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"Couchsurfing" Travel Takes Off On the Web
mikesd81 writes "The Associated Press writes about a growing network of people online who've gone a step beyond hotels, hostels and even apartment swapping in their travel planning: They sleep on each others' couches. A number of Web sites have sprung up to help pair travelers searching for a place to crash and hosts with a spare couch. Sites like hospitalityclub.org, couchsurfing.com, globalfreeloaders.com and place2stay.net are often free, serving only as middlemen and offering tips on how to find successful matches.
The sites are largely the creations of 20-somethings bitten with wanderlust and the hope of helping to bring together people from different cultures. They often depend on volunteer administrators to help manage the Web operations."
...and leave an itinerary with someone at home, including names and addresses.
None of these sites, TTBOMK, asks for or checks references. And the liability assumed thereunder would be huge if they did, so they probably never will.
99+% of the people in this world are decent folk, but some nutcase is going to take advantage of the situation. Young, often naive travellers who nobody will miss for weeks... Slurp! Yum!
Less horrifying but more likely is the following scenario: you are low on cash, you only speak 10 words of the local language, it is late in the evening, and the weather is turning bad. The couch owner says put out or get out.
Please pardon me for being cynical. I hope these optimists can turn the world into a place of love, brotherhood, and cheap lodging. We tried in the 60s with mixed results.
Hmmm... It seems that trusting the host is a very important thing. As some have pointed out, it could be an opportunity for psychos, sexual predators, etc. So, how are they handling this problem? With feedbacks? This seems to me unreliable. Or with tracking the guests? I don't know, but I couldn't be comfortable with the idea of sleeping in a strangers house.
// You may rejoice.
For guys as well as women. If you're traveling, especialy to another country, it means you at least had the money to pay for a plane ticket. Bad start. Don't expect your wallet back, IMO. Last I checked, in the last decade(decades?), just taking a ride in a stranger's car (and vice versa) was pretty much out of the question if you valued your ass. Guys will get robbed, women will get abused THEN robbed sooner than you can say "its a bad idea".
You can barely go out beyond midnight outdoor without it being risky in shady districts... now you want to go the extra mile and be straight in the wacko's apartment, saving him the trouble of getting you there? Haha, riiiiiiight...