Keith Cantú was alone.
Night had fallen. His only friend had boarded a plane bound for the United States and he was stuck in the Indian slums near Agra India – behind the Taj Mahal. With nowhere else to go Cantú loitered and chatted with villagers. He gave them crude English lessons. Eventually they pulled an outdoor cot for him. They crowded around as he settled in and drifted off to sleep.
When he woke the next morning they were still standing there entranced keeping a protective human shield around the Westerner.
That night in India is one peek into Cantú’s sprawling international experience. He is one in a cluster of Pepperdine students who embrace international travel through bohemian means. Their penchant for country hopping couch surfing and hitchhiking is driven by their commitment to save money assimilate local cultures and their openness to human connection. The inflexible traveler they argue deprives him or herself of all three.
Cantú a junior from San Antonio Texas couch surfed his way through Norway Scotland Sweden Morocco and India this year. He consulted CouchSurfing International Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to “creating a better world one couch at a time.” It seeks to connect the global community under the pretense that everyone owns a couch and is thereby capable of hosting world travelers. It is worth noting that the couch is not entirely crucial to the CouchSurfing mission. The organization encourages connection in all forms: some members coordinate to meet for only coffee or a pint and others offer up their beds without hesitation.
Imagine a matchmaking forum that swarms with hospitable new acquaintances in exotic locales as opposed to potential soulmates. Want to stay in Finland? Peruse the Finnish couch surfers. See Tuula NÃ_rkki female 29 years old lives a half hour drive south of Tampere in a small house by a lake. Definitely has a couch! She is a self-described “true country girl who loves nature traveling meeting new people and having spontaneous fun but also profound discussions.” She will teach you how to make Carelian pies.
There is also Portuguese surfer Diogo Correia male 23 years old lives in a flat near the center of Faro. He will host up to four travelers in one night. He can cork a bottle with a plastic bag and he claims that couch surfing is “the best invention since the wheel.”
Founder Casey Fenton launched the organization in Jan. 2003. The site went global in 2004. According to the site’s statistics page college-age individuals 18 to 24-year-olds represent the highest percentage of couch surfers (45 percent). Cantú says they make the best hosts.
“Definitely stay with people in their 20s if you want a full relevant experience Cantú says. Try to stay with someone in your age group. They’ll try to give you what they’d expect from you if the situation was reversed.”
There is no dispute about couch surfing as a penny saver because it is absolutely free. Couch surfers are welcome – but certainly not obligated – to assist their hosts with chores fixing supper or any other practical means of payback. But no fee is required.
“It’s a great way to save money. If you cut out your housing and food – and your hosts feed you a lot of the time – all that’s left is your transportation costs Cantú says. He recommends frugal-minded airlines like Easy Jet and Ryanair, as well as the Eurail pass, to travel Europe on a budget.
Aside from the financial draw, he says there is the human element.”
“Couch surfing transforms the travel experience from a focus on places and sights to a focus on people Cantú says. People are what make the spirit of a place and by going to different places and meeting these people you’re going directly to the inspiration of the place. That’s the main draw.”
To the skeptics who envision crusty couches sleazy hosts and nightmarish interactions: the CouchSurfing site provides verification reference and vouching systems as a safety precaution. Hosts can screen surfers; surfers can screen hosts. Member profiles show the members’ friend lists – just like Facebook and MySpace – so new members are free to question them as well.
Senior Brianna Pade who couch surfed with Cantú in Morocco admits that she had reservations about staying with strangers.
“There is definitely some risk involved. You don’t know how safe you’ll be Pade says.
I haven’t had a dangerous or tense situation personally but I’ve heard stories about hosts bailing at the last minute and travelers stuck with nowhere to stay. I’d suggest that you confirm and re-confirm everything.”
Pade used the site to confirm for three guests but a few Lausanne students joined her group at the last minute. When they arrived in Casablanca Morocco the extra students did not have a place to stay. Pade’s host Yassine not only took on the extra guests but he stayed out all night with his friends to ensure the Pepperdine group had room to sleep-six students cramped in a two-bedroom flat.
Rough sleeping arrangements were not a problem for junior Cecily Small who spent Christmas 2007 hitchhiking around Europe with friend Michelena Roske. Among the duo’s unconventional lodgings: a cathedral a barn in the French countryside and the base of a town Christmas tree.
The girls took a train from Switzerland to Luxembourg and arrived at 10 p.m. without a hotel or hostel reservation. They decided to roll out their sleeping bags under the town’s massive Christmas tree festooned with glowing lights. The train station guards ousted them in morning.
Small says the hitchhiking route allows for adventure friendships and a little added pocket change. She and Roske trekked along ancient vineyards outsmarted impending blizzards and crossed the French-Swiss border on foot. They made friends with hippie skiers and French farmers. They also worked at Balmer’s a hostel in Interlaken Switzerland during the New Year holiday. Their make-shift resume read “two American girls speak English/some French willing to work hard and live cheap.” They worked for two-and-a-half weeks. Their employers fed them three square meals provided lodging and paid them approximately $800 apiece.
Not too shabby for a self-made vagrant.
Small’s favorite aspect of her continental journey? The connections she made with others.
“You make friends in a matter of 30 minutes Small says. You don’t really exchange formal information and you don’t remember everyone’s name but you make a connection and everyone has an interesting story to share.”
Make no mistake: the decision to stick to a well-structured itinerary permanent lodging and a comfortable pool of familiar expatriates (i.e. Pepperdine classmates) is still enriching. Travelers will return to the states with innumerable desktop memories of dreamy medieval landmarks ludicrous gastro pub stories and considerably polished Français or Deutsch or Italiano.
Cantú simply encourages them to seek something more.
“I like to look at travel as a sort of pilgrimage not in regards to any specific religion or spirituality as we tend to think of it but in regards to the importance of the journey Cantú says. It’s all about how you get there and who you meet on the way.”