Travel Guide: The Perks of Couch Surfing

That's one way to couch surf...photo via Pinterest.

This is a guest post from our resident Couch Surfing Expert Ambassador Lea Gall.

The first big trip I ever took was a two-month holiday to Australia and New Zealand. Being that I didn't have much experience yet, my cousin and I decided to break things up to prevent jet lag. Didn't work, but good idea, right? We decided that flying out of Philadelphia and spending a week in Los Angeles was the first leg of our trip, and when we got to LAX, we hopped on a bus that would take us to a Venice Beach hostel.

Then something funny happened. We started chatting with a guy named Julian on the bus and when he offered to let us crash at his place, we said yes (I'm not sure why). We went to his condo in a very nice area and rented a car with all the money we saved. I'll never forget that first night—we started getting nervous, so we locked the door and piled some luggage in front of it. I think we may have even taken turns sleeping!




Morning came and we were all good, and the week turned out to be wonderful as we had locals showing us around—we were treated to the best places to eat and the coolest local spots to check out. By the time we left, we felt like we were leaving old friends. The next 2 1/2 months were full of chance meetings with wonderful locals, even though we did have one issue with a youth hostel in New Zealand (stolen passport and cash).

Over the next few years I kept traveling, staying mostly in hostels but occasionally with people I met. Don't get me wrong—there were many people I didn't stay with (if anything felt "off" I wouldn't take a chance). I went to a housewarming in a remote part of Ecuador, got a deserted beach to myself in British Virgin Islands and even sailed around a private island. Then one day I found a website called CouchSurfing.org. I signed up right away and loved what was going on—strangers were offering other strangers a place to crash, and I could do the same! I was careful who I allowed to stay with me and had some great experiences, and there was also a Couch Surfing group that met up monthly.

When I moved to California last year, I even used Couch Surfing to find my new place. Being that I didn't know the area, I was able to email people that were my age, had dogs and looked to have similar interests. I was able to find a safe area that was dog friendly!

Couch Surfing is definitely not for everyone but I have been having a great time. I love opening up my home and hearing other people's amazing stories. One guy I met was in Berlin when the wall went down! Listening to someone like that is an experience I'll never forget. The world is small and life is short, so get out there!