CouchSurfing

Couchsurfing reportage


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It seems just a normal and comfy Couch but it can be a New way to travel low cost.

Tiziano and Giovanni are 25 and 24 years old. They come from Padova and they are in Milano just for one night. They will not to go to sleep in Hostel or Hotel. They will sleep for free at Maurizio's Couch.

This is possible NOT cause they are "old friend" (for example, Maurizio and Giovanni they never met before) but through CouchSurfing.

CouchSurfing is a new practical and economic way to travel. It was born some years ago in USA and it is a WORLDWIDE PHENOMENA.

MAU
I am in CS from february 2007 and i hosted more then 360 couchsurfers and i travelled more then 25 times all around Europe.

This evening at Maurizio's home there is, also, Ilze, a young latvian student, who is travelling in Milano.

MAU
The economic aspect, mostly for the young people, can be important. I hosted some people who were travelling "on budget". That's mean that if you use CouchSurfing and you have not to pay the hostel, you can save some money and you can travel some days more.

It is easy to become a CouchSurfer if you have the "correct spirit". It is enough to open the web site www.couchsurfing.org, to fill in the form, and to specify if you want to host or not. Every single member can specify the rules to be hosted.

MAU:
On my profile is written: "Take your own food", "you can use the kitchen" and so on. Once i agreed to host someone i have JUST to host them. NO MORE obligations. Just what we agreed. For example i can write them that i will leave my house's keys or, instead, that they have to go out home with me in the morning and come back home NOT before 6 PM.

Tiziano and Giovanni went away but another CouchSurfer is coming: Filippo, 39 years old, geologist from Palermo.

Filippo:
I travelled by couchsurfing several times and i slept sometime in real comfortableplaces and, also, sometime, just on the floor. The most important thing, for a couchsurfer, is the adatability and, mostly, to trust in people who are hosting you or that you are going to host.

Mau:
I hosted really a lot of people and i had, also, one negative experience but, i can affirm that, usually, there are NOT problems at all.

The trustworthiness is the common value shared by the couchsurfers. Also Anna and Antonia, two milano's couchsurfers, agree with this affermation.

ANNA:
For a girl is not a risk to use CouchSurfer. If you read the profile of your potential host, you can understand who is he/she. A usefull tips is, for example, to exchange some emails before to go to be hosted. This is a way to understand if there is any kind of affinity.

ANTONIA:
Is a different way to travel. You need to be sure. By the way I have to say that the ETHICS,in CouchSurfing, is a milestone. CouchSurfing is not a dating site: it is a different way to travel, to meet new people, new cultures, new places, and all this with the people who are living in these places.

CouchSurfing's world is this: spirit of adventure and desire to know.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• cs
• couchsurfing
• hospitality
• couch
• maurizio
• mangano
• rai

[thebonz2006]

Grande Filippo!

[mkmiguelmichele]

wow Grande Tiziano, amico di padova,

lui mi ha introdoto praticamente alla comunita.

saluti ai couch surffers!!

[daviderivi]

bella raga....grande video! =)

[lazazie]

grande!! bel divano...