Couchsurfing allows people to see the world through the eyes of locals, while giving travelers a free place to crash

To some people, it’s an open invitation to kidnap, rape, murder or to combine the three. To others, it’s a way to travel.

Meeting someone from a foreign country over the Internet and asking to stay on their couch when you travel to their area may not seem like a wise idea, but political science senior Christian Edlagan has couchsurfed nearly a hundred times.

Couchsurfing.org was started in 2004 by a group of passionate travelers whose goal was to build a community for like-minded people who could exchange experiences and cultures, according to Colleen Sollars, community outreach manager for Couchsurfing International.

Couchsurfing has approximately 5.5 million members and has travelers, known as surfers, represented in 97,000 cities and in every country in the world, according to Sollars.

“Couchsurfing represents a unique way of traveling that puts people at the center – people who connect with each other online for the purpose of connecting offline. Members connect through the service to share their lives: traveling together, hosting each other in their homes and creating experiences and friendships together,” she said. “Some think of Couchsurfing as a way to find a free place to stay anywhere in the world, but it’s much more than that. For many of our members, Couchsurfing represents a way of life. As a couchsurfer, you have friends all over the world, even if you haven’t met them yet.”

For Edlagan, Couchsurfing started out as a cool suggestion from a friend as a way to travel without having the expense of paying for a place to stay and an interesting way to meet new people.

“I signed up hearing it a was a neat way to get a free ride and thinking it would be something useful to have in case plans fall apart,” he said. “But it turns out to be so much more than that. It’s not even just about surfing. Often, it’s a great way to meet other travelers or locals through personally contacting members for coffee or company to local events. In bigger cities, there are always Couchsurfing activities, which is very convenient if one is traveling alone,” he said.

According to Sollars, while the site’s main goal is hosting and surfing, it is common for couchsurfers to host events in cities across the world and create activities each week through the system.

“It’s a social travel experience, whether you’re home or away,” Sollars said.

Edlagan has used Couchsurfing to travel to more than 30 countries, either alone or with friends, and speaks very highly of his experiences.

“I have both surfed and hosted over the years, living independently, in student housing and working at a hostel, ironically, in Estonia, Belgium, Bulgaria and Quebec,” he said. “For something like Couchsurfing to develop in this day and age helps to restore some faith in our future, and I hope its awareness and its ideals continue to spread.”

“It’s about knowing wherever you go in the world, there is going to be someone who thinks like you, who has the same views of people, and you’ll never have to be alone. With Couchsurfing, you feel like you are really being invited to someone’s home,” Edlagan said.

Because Couchsurfing is a free service and members do not have the ability to have financial transactions with each other through the site, it cuts down on scams seen on sites like craigslist or sites where connected people exchange money, goods or services, Sollars said.

“There is a reporting system on the site that allows members to report abuse and flag commercial posts, and our Helpdesk team monitors profiles and investigates terms of use violations, and they will remove any profiles or posts with abusive content,” Sollars said.

With the Internet comes many misconceptions and concerns regarding safety, but Sollars said most Couchsurfing experiences are positive. “There are rare negative experiences, of course, as in any large community that brings people together. Couchsurfing’s Trust and Safety staff is fully dedicated to supporting members who need support in the event of misuse or abuse of the system or service,” she said.

According to Edlagan, there is no better way to see a new place and immerse oneself in a new culture than by integrating yourself into the lives of the people there.

“It’s possible to do this by visiting friends, but it’s rare to have friends in every place you’re visiting. Couchsurfing has created this community where you can always find an interesting stranger who can help you see their home through their eyes, and there is no better travel experience than that,” Edlagan said. “Often, I am more likely to trust a complete stranger by virtue of knowing they are a couchsurfer because in general, those who use the site properly are knowledgeable, open-minded, generous and trusting individuals who simply want to make their homes and their world a more hospitable, open and welcoming place.”

Edlagan said that he’s not the only Loyola student to use and appreciate Couchsurfing.

“I have met some other Loyola students who have both surfed and hosted, and they have all said they’ve had positive experiences,” he said.

While some students think highly of the site, some others are still skeptical of the service, like theater junior Rosalind Santos.

“I have a good friend back home who uses Couchsurfing, and she swears by it. I actually have met some of the people she has hosted and they were fantastic, but I don’t think I would personally ever do it,” Santos said. “I would be concerned about my safety even though there have not been many bad things that stemmed from Couchsurfing itself.”

In all the times that Edlagan has traveled, he has never had any issues with safety, for which he is grateful.

“Being a guy traveling, I can take travel risks a bit more liberally. Being a minor
ity abroad has been tricky sometimes – traveling at night, taking public transportation and even backstreets to and from places, on my own in areas where it’s hard not to be noticed – both because of my skin color and by virtue of carrying a large travel pack, but fortunately I have never had a compromising experience,” he said.

For people who are first time users, Edlagan stresses that it is important to find a host you will get along with and who you would want to know more about.

“Just like anything with travel, when looking up a hostel or hotel, read the references and trust your instincts. Hosts are just as apprehensive about the folks they host, so show what kind of traveler you are on your profile and why they would bother inconveniencing their lives to host you when you write your couch requests,” he said.

Edlagan said Couchsurfing, by its very nature, has a cap on the number of people who would actually be interested in the experience for the right reasons.

“If one’s goal is to simply have a free place to crash without any interest in the life of the person who may open up their home to you, then the inconveniences that might come along with Couchsurfing are simply not worth it. There are cheap alternatives in hostels, for instance, that can provide the opportunity to do things according to your own schedule and meet with other travelers interested in the same kind of guidebook tourism. If you are more of an adherent, then Couchsurfing may be something for you,” he said.

Edlagan also said the experiences he found a little less enjoyable were ones where there was no connection with the host, potentially because of a lack of common interests or just a clash of personalities.

“It takes a certain type of personality and interest in other cultures and traveling to be open to the idea of Couchsurfing to begin with, so it is not hard to bond with couchsurfers of all stripes. So it is unfortunate when a host-surfer relationship does not always work out,” he said.

Edlagan pointed out that this experience isn’t simply limited to college students who are traveling abroad, but the site is used by a variety of people.

“Couches have come in different forms, literally. I slept on couches, I have been given entire rooms and apartments to myself, and I have slept in caravans and porches. I have surfed with students just like me, families, young and elderly couples, new immigrants to a city, Couchsurfing friends I have made through events and folks from all walks of life,” he said. “It’s hard to point out a best experience; I have thoroughly enjoyed them all, because I have met some fascinating people and experienced amazing things because of it.”

“To the quote famed travel writer G.K. Chesterton,” Edlagan said, “‘The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.'”