Hello, I am Linda and I would like to stay at your house for a couple of days.

I guess almost everyone of you has already heard of couchsurfing. For those who have not: It is a social network which enables travellers to find a place to stay, people to meet, activities to join in and all that in every country of the world. No cultural borders, no mistrust or prejudices.

Anyway, the aim of this post is not to introduce you to the network from an informative and statistical point of view, but with my own experience.

I couchsurfed around New Zealand and Australia and want to share some stories and memories with you that I will never forget.

Trust

I arrived in Sydney but didn't tell my host the exact time or even the day. On the off-chance, I showed up at his place, he wasn't there, so I phoned him. He told me that he was still working but I could meet him at a certain corner in the inner city. I went there, talked to him for not even five minutes, he gave me the keys to his apartment and said: “Here you go. One last thing: Could you be at home at about five p.m. and open my door for me? I don't have a second key.”

Not a place where you would give a stranger your only key, is it?

Inspiration

Thinking about the range of people I met, there is one couple that fascinated me. A Luxembourger and his thirty years younger Chinese girlfriend. Not just the cultural combination took my interest, but also their stories, especially the one's of him. He is one of the few people who climbed every one of the seven summits, only failing on the third of four camps of Mount Everest. He rode his motorcycle along the Panamericana, crossed China on a bicycle, travelled on camels through the Taklamakan Desert, was in a Syrian prison for spying, skied to the South Pole, dog sled to the North Pole, walked from Luxembourg to Santiago, ran the Iron Man on Hawaii and so on. I think I could continue with this list for a long time and it won't get boring. His girlfriend escaped China and its strict regime and found a new home in New Zealand. Despite being passionate travellers, they are both pleasant people to talk to. I did one of the Great New Zealand Walks with them and while hiking, I learned much about life, travelling and taking risks.

Couchsurfing as medicine

J. is autistic, so she struggles to let people near her, even to talk to them in a proper way. That's why she started hosting. She isn't interested in travelling; for her letting all those people stay at her apartment means a new challenge every time someone arrives. For me, it was very interesting to communicate with her because she was straightforward, without being considerate towards me at all. She couldn't tell at any point of my stay at her house how I felt.

Crazy flats

The Marlborough Sounds - nothing left to say

You meet a lot of different characters on a journey, but the list of people I met who live in crazy flats is definitely my longest one. It is hard to decide which story may be better than another but I'll give it a try: We are in the North of the South Island of New Zealand, to be more precise, in Nelson. It is six in the morning, I am, as always, trying to find places. Eventually, I arrive at my host's house, ring the bell and an about forty-year-old man opens the door with only a towel around his hip. Great first impression... His name is Pete and he invites me to a spontaneous kajak trip in the Marlborough Sounds which are a beautiful group of islands in the Cook Strait. Of course I say yes to this unique offer and paddle around a breathtaking scenery for two days. We sleep in a hut that is located in one of the many bays and at midnight get our kajaks out on the sea again, paddling along with penguins, dolphins and all kind of fish. Every animal in the sea and the sea itself glow in the light of the full moon.
Back home again, Pete's flatmate throws a party. We join in and I get to learn some fire dancing skills.

Family feeling

At some point of a long journey, a girl needs a family and there are a few people that gave me the opportunity to rest for a few days. David, for instance, is a dairy farmer and priest who lives outside a small town called Wanganui. He didn't mind at all that I am not a religious person, introduced me to his family and friends, gave me his spare house to live in for as long as I wanted to stay.
I had a lot of fun playing cricket and sliding along the river on a water tub. His family even invited me to a family party. All in all, I felt welcome.

Bad experiences?
The most frequently asked question I get to hear is: "Didn't you experience something you would like to not have happened?" No. There are things that weren't pleasant at all but they are, in my opinion, important for a good journey. I once got off a bus in the middle of nowhere, which means on the West Coast of the South Island, in order to meet my host family who lived in a village that consisted of three houses. The family of five I was confronted with, was - well, let's say different. For instance: I don't want to know how often they take a shower but I simply couldn't because entering their shower would have resulted in coming out dirtier than before. I slept in the "living room" where I had a small path to my mattress on the floor, surrounded by trash.
I actually intended to stay there for three days but hitchhiked away after two because I haven't had an opportunity to buy food that doesn't need cooking and rarely ate dishes from their unwashed plates.

I could probably fill a book with people I met through couchsurfing but there has to be an end at some point. By the way, I started hosting as soon as I returned home. Maybe I'll write a post about all those restless travellers that slept/sleep/will sleep at my place. :)