I had no clue what Couchsurfing was all about, until one day accidentally I started following a Travel Youtuber. His videos of him globe trotting, hitchhiking, Couchsurfing etc. gave me this first insight into what Couchsurfing is all about.
This motivated me to start my own YouTube channel here in New Zealand as a hobby showcasing my normal life in NZ and my travels to various cities around. Now that I had this channel up and running, an idea popped into my mind, “Hey why not invite some Couchsurfers” to my house here. I enrolled myself in and became a Couchsurfing member too.
One day out of the blue I had got this request from a Japanese Traveler who was planning to visit NZ on a short trip and requested a stay with me for a day or two, looking to the fact that I had mentioned about my travels to Japan prior to joining Couchsurf site. I immediately accepted his request and voila Ryo San from Japan turned out to be my first ever guest whom I had hosted. This gave me a first hand experience of what Couchsurfing was all about. He came in as a guest and left the country as a good friend ! This is the spirit that I learnt.
Since then have hosted so many lovely people from around the world, South Korea, Japan, China, Belgium, Canada, USA, Indonesia etc. and I have captured each one of their stays with me through my YouTube videos as a story of its own. Do check out my videos of each one of them, you will love it. Couchsurfing has taught me to respect cultures, and made me understand the fact that no matter where you come from, after all we all are “Humans”!