10 tips to help you get a couchsurfing host

As something of a veteran on couchsurfing.com . I ‘d like to share some tips that helped me find hosts in the past. The basic tips (fill out your profile, write a good request, etc) you can find them on the CouchSurfing website, these one are a bit more advanced.

1.  Most active hosts usually know what’s going on tonight or tomorrow, so asking them if you can stay with them tonight instead of next month is a sure way to get a host, or at least a reply.
2. Hosts need to know when will you arrive, so If you are unsure of your arrival date because you are traveling on foot, bicycle, hitchhiking, etc it’s better to tell them an exact date and then change it later if you need to.
3. To avoid awkwardness always ask for 2 nights, no more. Later if you get along well you can ask them to stay one more night, or they may offer you to. Asking for just 2 nights is perfect because of the low-risk commitment it offers the prospect host. If you are annoying, messy, smelly, cheap, snore too loud or something like that they will probably be able to tolerate you for 2 nights, but they don’t want to get stuck with you for longer just because they had already agreed to. If you need to stay let’s say 6 days in a place consider finding 3 hosts for 2 days each instead of asking one person so host you for 6 say.
4. If the host hasn’t logged in for a month or longer feel free to send them a copied message otherwise you need to write something personal, assuming you have the time and internet for it.
5. Ordering by newest users will also greatly increase your chances of getting hosted, they have low expectations and probably won’t even mind you sending them your template.
6. On the other end, there are people who write some kind of keyword or a password on their profile that you have to mention on your request. They are people who have probably hosted a lot before and have a huge ego because of that. Their profile reads like a novel and there’s probably no way they would understand your plans have changed, or you have 10% battery left, or  15 minutes of internet left and a million things to do besides reading the story of their lives. If you do have the necessary time and energy to write them make sure you compliment them a lot and follow their rules and guidelines to increase your chances.
7. Be aware that people living in big cities get a lot of couch requests every day from  European backpackers in their 20’s, so what makes you different? Looking for a couch it’s a bit like looking for a job, if you say the exact same thing as everyone else you will get rejected, you need to stand out. Unless you are sending requests to an unpopular non-touristy destination, then you can just say the same as everyone.
8.  Let your host know that you travel with your own sleeping bag and mat, even if it’s a tiny one, this tells the host you are flexible, independent, can sleep anywhere and won’t makes their blankets dirty.
9. Avoid cliches and phrases like “I like traveling, music and movies, I’m friendly, open-minded, I like meeting new people and experiencing new cultures, etc”. Everyone likes traveling, everyone considers themselves to be friendly and open-minded, also open-minded people don’t feel the need to tell others that they are open-minded. Make sure your host knows you are not a robot, tell them something about your dreams, about your allergies, weaknesses, quirks, something really different or strange about you.  Tell them something they  have never heard before. He probably already knows you like traveling.
10.  Mention something special you could share with them or do together, for example, some years ago I used to travel with a frisbee and would mention in my request that I would like to play with them. And I’ve met people traveling with a football, a chess set, some card games, a hair cutting set, a musical instrument, a special food or drink you brought from abroad, or things like that.

Also don’t forget to always bring a gift, souvenir or cook something for your host, it’s just the right thing to do.

And welcome to surf my couch in El Calafate.

Bruno.

 

 

About life in EL Calafate

It’s been a bit more than 2 months since we are in a city called El Calafate, in the southern part of Argentinian Patagonia. We reached here by hitchhiking after getting tired of walking for 6 months across Argentina. It was time to settle down.

The city has nothing going on, at all. There is no calendar of events or activities, people don’t get together or organize anything. It’s dead cold in winter, can reach minus 30 on some nights and during summer it’s full of tourists that come for a day to visit the Perito Moreno glacier and then they leave.

There is something about it though, a certain charm that few people can appreciate it. It’s has something to do with role-playing games. El Calafate makes for the typical city a hero must pass through during the game. Every game has a city like this one.

Staying for more than a few days in this city means you become a non-playing character, get absorbed by the city and become a part of it. To aid and contribute in some way or another to the quest of the hero that is obliged to pass through here.

In my case, I took the role of the receptionist at a local Inn, so when travelers come looking for a place to sleep I arrange the room for them, answer their questions and do the kind of repetitive small talk non-player characters usually do.

If I talk to the travelers outside the Inn, I tell them the story of how I used to be a teacher before I retire. I tell them about my dog, my life and things about the city that they may find interesting.

The reason to make this post was not to tell about the city but to get into the habit of writing in short paragraphs, and experimenting with what makes a post easy to read and understand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For 2011’s Bruno

This letter is just for you. Bruno from 2011. That’s when you first decided to start writing right?

Well, there are some things you wish you had known back then, but you didn’t and no one told them to you, so I might as well say them now before it’s too late:

• You love writing in short sentences and listing items, so let’s do it that way.
• Writing is your dream, that much is clear, so you have to fight for your dreams, that much is clear as well.
• Writing is an art more than it is a science, so you have to be born with the talent, that’s where you have some kind of advantage. You love writing and that is the most important thing. For you it doesn’t feel like work, writing is what you do after work to unwind.
• Now that you know you were born for it all that is left is focus and dedication, picking up the habit to write is easy, just like any other habit, you do it every day at the same time for a while, after a few weeks it becomes a habit so you don’t think about it too much and just do it.
• This one is somehow important: DO NOT SECOND GUESS YOURSELF. Your writing isn’t perfect, well guess what, it never will be, nothing is perfect, but it’s good enough. No one really expects much from you anyway so just keep doing what you do because you love it, that is the best reason to do something. Maybe someone doesn’t like your writing, so what? You didn’t choose to be a writer because you wanted to please other people, you do it because it makes you feel good and because there are some things inside you that need to get out and this is the way for them to do it. Writing is the way to freedom in some way.
• So again, write because it makes you happy, not to please others. You will never be able to please others anyway, people, in general, are unpleasable, not that the word exists but you know what I mean.
• Through writing, you will learn a lot about yourself and that’s what’s all about in the end.
• Schubert is good music to write with, cafe del mar is good as well, sometimes kings of convenience will do, depending on the mood. Otherwise just google ‘music to write’, keep yourself inspired, keep learning, keep discovering new stuff, stay alive, stay present in the moment.
• If you ever feel like you’ve hit a wall just google ‘writing exercises’ or something like that to keep the blood flowing.
• Read as much as you write, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Asimov, Lem, Lovecraft, Murakami,  Kafka, just read whatever you can get your hands on to get more inspiration and experience.
• Tired of writing? Go pet the dog, do some housework, go for a 1okm run, edit some old writing, better yet edit someone else’s work, or translate them, you speak a bunch of languages, put them to use, grab a drink, sit in the park, walk the dog, stay alive, stay inspired.