Anyone who’s planning to travel to another country but who needs more information about the destination, such as the local culture, people, a place to stay, food and non-tourist sites that may not make it into a tourist magazine should think Couch Surfing.
It’s an international non-profit network which connects travellers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. Since coming into existence in 2004, the network has enlisted more than 1 million members in some 62,000 cities worldwide. Some 1,270 unique languages have been recorded to date of successful Couch Surfers.
The idea behind the forum came into being in 2004, when American Casey Fenton was planning to travel to Iceland in Europe but could not find a suitable place to stay. He then sent emails to persons at a university in the Iceland capital, Reykjavik and several days later, received responses from persons there, who hosted him.
The Scene recently caught up with Italian Couch Surfing ambassador, Gianluca Iorio at the Tropicana Hotel in the city, who was Couch Surfing in Guyana for several days with his Brazilian wife Claudia; the couple met through the forum.
He was being hosted in Guyana by fellow Couch Surfer Navin Sookram who was also hosting Frenchmen Guillaume and Gary in Guyana during our interview last week. The French pair has been cycling around the world some 16 months to date and is expected to ‘touch base’ in their hometown in Paris sometime in 2010 (their active website can be found at www.laterrevuedlaselle.com). They head further north within the next few months.
Explaining the concept behind the network, Iorio said that idea is to have travellers exchange cultures with locals. He said the concept is usually misunderstood as a cheap way to travel but noted that through the network a traveller is connected to other Couch Surfers at his/her destination where suitable tips are provided on where to stay, who can host you while on your trip and cheaper ways to get to your destination. He said the host is like a tourist guide, but noted that the network does not allow the host to call for money, noting that it is a non-profitable network, which he emphasized, connects travellers. He said the network is often misconstrued to be a dating club, but this is not the case. He said the forum allows families to travel to another country where they are provided with a place to stay by the host.
Recounting his membership to date with the Couch Surfing network a few hours before he departed Georgetown for Boa Vista, Iorio said that the network has provided him with the opportunity to travel to 64 countries around the world. He said those experiences have taught him a lot about the different cultures which exist worldwide, noting that he was able to meet persons with diverse cultures from Argentina to Canada to Singapore in Asia.
Recounting how he met his wife, Iorio said he was planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil a few years ago when he checked the Couch Surfing website for tips on Rio. He said he encountered Claudia on the network and the two began exchanging tips since she was planning a trip to his hometown of Florence in Italy earlier that year.
He said she travelled to Italy in March that year and he returned a trip to Rio, Claudia’s hometown in August. The two then exchanged correspondences and several months later, Iorio relocated to Brazil where he soon married Claudia. Two operate a travel agency, which Iorio stated, has been providing travelling arrangements and tips to prospective travellers using the network. He said the network also afforded him the opportunity to learn Portuguese, noting that the network provides a bilingual opportunity for members.
According to Iorio, there is a local membership in Guyana with the Couch Surfing network but most of those members reside overseas. He said members are from various backgrounds from the young to the old, the ordinary man as well as from the working class. He noted that the forum would contribute greatly towards the tourism sector in any country, providing an opportunity for the country to be marketed to the world. He said the network was featured several times on the BBC, CNN, Globo TV in South America as well as in Times Magazine, providing members with exotic tips on places of interest around the world.
As regards his post as an ambassador, he said the position relates to coordinating tips and other useful pieces of information to travellers, noting that he is the ambassador for the Rio group in that section of Brazil. Other posts within the network are the membership coordinators, travelling facilitators and the network managers.
While speaking to The Scene, Navin indicated that the network allows travellers to travel to parts of a destination/city they would not see in a magazine. He said he took Iorio and crew to City Hall, the St George’s Cathedral, the Stabroek Market and other historic sites around Georgetown during their trip here. In addition, Navin said, his guests were taken to the Kitty Market, the Courts in Georgetown as well as Parika on the East Bank of the Essequibo River, places he and his friends referred to as ‘non-tourist’ sites. He said he has so far hosted several persons from different parts of the world including Canada, the United States and Hong Kong.
Membership to the Couch Surfing network is free and members are able to interact with fellow Couch Surfers worldwide on a 24-hour basis. Members are able to link-up with their friends on the network by merely typing their interests or hobbies and the site then provides useful tips. Membership on the network grows each day by the thousands, the latest figure indicating more than 200 members being added to the network on a daily basis with the US, France, Germany, the UK and Italy having the most members registered to the network. The website can be found at www.CouchSurfing.org. Its motto is ‘make the world better one couch at a time’.
