# couchsurfing/wwoof/ect ect



## Mouse

couchsurfing.com

hospitalityclub.com

wwoof.org (we'ev already had posts about this but I figured it cant' hurt to include it)

http://www.globalfreeloaders.com/

or good ol' craigslist.com


what I'd like ta know

1. have you used these sites to find places to crash before?
2. if yes, how was the experience?
3. if yes, did you use it for international travel?
4. same as #2

i've heard good things about CS.com but I was hoping to hear some more first-hand stories.

Post edited by: Mouse, at: 2007/03/05 04:55


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## Mady

I have heard really good things about couchsurfing.com but I am sort of skeptical. I have a group on facebook where people can ask for places to stay, and thats been pretty effective so far.


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## jamessheaj

*Mady Klepto wrote:*


> I have heard really good things about couchsurfing.com but I am sort of skeptical. I have a group on facebook where people can ask for places to stay, and thats been pretty effective so far.



whats the link?


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## Crazycoon

Fuck woofing!!! I was conntacting this honey farm once for a week every day, telling them about myself and why I wanted to werk there. When they finnally sprung the ultimate lame ass question..."do you have a woof number" I sayed no cause I copied the book (which apparently your not supposed to do) in the spirit of piracy. And asked them if they really beleive there should be a middle maan to it all (you have to pay the creators of the book 40$ in canada to woof) I never heard from them again. Fuck it Everything cost money in this fucked up modedrn time. Fuck the woof system!


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## Mouse

yeah the Woofing thing seemed cool till I saw the big dollar sign. and then I thought... hmmm... MAYBE I'll consider it... _maybe_. 

I mean, 40 bucks really isn't much but I don't feel _I_shold have to pay money to volunteer my labor.

it's unpatriotic to not PAY for things. I mean, I live in America for fucks sake. if you're not paying to live - you're not living!

"weeds" are flowers that are free.


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## Oksu

I've been looking into wwoof recently, and I guess for each country it's a different price. A lot of Latin American countries are really reasonable, Costa Rica is 15 bucks I believe, and Mexico is equally cheap.
And you can get joint memberships, which is cheaper than a single country. 
But of course, it's still paying. I don't know, I'd like to talk to someone who has actually experienced it before I sign up for it.


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## Jamie

couchsurfing.com is awesome. i have had nothing but positive experiences with it and met a bunch of really cool people.


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## Crazycoon

Paying to woof is FUCKING RIDICULOUS!!!! They should pay YOU!!!, actually at some places they do if you werk there long enough... Pay to work for osmeone... I hate that shit!
-Rageing lurch-


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## wokofshame

globalfreeloaders.com 


im staying with a dude in miami right now who i found from the site

its unreliable and not the most user-friendly of sites
but by far the easiest to sign up for


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## Mady

I just used couchsurfing, and had a wonderful experience. The kids were awesome, made us free vegan food, and stayed up[ and told ghost stories and sang with us. I am sure this isnt a constant with the site, but so far im 1/1 ^^


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## bakerdoo

I haven't used globalfreeloaders.com but i am really surprised at the number of users and number of places people have posted. i am going to try it soon.

Just doing a few searches for random cities was surprising
Lima, Peru : 42
Prague, Czec : 58
Minneapolis, MN : 144


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## Mouse

fer real. a while ago I searched my local bum-fuck area just cuz I wanted to see how many people, IF ANY, were on there.. and 5 came up. that's a LOT for this type of area.


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## NASTY

for the past three months i have been staying in a friend of mine's dorm with another one of my friends. it was my friend, me, and 4 chicks... it all ended last night after one of the roommates mother's complained about us. i gained some new friends from the experience... and i found out that some people just hate freeloaders or bums of any sort.... i saw human greed first hand and how people are sometimes not willing to share what they have to someone who has nothing but the clothes and pack on their back... i might have to write abook about it even though i just sat around all day and smoked cigarettes...


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## shasellette

a lot of people hate freeloaders and bums
some are jealous some are afraid


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## Mouse

some get tired of being sucked dry as well. some peopel overstay their welcome, take too much, or sometimes just straight up EXPECT shit they have no real right to. that's when I draw the line.


I know a lot of people who think freeloaders are pure scum. i mean, I like to be self-sufficient and all that good shit but sometimes that feels very isolating. 


the world counteracts those bum-haters with lots of cool people who know it's good to share.


