I’ve been a traveller for 17+ years. (On and off)
In the past 9 or so I’ve been involved in offering free hospitality, accommodation or simply a friendly face to those that asked for it.
It’s been an unbelievable journey so far. I’ve stayed with people I would never have met and been lucky enough to host some really engaging and delightful people.

Here goes:

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The original request
Title: Around New Years Eve
Stefanie Landau, Berlin, Age: 23 ,Gender: Female
Grew up in: Kassel, Hessen
Identity checked & location verified!
References: 4, Friends: 5
Details
City: London, London,
Arrival Date: 28/12/2011
Departure Date: 05/01/2012
Number of Surfers: 2
Stefanie Landau
11 December 2011 – 16:12

Hello,

Cheers,
Stef

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Nice enough, so I replied:
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Tristan Pretty
11 December 2011 – 17:44
Who is your friend..?
I only host surfers.

I can maybe help for a few days..
Let me know.. x

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I do only host surfers, so it’s typical with many hosts to ask who else is going to come into their homes.
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Stefanie Landau
11 December 2011 – 18:54
http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/xxx/ That’s my friend. [edited to protect identity]
That would be nice, if it works .
How are you?
Stef

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Wonderful,. I now know who exactly has requested to stay in my home. I have those dates free and I’m delighted to have another happy soul come into my home.
While I’m not 21 anymore myself, I let her know that I’ll be keeping it chilled on NY eve.
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Tristan Pretty
11 December 2011 – 22:12
Well, I may not go crazy on NY eve, but I give my surfers keys, so if you wanna go off and do the tourist stuff, you’ll be fine.

Looking forward to hanging.. x

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Great.. so she’s in my Couchsurfing.com calendar and I sadly start saying no to all the other great requests.
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Stefanie Landau
12 December 2011 – 13:22
Thanks a lot.

Looking forward to hanging too!!xo

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Aw, she shared a little about herself, said thanks and even is looking forward to hanging out too, the perfect surfer!
However, after 10 days I realise I’ve not sent her my address. As I’ve not heard from her I check she’s still coming.
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Tristan Pretty
22 December 2011 – 16:33
Yo.. Still coming next week? x

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4 days later with no reply I try again.
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Tristan Pretty
26 December 2011 – 18:09
Hi there..
I’ve got lots of other requests, can you please confirm if you’re coming or not?
I don’t want loose the opportunity to host someone else if you’re not coming..
Let me know ASAP…

Tris…

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Right, that’ll do! She knows that I’ve got other requests and she’ll be along in no time to let me know.
I’m reluctant to cancel the request as she may be all go and come in at the last min to get my address.. it’d be shitty if I gave the couch to someone else when she was counting on it.. I’ve never let a surfer down and didn’t wanna start now!
Nothing for a couple of days, so I write again (hoping she’s not dead in a ditch somewhere)
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Tristan Pretty
28 December 2011 – 13:41
I guess you’re not coming?
When you do read this, please reply so I can leave in your reference that you did eventually get in contact.

Tris..

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The referencing system in couchsurfing.com is locked to the recipient and is used to let other potential hosts or surfers the real experiences had by them.
I’d want my reference to be fair, honest and accurate.
After another day and a very clear realisation I gave her a Neutral reference (you can give Pos, Neg or Neutral, all based on your experience. It’s rare to give a negative reference unless you really felt in danger or disrespected etc.
Anyhoo, my reference, flagged as Neutral.
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I was supposed to host her and her friend over new years.
As it’s a busy time of year, I asked several times to confirm she was still coming as I have many other requests.
She never replied to them. Our initial conversations were polite and friendly enough, hence me not leaving a negative reference.. but I was not impressed that she just ignored me, I could’ve helped someone else out if she’d let me know.
I’m sure there’s a good reason, but she never told me what it was.. I hope she’s well.

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Wonderful, that’s done, No word from her over xmas and the new years celebration. I’m sure she’s fine, probably found another host and was having too much fun to tell me.
A Shame and she’ll know next time to stay in touch with people that are expecting her..
All over…
Until on the 12 JAn… I get this message.
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Hello,

Cheers,
Stef

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Oh, so a friend hosted her, I bet that was fun for her.. staying with friends over New Years.. I did that myself.. good times
However, my reference did relate to the facts as I saw them and her message confirmed that.
I’d never given a neutral reference before, so I thought I’d better ask my fellow London hosts for a little advice. Should I simply do as she demands, or stand by the truthful reference?
So I ask the question in one of the many forums found on couchsurfing.com and then reply to her with this:
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My gut reaction was no.. but I’ve thought about it and I’ve created a thread here:

Tris…

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A little firm, but again.. fair.. I leave it a few days and then go back to the forums. A landslide opinion that I should leave the reference as is and explain again to her that I was waiting for her and had to refuse several people each day (we get up to 10 requests a day in London during the holidays, summer and winter) because she’s stopped corresponding.
Great.. I get validation and reply to her this:
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Hi there..
Well, the results are in and I’ve decided to leave the reference.
A London moderator wrote to me directly and said that if that’s what happened, then that’s what my reference should reflect.

