I did not think I would get a positive response if any at all for that matter.
I picked them because one, they did not look like they would murder me immediately and two, they were below the age of 60 and not a single man (yes, the Couchsurfing stranger-danger stereotypes were still very present in my mind).Īfter initially contacting them via the platform, I kept my expectations to the lowest: ‘They’re not going to say yes anyways’. To my surprise, a few people were taking in guests at the time, and in my despair, I decided to message a couple I found on the website. In comes my last resort: reinstalling Couchsurfing and having a browse on the app, looking through the people that might offer up a couch in the desired location that is Tahiti. Spoiler: these were either non-existent or similarly expensive as fancy hotels. Mostly because an absurd amount of people travel there for a resort vacation or their honeymoon, which means they never really leave the massive all-inclusive and super-expensive compounds.Īfter all my research options were exhausted, I, the ‘budget traveler’, gravitated towards hostels and Airbnb. And low and behold, I quickly realized that staying in Tahiti is very expensive. In desperate need of a bed Image Credit: Ronja Putensenīack in January 2023, I was looking for accommodation to stay in Tahiti, French Polynesia for a four-day layover on my way to New Zealand for my exchange semester. Needing a bed to stay in for a few days, made me wonder if the concept is still what it promises to be or if it has lost its former 2010s glory. I had not considered using Couchsurfing in many years. Also, both – the website and the app – are behind a paywall at this time.Īfter the Covid-19 pandemic and the following travel bans all around the globe, Couchsurfing went through difficult times economically and introduced monthly subscriptions of 2,89 € to access and use the platform as a result. They now have a system in place to verify your identity, which theoretically makes the use somewhat safer. Well, since then quite a bit has changed and the Couchsurfing community has grown even bigger.
I suppose we collectively remember the boom of Couchsurfing, the news about people sleeping in strangers’ homes for free, and the incredulous shaking of heads because that concept bears danger. Today, the community consists of 14 million people in more than 200,000 cities. The Website Couchsurfing has long been erased from my mind, despite having a seemingly big impact in the early 2010s.Ī decade after launching in 2004, the website counted over 10 million members around the globe.
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