Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.08.2011, Síða 16

16
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2011
Travel | Cheap
Did you know that the couchsurfing project was born out of a trip to Iceland?
www.couchsurfing.org
Surfing Couches Around The World
A new type of tourism has
been steadily growing over
the last decade. It’s Couch-
surfing, which is based on
an online community whose
main objective is to provide
accommodation to tourists
wishing to stay in the home-
town of another member.
What you may not know is
that Couchsurfing actually
has its roots in Iceland.
INSPIRED BY ICELAND?
Casey Fenton, an American, created
the project in 1999 after finding a cheap
flight from Boston to Iceland. Casey e-
mailed 1,500 random students from
the University of Iceland asking them
if they could provide him accommoda-
tion. The avalanche of positive respons-
es was the germ of a new philosophy of
travelling. On the return flight to the US,
he began to develop the ideas that led
to the Couchsurfing project.
In 2003, Casey Fenton launched the
site in beta and it was officially opened
to the public in January 2004. Since
its creation, Couchsurfing has been a
non-profit organisation, funded entirely
by the donations of its members. Some
of them choose to make independent
donations while others support the
community by getting verified—the
identity check that includes a payment.
MORE THAN FREE ACCOMODA-
TION
Although it may just seem like a simple
way to find a free place to stay, there is
much more to this philosophy of travel-
ling. “It's about connecting with people
and getting the local perspective when
you travel. The free accommodation
part is just a nice added bonus,” Icelan-
dic host Auður Ólafsdóttir tells me. She
has 35 references from other users on
the site. All of them are positive.
Couchsurfing’s mission statement
is to “create inspiring experiences.”
The hosts have the opportunity to meet
people from around the world with-
out leaving home and the ‘surfers’, or
travelers, can participate in the local
life of the places they visit. Of course,
hosts can specify how many days and
how many guests can stay, and include
other restrictions or interests.
But you are not required to offer
your own home to be part of the Couch-
surfing community. “Don't offer your
couch out of a feeling of obligation: that
doesn't make a good experience for you
or for your couchsurfers,” the website
says. Each user chooses what he or she
wants to offer the community. “Being
a member of Couchsurfing, you know
that anywhere you go in the world, a
friendly face is only a message away,
even if you don't host or surf,” Auður
adds.
Stina Engquist, a Swede spending
time going back and forth between her
country and Iceland, uses Couchsurf-
ing to meet people. “In the past years,
I've lived in small rooms and shared
apartments, which has made it difficult
for me to host people. I have used the
forum in order to know what's going on
in the town that I'm in, ask for and help
out with tips and information, and meet
people for dinners, parties and walks
around town,” she says. “I've met lots
of nice people. I'm sure I'll stay in touch
with some of them for a long time. I've
received lots of good information about
what's going on, do's and don'ts, and so
on.”
In the community, you can find dif-
ferent groups about Iceland, including
one to find housing. “I bought a bike
and found my August accommoda-
tion through Reykjavík’s groups,” Stina
says. If you search through posts, you
can find valuable information to help
you with your visit to the country.
In addition, the forum works as a
meeting point between users. “In Ice-
land, it’s more active in summer than
in winter time,” Katla Hólm tells me.
Katla has 20 positive references, and
has hosted around 30 travellers since
she started to reply to requests sev-
en months ago. “We need an official
Couchsurfing place and I would like to
have an event every-two-weeks meet-
ing or something like that.”
There are many ways to harness
the potential of couchsurfing. The pho-
tographer Fiann Paul is touring around
Iceland with an outdoor art exhibition
and uses Couchsurfing facilities to find
the accommodation, also employing
wooden surfaces of the town buildings
or fences around the schools as gal-
lery walls. “I decided that not only the
content but also exhibition logistics and
management field should become an
art. I would like this exhibition to pro-
mote Couchsurfing awareness as an
anti-commercial method of travelling,”
Fiann says.
SECURITY & PRIVACY
Although staying in the house of
someone you’ve just met online may
seem foolhardy, the community has
quite reliable mechanisms for avoiding
shocks to users. “I've never really had
a problem with anyone. I remember a
couple of surfers that I just didn't click
with, but they were still quite polite and
considerate and they didn't give me any
troubles,” Auður said.
Couchsurfing gives you the infor-
mation you need to make informed de-
cisions with a verification system and
with references from other surfers. The
verification involves paying a contribu-
tion to the site, the cost of which de-
pending on where you live. In Iceland,
you have to pay only $2.11 (around 240
ISK). This optional step gives you con-
firmation of the name and address of
the person with the credit card and it
can help users gain others’ trust.
In addition, Couchsurfing has a sys-
tem of evaluations by which, for every
meeting, the surfer evaluates their ex-
perience with the host and vice versa.
Also, you can report website abuse if a
person is using Couchsurfing in a way
that's against the terms of use. Katla,
who had a bad experience with a surfer,
says “it’s important to give negative ref-
erences because people need to know
if you didn’t have a good experience
with somebody.” She prefers vouching,
one of the ways to give feedback, be-
cause “it is better than the credit card
verification.” Members can only vouch
for other members they have met face
to face and feel are trustworthy people.
“It’s exciting when someone vouches
for you,” Katla adds.
Regarding privacy: members decide
what they want to share with other us-
ers by customising their privacy set-
tings. Through these settings, members
can choose which personal information
to display, who can see or search their
profile and whether or not other mem-
bers can see when they're online.
WELCOME TO THE WHOLE WORLD
As of July 2011, there were over 3 mil-
lion people registered with the site.
Couchsurfers represent 81.722 towns
in 247 countries. Around 20% of the
users had registered their country as
being the United States, followed by
Germany, France, Canada and England.
The city with the largest number of us-
ers was Paris, with 53.143 surfers, fol-
lowed by London and Berlin.
Auður concludes, “I would recom-
mend Couchsurfing to almost anyone.
Staying with a local who can share their
insider knowledge doesn't only enrich
your travel experience, but also en-
riches your life in general. Some of the
things I've shared with my hosts and
surfers have changed my life for the
better.”
There is a world of cultures to dis-
cover. Couchsurfing lets you do it in a
cheap way and provides unforgettable
moments to tourists who might nor-
mally follow a typical guided tour.
“Some of the things I've shared with my hosts and surfers
have changed my life for the better”
Experience excitement in Iceland’s
pure nature or get a bird’s eye view
of the country’s most beautiful places
Adventure tours Air charter servicesScheduled flights
This tour takes you from Reykjavík
to the island of Heimaey in the
Westman Islands archipelago.
Boat trip on the Glacier lagoon and
an ATV excursion in the area of
Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull.
A never-to-be-forgotten trip
showing the sharply contrasting
faces of Iceland’s natural features.
Activity
Adventure
A Historical Tour of
the Westman Islands
Ice and Fire –
Glaciers and Volcanoes
Reykjavík Airport | +354 562 4200
info@eagleair.is | www.eagleair.is
Bookingsand information
How to save money on accommodation and live unforgettable experiences
Words
Félix Jiménez
Photo
Julia Staples