Peace and love.
Tris…

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Great…! I’ve calmly and politly given her all the facts, told her who to contact if she still disagrees with my reference and wished her well.
Happy days….
Well, until on the 14th Jan, She sends me this:
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That’s the rudest and most ignorant attitude I ever have seen on a social network. And you are a fucking liar, than some guys wrote me. And you said you hided my identity. That’s more than horrid!

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Um, yes.. I had ‘hidded’ your identity (Though it turns out I’d forgotten to hide her facebook profile like.. not a FB user really I just forgot to look for it.. my bad).
I told you I did in my initial messages.I thought that was the nice thing to do to save you getting messages from hosts that might be tired of spoilt brats spouting their tantrums to the world.
I thought it was the right thing to do.. but no, she wanted to not be ‘hidded’.. so in all future forum posts, I clearly identified her.
Not exactly sure why I’m a ‘fucking liar’.. Cause there is not alot to lie about. However, I’m sure she’s just not used to being told that she’s wrong.
I’ll give her a few days to calm down, then I’m sure she’ll reply with a more rational and reasoned response..
….
5 mins later:
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And why didn’t write you my friend a reference. Because we wrote all messages together! your are unfair! And I never have get a message from you!

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A fair point. But her friend had had no contact with me and I could not confirm that that person even knew about me.
I often arrange hosts for my CS friends when we travel together and it’s not uncommon to let me get on with the job of finding a host. So I presumed that the friend was in the same boat.
Also by this point, a poster on the forum I had running (it was getting quite popular) sugggested I move the post to a more relevent forum.. so I did.

Now it was time to reply again:

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Well, if you’d like me to give her a neutral reference let me know. Though I don’t think that would be in anyone’s best interest.

Tris…

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Well, there we go..
Good luck in your travels… Here’s a place you can really share your side of things.
I mean what more could I do, without removing the reference stating that she simply failed to show up?
Hmmm, but then several minutes later:

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Annd the truth is. I wasn’t in england because I was at hospital a few weeks. And I guess you wouldn’t check cs when you have big hygenic problems! Moreover I had no internet. Normally I would tell it but you are so stupid to realice yourself.

It’s not nice to write about people you don’t know and if you don’t know the backgrounds! But some day you will get punisment for that attitude. You can be sure!

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Oh my!
Not only was Stefanie Landau hosted by a friend in London over new years. She was also NOT in England AND in hospital. With that much travel between the hospital, her friends house in London there’s no wonder she never had a chance to check her mail. I always have problems connecting to wireless at airports.. I felt her pain.
However, it didn’t sway me to change my reference now that she claimed to be in two places at once. The fact that I are so stupid to realise that she might have had a big hygenic problem was a failing on my part. Why wasn’t that my first gut reaction. Oh so often have I been waiting for friends in the pub when after they don’t show for 15 mins I rush to the conclusion that they’re in some kind of personal hyge… oh no wait, they texted.. running late.. well, that was a relief.

It’s not nice to say someone failed to show up when they infact failed to show up. (yep, you read that correctly.. apparently)
Well, like she says, I’ll be punished someday. Punished for speaking the truth..? Wow, I’m now in the same category as Galileo (to name one of many).. I’m kinda honoured.
But the show must go on..
So I reply:

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To be honest..

As always… peace and love…

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Well, there we go again.. calm, polite.. prefect
I should perhaps have not told her to be polite. I am a firm believer in the freedom of speech and therefore it IS her right to use whatever foul language she likes.. I regret saying that to her.
But over all, nice. Done, dusted and clean
Until the following morning, I get a new reference on my profile…
MY first negative one ever.. quite an occasion. I bet it’s filled with all sorts of misdeads I performed from a previous host I um, hosted. No wait, that’s not possible, I’ve always treated my guests as I’d like to be treated.. Hmm, so that means… :

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He is the opposite of nice a guy. I wanted to stay in his house, but I passed through an unexpected accident. And I wasn’t able to go online for three weeks and so I couldn’t reply.

It’s not nice to write about about people without knowing the person and her/his background. He proved as unsympathetic, ignorant, selfish and mean.

