Daniels Creative Fun

CouchSurfing is a network where travelers can look for a place to sleep at other peoples homes for free.

Participate, it is loads of fun!
Couchsurfing.org

After having surfed a lot of couches it was time to start hosting people.
I have been playing with that idea for a while, but I did not really feel comfortable in the beginning.

At first my room is small, and we would have to sleep and stay in the same room. There is nothing to do here so I was afraid it might be boring for the surfer.

At second, when you surf a couch you get to choose where and when, while if you host you can only say yes or no to people that will ask you. It seemed like hosting was a bit unfair on that point!

But of course, with a proper description about my tiny room I put my availability status on ‘yes’, and soon got a couch request from Miguel from Portugal.

Miguel is a 26 year old traveler who likes playing guitar and taking pictures. He would arrive and leave just on my free days so that would be perfect! I picked him up at the central station on wednesday and brought him to a friends house for dinner.There we could chat with the three of us about live, travelling and couch surfing experience! Miguel was helpful with cooking and cleaning and had just came here in the Netherlands from Geneva.
Later in the evening we went home and went to sleep immediately. I put an extra mattress on the floor.

The next morning I woke up early and Miguel would sleep in. I am quite sure he needed that a lot! Luckily I had some work to do on the computer and could just silently sit next to him. About 4 hours later he would get up too.
I went away to get my bike repaired and to do some grocery shopping. When I came back an hour later I found him playing my ukulele! As I own two of them we could play together, and even for a guitar player he was a fast learner!

In the end of the afternoon the sun was burning in my room and we thought about going to a park outside. Too bad that the sun was gone the minute we walked out and there was heavy wind. After 10 minutes of ukulele and juggling we had to go back because of the rain… So we made dinner together and went to the juggling club as I do every thursday evening.
Luckily the quick park session resulted in a beautiful picture, see below!

When I had written he would have to come with me to there he said he knew basic juggling but that was an understatement. In fact he was quite good with 3 balls and has been practising 3 clubs all night long! It was a fun evening, and when we went to the pub he was able to chat along because there was another guy who wouldn’t speak Dutch anyway.

The next morning was about the same. I worked while he would sleep, and later we would play the ukulele.
I brought him to the city centre and we bought a yellow ukulele together (he missed his guitar too much), and then would walk to his next couch.

Overall a very good experience!

So, if you have room and you want to help out a cheap and fun traveller, why not register on couchsurfing? You will meet new people, hear inspiring stories and have lots of fun while sharing your life with a stranger!

Spread the word :)