but he’s great company. What’s more, he thinks the same of us. He loves to sing, dance, surf, speak English in a funny accent, eat a ridiculous amount of tomatoes, and more fun things. Antoine seems so excited to be at our apartment and reminds me of how great it is to be living in a flat with people from different countries. We get along great and I’m excited about our new friendship. In a few hours, he’s driving us to Rennes to show us his city. Whoooooooooooo! I love Nantes, but I’m happy to see another city. Here’s Antoine surfing on our couch:
Some more exciting news: I’m going to Dublin. Marco (my Italian roommate) discovered a deal on ryanair that offered tickets for 1 euro each. Once again, I’m visiting a place I never thought I’d see. It’ll be a big group of Marco, Antoine, Antoine’s girlfriend, Minh, me, and several others from the apartment next door. We’re only going for the weekend, but for a price lower than a cup of coffee I can’t complain. It’s crazy to think that a couple of days ago I didn’t know this guy, and now we’re traveling to Rennes and Dublin together.
We’ve had an Iranian night, Vietnamese night, and here are a few photos from Italian night:
Related posts:
- A Weekend Getaway in Dublin
- Interesting CouchSurfers
- Got my Arrete de Nomination!
- Baebae Reykjavik, Bonjour Nantes!
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