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Wow.. her stay in London with her friend that was infact a hygene problem is now an accident. My word!
This girl has no luck! No internet for 3 weeks.. I’d be a little lost myself. What’s even MORE astounding is that her original request was made roughly 2 weeks before she contacted me again… meaning she’d had to dictate all her correspondence to me via someone else! That must have been terrible for her.
She did offer me alternative correspondence, but call me Mr Thicky, but we were corresponding on couchsurfing.com.. Was I supposed to know to switch to alternative communication methods, that she couldn’t have received anyway cause she lost the internet for 2 weeks.. sorry 3 weeks… and was in hospital.. at her friends house.. in London.. in Germany… I’m very confused…

Look what we found…

Ok, so we had to return it.

But, more importantly we got to catch up and stay with an old friend, Mishca while in Prague.

Half way between last nights host & Strasbourg.. We stop for lunch & a chill by a random river.

Tris decided to have a wee snooze this afternoon, much like an old man would. I chose to man-up and do something more cultural and go see something that sounded interesting; the Church of Bones.

My ride out there was amazing, probably the best ride of the trip. And when I got there a bus full of playboy Bunnies had just arrived. Honest, I’ve even got a photo.

At least that is what I told sleeping Pretty.

The ride was actually boring, hot but luckily not that long. Thankfully the Ossuary was not crowded with tourists so I could easily wander around and look at my leisure. And it was bizarre.

Some half blind nutter priest started the idea of decorating the church with the remains of those buried in an over crowded cemetery. He, along with others of course, made practically every decoration out of bones; from a large candelabra, a coat of arms, writing on the wall, to huge vase like things at the entrance. I checked around but couldn’t find a bone lava lamp, which was a little bit disappointing.

It was a morbid experience but still fascinating. It is rather strange to think that these stunning artistic creations were once living and breathing people. I can’t help but be intrigued as I analysed their remains.

Being a biker is tough.
Sore arse, bugs hitting you in the face at over 100 km/h, cars constantly trying to kill you, winds that want you to change lanes & loading your gear is not a quick task in the mornings.
However, for some reason.. Girls.. some girls just seem to like bikers.

To that end, here’s our fine Hungarian host giving it a whirl herself…

Prep

Click here to view the embedded video.

Action

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Tris and I are really big softies at heart. We stayed our last night in Romania with a dude called Adrian… and his puppy, older dog, 2 kittens, pet sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, turkeys, geese, rabbits, ducks and his grandma.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is something about animals that makes your heart go “Awww”, especially the younger ones. The puppy was so cute and the kittens woke both us at god awful hours wanting some attention. The rest of the animals just had to be regarded as food.

The pigs were tasty. Nom nom nom.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It is something you never want to happen; your best mate getting hurt. I wasn’t there to witness the event but I heard it as soon as it happened.

I heard a loud shout. Panicked, I ran over and there was Tristan, clutching his hand… he had burnt his finger on the exhaust of his motorbike.

This will haunt him for the rest of his life. He will always picture, in slow motion, that time he was spraying his chain when his index finger got too close to the exhaust and gently touched it. Even a touch is too late as pain wracked through his finger. The damage had been done.

Now a blister has formed to remind him to be a bit more careful next time.

Dick.

As I walked back to the hotel at 2ish AM I couldn’t help but think that I was in vampire country. It was really quite spooky walking the back streets of old town Brasnov, with not a soul in sight and being accompanied only by the barking or howling of dogs. The dilapidated buildings, narrow back streets and limited lighting created and sense of foreboding.

But, I had some chocolate and a sprite so I was content. Burp.

In the spirit of things, Tris and I visited Bran Castle today. This is the castle that is incredibly loosely associated with the Dracula myth, and Bram Stokers’ story. So loosely in fact that I probably spent more time there than Vlad Tepes, the Impaler, on who’s bloody reign the vampire story is associated with. While he might have gone to the loo there once, I can confirm I definitely did. Just a number one.

As we sat in a restaurant at the base of the castle, knocking back a beer (as bikers do before going for a ride), we both thought… meh. We came a long way to see not much. Sure it was an interesting looking castle, but it wasn’t that amazing.

All the people we meet over our time in Brasnov confirmed that it was just a tourist trap. There were plenty of other more amazing castles to see in the area. But, as we pointed out, they all required more effort to see, some with over 1400 steps up to reach them. Fuck that.

We stayed for a couple of nights in a small city called Giurgiu, across the border from Bulgaria just on the Danube. While there might not have been 10000 dogs, you could be forgiven for assuming so. They were everywhere; strays roaming the streets in small packs, or just on their own. You had to be careful to not stand in dog poopie.

Aside from the dogs, Giurgiu doesn’t have much going for it but we really enjoyed a day off to relax. Both Tris and I had been getting grumpy at just about everything so a day doing sweet f all was called for. We stayed with an amazing host family, with mum plying us with food every morning, and the two daughters showing us around the town and introducing us to various local characters.

