Hey Team,

I have two very important words for you. Couch surfing. Wait…maybe that’s one word. Couchsurfing. Hold on…let’s start over.

Hey Team,

I have one very important web address for you. www.couchsurfing.com. I’m sure you all know about my stubborn insistence on refusing to pay for lodging during my trip (hence the occasional sleeping on park benches). But how do I go about finding lodging when I’m not sleeping at a friend’s house or on a park bench?

Couch Surfing! (Or couchsurfing!)

It’s the coolest thing since liquid nitrogen! Couchsurfing.com is a huge worldwide network of travelers who all like to do things on the cheap and experience new cultures. And it’s absolutely the best way to discover a new city.

Before I left on this trip I was worried that having thoroughly explored California (after a lifetime spent in The Golden State) I’d already seen everything I was likely to encounter in the rest of the country. This was especially worrying when I was on my way from San Francisco to Los Angeles via the Central Valley a week before I left. In other words, I went from one of the world’s most important cultural centers to the second largest city in the country via a road riddled with tractor crossing signs. What else is there to see?

Turns out…a lot.

And I have couchsurfing.com to thank for a lot of that. On the surface there ARE a lot of similarities around the country. And if I were just walking across the top of the local color Gerridae Ranatra fusca style and getting the Holiday Inn experience I probably wouldn’t even notice the differences. But when you’re staying with the natives you’re instantly thrown into their own personal network of friends and acquaintances. And from those networks an entire hidden world opens up, not just of local culture but little known points of interest that otherwise would have escaped view.

I guess this is kind of a love note to all the new friends I’ve already made so far on this trip. I’d specifically like to think all the couch surfers who’ve let me stay with them. Mike, George, Aaron, Cassie, Phil, Nickola, Margaret, Kelli, Cari, Eamon, Veronica, Vida, Todd, Matt. It takes a special kind of generosity to let a stranger (even one as kind as myself) into your house and show them your life and your town.

Thank you all so much!

I’m done.

Brett.

Okay, so lodging’s under control but there are still plenty of other expenses!

Don’t let me stop you.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 11:47 pm.