Sophomore Yuri Chang traveled through Japan this summer, visiting cities and staying with a number of hosts along the way. What set this apart from the average vacation? The nights she spent at her hosts' homes were Chang's first encounters with them.
Chang found her hosts through a website called Couchsurfing.org, which connects travelers looking for a free place to sleep with people from all corners of the world looking to host them. The website was launched by four Americans in 2003.
New members fill out a profile with basic personal information and indicate whether they have an available couch or are open to meeting people for coffee or drinks in the area. Surfers can search for registered hosts on every continent, read profiles and send couch requests.
According to Chang, deciding to create an account on the website was the hardest part.
"New people who approach couch surfing always have the same qualms," she said. "Is it safe? I remember I was totally made to feel safe by the way the website was structured."
In addition to checking members' identities and verifying their locations, CouchSurfing uses a system called "vouching" to help users ascertain potential hosts' reliability. Couch surfers can only vouch for users if they themselves have already been vouched for by three trusted site members.
According to Rocky Sanguedolce, public relations manager for CouchSurfing North America, vouching is the website's most important security feature.
"When you host or surf or meet somebody in the couch surfing community, whether you have a good experience, a neutral experience or a negative experience, you can leave feedback on how your experience went with that particular person," he told the Daily. "This will help other people who haven't met that person get an idea on what kind of person they're either going to meet up with, ‘surf' with or host."
According to senior George Kolev, who has both "surfed" and hosted "surfers" in his home in Bulgaria, the greatest benefit of couch surfing is the community it fosters and connections it creates.
"Most of the people who do this are young — in their 20s or 30s — so they have this idea that we can all be together — doesn't matter where we're from, doesn't matter what language we speak," he said. "We can all just be nice and friendly and humane to each other. It gives you a very reassuring feeling."
Kolev has also found hosting "surfers" to be a rewarding experience.
"It forces you to pay attention to things in your own town," he said. "I saw probably more even of the Bulgarian countryside than I wanted to see, but it opens you up to things in your own country, and I know if I ever want to stay in Paris, I can just call up these people I hosted. You get to know a lot of people in all these different countries."
According to senior Sally Levinson, female couch surfers have to be particularly careful when it comes to ensuring their personal safety during their stays. But Levinson, who couch surfed with a female friend in France, found that carefully reading surfers' profiles and requesting specific hosts made her feel comfortable during her travels.
"We only requested girls." Levinson said. "We just read their reviews and talked to them a little beforehand."
Chang said that traveling with her male cousin made her feel more comfortable about couch surfing.
"I probably wouldn't have gone to some guy's apartment if I was by myself," Chang said. "I think that having my cousin with me definitely allowed me to do couch surfing, otherwise I would have been too nervous."
According to Chang, couch surfing gives travelers a more authentic local experience than staying at a hostel does.
"One of the guys took me and my friend out to dinner, and he just showed us a lot of the local things around town," Chang said. "He offered to take us to a supermarket in Japan and introduced us to all of these delicacies and drinks that we otherwise wouldn't have tried because we just didn't know what they were."
Kolev also found that couch surfing provided a more balanced view of the countries and cities he visited.
"The best thing about it is that you receive this extra dimension to each place you visit," he said. "In the case of London, I went to see all of the famous stuff — Buckingham Palace, the Wheel — but then again, I saw the part of London that my host lived in, which wasn't the best part of London, but it didn't make it a less interesting experience. You see this part of the city, you go to a pub with this person and see what a typical London city flat is that you wouldn't get if you were staying at a hotel."
Still, Chang emphasized that couch surfers should not expect a luxurious experience.
"One place I went to, he had about three dogs and four cats. We ended up sleeping on the floor for most of the time. Be really open−minded and be willing to rough it," she said.