Our first night had us drinking beer at a local bar where between 7 of us we drank 22 beers. It cost us a total of £22 – Tris and I were quite popular after we generously offered to pay for it all. Later on in the evening we ended up charging through the streets in a pick-up truck to go swimming at someone’s pool, followed by more beer and a sing-a-long. They were amazingly awful enough so that even I could join in. It was quite fun and very entertaining. We stumbled home somewhere around 2pm and managed a sleep in.

Breakfast from mum was intriguing. I braved a milky yoghurt thing that was drinkable but wasn’t particularly pleasant at the same time. Tris wussed out. Once you got over the idea of the chunks of stuff in it then that made it easier.

The girls then took us for a wander around the town. We saw more dogs, homeless people, deteriorating buildings and, surprisingly, lots of roading improvement works. The fat taxi drivers lifting their tops and rubbing their bellies was a particularly intriguing sight and one thing I might bring back to London to start a trend. But what was really fascinating were the gypsy houses.

There are poor gypsies and rich gypsies. The poor meet your usual expectations of what a gypsy looks like, but the rich ones lead a complety different life. They build these enormous houses; 2 or 3 stories high with many balconies and ornate facade. They call them Gypsy Palaces. It’s all about keeping up with the Joneses, trying to ensure your house is better than the one next to you. The funny thing is that they spend all their money creating a great looking house from the outside, but can only afford to live in two or three rooms on the inside. They are never completed properly, sometimes to the point where they poop in a hole out back because they don’t have the plumbing done.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our time in Guirguin was great. That was solely due to the people we stayed with and met. As a tourist destination it probably wouldn’t feature on anyone’s list unless you like cheap beer and dogs.

Due to documentation issues, we decided not to stay in Albania longer than we should. We spent a night in a tiny village, Vau Dejes, near the northern border, staying with a amazing young man called Corey Rice. He had been there 4 months out of a 2 year stint as a Peace Corps volunteer, but had integrated himself into the community amazingly (“Your bikes won’t get stolen because you are staying with me”). He showed us around the area he lived in, being driven everywhere by his local taxi driver friend, and explained to us the politics of the land, the life of the local people, and showed us the contrast between the rich and poor. It was an eye opening experience and definitely a highlight for both of us. We got to appreciate Albania as a beautiful country, but were also saddened by the treatment of people and animals. One particularly upsetting sight was when we were taken to a local restaurant that had a wolf and three bears locked up in tiny cages for their guests to enjoy. It was depressing and heart wrenching to see them caged in such a way.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the morning we packed up our gear and were on the road by 9 as we had a long way to go. Our Sat Navs said our trip was going to take about 6 hours, but that wasn’t too daunting.

The first leg of the journey took us into the capital, Terina, so we could try get some fuel using a credit card rather than having to get cash out. We stopped at several petrol stations that clearly displayed Visa signs, yet each time were told they only took cash. We gave in and got cash. After refueling we decided to head to the coast as our Sat Navs said it was only another 4.5 hours to the border that way. I’m never trusting a Sat Nav again (well, I will but not in Albania).

The term “road” in Albania should be taken quite loosely. There were times when it suddenly stopped and turned into a gravel path, or was so full of potholes it could just have well have been an off-road experience. But, it was a challenge and quite fun for that reason, forcing us to keep very attentive on where we were going. We saw some fascinating sights on the way, including a cow being freshly slaughtered (it was still kicking), some amazing coastal roads and captivating views. But, they just wouldn’t end.

(view along the southern Albania coast)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Albania is a bit of a black hole for our Sat Nav it seems. No wonder it said it would only take 4ish hours, as it basically drew straight lines along the coast, where the road actually hugged every tight corner. Our 4 hours extended into 9 hours. As we got very close to the border the road diverged and we got a bit stumped trying to interpret from the Sat Nav which road to take as it didn’t follow either (straight lines again). As luck would have it, a car pulled up and out jumped a nice chap who offered to show us how to get to the border by having us follow him. Turns out he lived in Clapham Common.

So we followed him, sometimes driving a little bit faster than we would have considering it was now pitch black – oh, except for the light produced by the forest fire that was on our left, burning the hillside by the road – and the roads were very windy. Eventually we got to the border – “Motorsickle documents and green card.” Sorry buddy, but we are out of here. Hello Greece!

After being on the road for 12+ hours, we ended up getting a room in a cheap hotel in Ionnina, Greece. The hotel owner was having a wee party as it turns out, so despite being road weary, we joined in with them, guzzling down much needed beer and pizza.