I first heard of couch surfing on my way to U2 concert in Croatia during a random catch-up with a local girl who had a perfect American accent. I was curious how she acquired her accent so I asked her about it.

“Have you heard about couch surfing?” She asked.
“Couch What?!” I replied.
“Oh man, You must check it out. It’s great. I hosted so many Americans on my couch that their accent just got stuck to me”
“oh, so you’re renting your couch?” I asked, a bit surprised.
“No, I do it for free, just go to www.couchsurfing.com and try it yourself!”

Well now I was more surprised, but I decided to check it out. As soon as I got to Switzerland I created a quick profile and sent 50 messages to couchsurfing.com members in the Zurich metropolitan area. I was quite skeptical and thought I’ll get one, maximum two, responses.
I got 40 responses…Around 10 were positive…and all in one day!

Instead of reading their profiles, I simply chose the first one who replied and made my way to her home. I knocked on the door and a lovely girl opened it with a big smile. “I’m so happy you arrived. I hope you like chicken because I’ve just started to cook us dinner”.
Is this for real?! I remember asking myself.

My first ever host turned to be a 29 years old court judge (and probably the youngest judge I’ll ever meet). She made every possible effort to make me feel at home and always with a smile. Lucky me, I thought to myself. I was still sceptical about the whole thing so I decided to give it another try and the universe once again responded favourably.

Bjorn, my second host, owned a motorcycle so we made plans to have a trip together to the Swiss Alps only 5 minutes after arriving to his home. The guy defiantly knew how to ride and it turned to be one of the best trips I’ve ever had. he introduced me to some of his good friends which made the whole experience even more enjoyable. I was now convinced.

Every couch surfer who hosted me (no matter where he or she was, Switzerland, France or Netherlands) was simply great. Cornilia, Bjorn, Michel, Aurelien and all the others – BIG thank you! See you when you get to Australia.

All love