where strangers turn friends

this is the deal: you are a stranger in a country/city. you know a few words of whatever that is spoken there. you are open for new experiences. oh yes, you most probably have a copy of the travellers’ bible – lonely planet – to refer to. sure you can survive and stay well within your budget. travel guides are, in any case, tried, tested and perfected over the years. but when it comes to living it up like a local, nothing can beat this travel trend: sign up, find a host and experience the city from their perspective. no costs – hidden or otherwise – involved. in fact you get to eliminate the “accommodation cost” in the process.
six months ago, when i registered with couchsurfing, a website that connects travellers, i did not know what to expect. but the what-ifs notwithstanding, i took the plunge. and the day i met martin and thorsten, my first cs guests, i knew i did the right thing. the initial awkwardness melted away in no time. the next three days, i showed them where to hang out cheap in berlin and in return thorsten, who grew up in columbia, was sketching out an insider map of bogotá – places to go, places to avoid etc. martin for his part, who has travelled extensively in south korea, china and vietnam, had loads of anecdotes to share. when they came they were perfect strangers and when they left, they were friends for keeps.
the next time round, i had an irish guest. with liam i took a step forward, i ventured into the parts of berlin that i still hadn’t discovered. in between we also discovered that liam’s grandma, who was born and brought up in british india, actually lived in vellore, just a stone’s throw away from my hometown chennai. another day, another friend: and so it goes.
although the online hospitality clubs are a boon for budget travellers, the core idea behind this concept transcends the mere convenience of free stay*. websites such as couchsurfing.com and hospitalityclub.org are platforms for like minded individuals to meet and share – from their opinions to their experiences.
for instance, this time when i was in mumbai, i already had a place to stay, my mother took care of that. day one, i was content to do what the guide books suggested – gateway of india, victoria terminus, prince of wales museum, chowpatty beach, queen’s necklace, and coloba causeway. i even ventured out to the travellers’ watering hole in mumbai: the leo café. memories of my previous travels to mumbai faded in and out as i ticked off things-to-do in my itinerary. by evening, it was clear: unless i had an up close and personal view of mumbai, it is going to be like the other times. when i think of mumbai, it would be of buildings that reflect the colonial glory, the scruffy exterior that mumbai has managed to maintain over the years and the hectic lifestyle of mumbaikars. that’s when couchsurfer nitish ohja chipped in. an evening with him and his friend bought me closer to the amchi-mumbai that everybody swears by. before i know things snowballed: anand wanted to show me the nightlife of mumbai with an invite to the discotheque that he works for; amberish wanted me to meet his german girlfriend; mustafa wanted to show where i could get the best vadapav in mumbai. let’s just say, next time i am in mumbai, i could probably be mistaken for a local.
yes, it is safe. this had been my biggest worry. but the creators of the concept have set forth a well oiled mechanism that keeps miscreants at a distance. it is, without question, everyone’s duty to inform others in the network if something or someone is bothering them.

*statutory warning: the members are experienced travellers who somehow could spot freeloaders instinctively – and stay away from them. so if your only true intention is to stay for free, you might have to look elsewhere…