Couch-Surfing

As a kid, I always had a distant dream of being a surfer. I imagined relaxing on a beach all day with my friends, catching waves, and finishing the evening next to beautiful beach babe. I am (arguably) not a kid any more, rarely relax on the beach for an entire day, am yet to learn how to surf and never end up getting a beach babe. Luckily for me I learned another style of surfing, Couch Surfing.

Couch surfing requires no physical coordination and there is no tanning required. It is the act of sleeping on someone’s couch for a night, then moving to another the next night. Much like surfing a wave then paddling out again to find another.

I heard about couch surfing through a friend of mine who studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia a year ago. He told me what it was but I found it hard to believe that people actually participated in this crazy sport. Much to my surprise, people do participate; a lot of people.

Recently three friends and I took a four day trip to Belgium. Our trip to Belgium was one of the most unplanned trips I have ever been on. The planning was done in the kitchen on the 1^st floor of Beneluxlaan while all four of us were extremely “under the weather”.

With little planning and high hopes we hopped on a bus to Antwerp, Belgium. We arrived around 5:30 in the evening. Stepping off the bus was like waking up after long night of partying with some good friends. We didn’t really know why we were there, how we planned it and what we were going to do now that we were in Antwerp. But, like true international college students we trekked on.

After sightseeing for a few hours and doing normal tourist stuff (such as; climbing on statues, pointing at random buildings, and taking the infamous everyone-jump-into-the-air-at-the-same-time photo) it was time to find a place to sleep. We had a few failed attempts at finding a hostel and just as we were about to lose hope, our friend Recep shouted “I have 5 missed calls”.

Standing outside a vacant hostel, Recep informed us that he had send out 14 messages to 14 different hosts in Antwerp asking if we could crash on their couch for the night. I had completely forgotten that he had spoken about “couch surfing” the previous night. The five missed calls were from a host that responded to his request via couchsurfing.org. Couchsurfing.org is a networking tool used by travelers to find a cheap place to sleep for the night. A user simply has to create a profile with some basic information then start asking to crash on a couch.

Our friend quickly called the host back and after a short conversation we had a place to sleep for the night. We met our hosts, Vincent and Elise, at the Center station in Antwerp. Vincent is a tall, blond, 19 year old, male, Flemish student studying medicine at the local university. Elise is about 5’7, dark hair, nice figure and from the west of Belgium.

Soon after meeting Vincent and Elise we found out that they too had recently signed up on couchsurfing.org and this was their first time hosting travelers. Hearing this was a relief for all of us. We had no idea what to expect but knowing we would be staying with two cool college kids was comforting. Happy to hear we had a place to stay, we hopped on a tram and headed south.

Our groups clicked very quickly. Possibly due to the fact that this was our first time or possibly because the first thing we spoke about was stopping at a liquor store and finding a good club (I guess we’ll never know). Regardless, everyone was very excited for the journey ahead.

I had an eerie feeling walking into the student’s house. The thought of Hollywood horror movies kept running through my mind. I thought… “Is this safe”, “what if they are some kind of crazy serial killers” and “this would make a great horror movie”… I snapped back to reality once the lights flickered on.

It was a standard college house; Dishes in the sink, bottles on the window sill, books laying everywhere and two Belgium students standing there with welcoming eyes asking if we would like anything to eat or drink. At this point I knew it was going to be great.

The sheer generosity of our hosts was baffling. Vincent and Elise had absolutely no idea who we were or why we were in Antwerp but they let us into their home without hesitation. They were even kind enough to let us crash at their place for two nights.

Not only did they give us a place to sleep, but they gave us a guided tour of Antwerp by day and night. We spent the next two days sightseeing and partying until the early morning. When it came time to leave Antwerp and head to Brussels, everyone had the same thought runny through their minds (“Shit, shit, shit… Where are we going to sleep?”). Then, Elise informed us that she was staying in Brussels with her parents and they would love to host us for the night. Score! We had a place to crash in Brussels.

Elise’s parents live just outside of Brussels in a town called Vilvoorde. We got to the train station and there our chariot awaited. Just outside was a red Opel minivan with a mother like figure sitting in the front seat. I felt like we were being picked up from little league practice; we were all tired, smelly, and hungry.

Again, I thought “This can’t be happening. No family on earth would host four strange travelers who randomly sent messages via couchsurfing.org” but again I was wrong. We arrived in front of a beautiful A-frame house with a small hedge and front yard.

Earlier in the trip, Elise informed me that her dad was a beer lover. Being a beer lover myself, I was more than excited walking into her home. The home was very modern and in the middle of their tiled living room floor sat two beautiful, luxurious, leather sofas. This would be our home for the night.

Within 10 minutes of entering the home, we had hors d'oeuvres and delicious Belgium beers being served to us. Elise’s father was a fountain of knowledge when it came to beer. He knew exactly what to serve, when to serve it, and how to pour it.

The night continued with dish after dish of gourmet food and, of course, delicious Belgium beer. Our night ended with a full stomach and pallet filled with sweet, hoppy, malted liquid. Who could imagine four travelers from different parts of the world coming together and enjoying the experience of a lifetime? All thanks to the generosity of a few people who reached out and opened their home to a group of curious travelers.

We left with smiles on our faces and a new found appreciation towards strangers. This is an experience that will never be forgotten and I think I speak for the whole group when I say, I feel a little safer in the world we live in.