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## NASTY

when i was living at this place we always asked if we could have food, we sometimes even bought groceries and said they were all of our housemates. i don't think we ever really asked for too much except a place to stay.

but the world is really pitted against people who are trying to live outside the system; one form or another. i guess the reason for this is because the world IS the system. though that lifestyle isn't for everyone, a person living that lifestyle is that way for some reason or another. asking them to change their way of life is disrespectul in my mind. there just comes a time when one needs to realize it's time to move on.

most bums, hobos, tramps, freeloaders---whatever you wanna call 'em---are the nicest people out there, though there are some bad apples in the bunch that ruin it for everyone (it's been said soooooo many times before). but must hobos i've met are willing to share whatever they have with you or, if yer a fellow hob, give you helpful information. which is what any good hob should do.


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## rideitlikeyoustoleit

I tried to use CouchSurfing last summer when I was in weird small towns (which was most of the time) and it never worked out. A lot of the website seems like someone heard about it and made a profile and then never checked it again.


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## joe_

Mouse said:


> couchsurfing.com
> 
> hospitalityclub.com
> 
> wwoof.org (we'ev already had posts about this but I figured it cant' hurt to include it)
> 
> http://www.globalfreeloaders.com/
> 
> or good ol' craigslist.com
> 
> 
> what I'd like ta know
> 
> 1. have you used these sites to find places to crash before?
> 2. if yes, how was the experience?
> 3. if yes, did you use it for international travel?
> 4. same as #2
> 
> i've heard good things about CS.com but I was hoping to hear some more first-hand stories.
> 
> Post edited by: Mouse, at: 2007/03/05 04:55


1. yes... I have stayed at over 20, hosted over 40, met 100s... 
2. always good..
3. international and national 
4. great... 

I am HC/CS ambassador... 
anything you need to know let me know... 

yes 1st post.. 

hi 

I've done WWOOF before also (its 25, I do disagree with the money, but you can always raise some)... and on global free loaders... 

I am new to squatting though... would eventually like to live property free totally and do intermittent volunteering, I have a small eco house in GA I plan on eventually settling down in when I can't get around...


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## lilylove

hey, i've done a fair bit of couch surfing too, and it's always worked out perfectly. Great way to meet awesome ppl, and locals too who are more than happy to show you around the area. Which is great if its not your home country. You generally get the sweetest deals too... ive stayed in everthing from a fully decked out granny flat overlooking mountains and ocean, to a coach/bus bunk bed that the guy built and lived in. Seems like most of the ppl on there are pretty like minded, cool folk, and except for a few times, ive always found somewhere to stay in the town i wanted to stay in. This is all in aus and nz though. Hoping to use it when i get to europe in july. 
The only downside that i found was that you had to be a little bit organised. I never plan where im gonna end up, just kind of happen there, and then realise i need somewhere to sleep that night or the next day or whatever. Which does work sometimes too, but mostly you need to email at least 4(ish) days in advance. 

there is also http://www.hospitalityclub.org/ which i dont think is as good, but worth a look.


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## macks

I've always had good experiences with couchsurfing - staying and hosting. Some cool people are hooked into it. 

I've heard mixed reviews of wwof, a good friend of mine had a great experience in France and a few nights ago told me about one farm in Palm Springs that a guy owns and has really nice workers' quarters (and a pool!?!?). You also get 5$/hr as well as room and board there. I've also heard of some crappy experiences. People have told me to just get in contact with the farm you want to go to and make sure that's where you want to stay/work. I'd like to do it in the future, sounds like good fun.


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## Gypsy Wagon

Crazycoon said:


> Fuck woofing!!! I was conntacting this honey farm once for a week every day, telling them about myself and why I wanted to werk there. When they finnally sprung the ultimate lame ass question..."do you have a woof number" I sayed no cause I copied the book (which apparently your not supposed to do) in the spirit of piracy. And asked them if they really beleive there should be a middle maan to it all (you have to pay the creators of the book 40$ in canada to woof) I never heard from them again. Fuck it Everything cost money in this fucked up modedrn time. Fuck the woof system!



WWOOF-ing in the states is only $20 for a one person directory that is not pirated......I bet you would have learned some usefull shit too. 



Gypsy Wagon said:


> I worked on this farm for 4 months in South Carolina. The people I stayed with did a lot of ocean fishing, so I learned a lot about shrimping, fishing, crabbing, digging for oysters and clams, etc. They also had a preety expansive garden. While I was there I stayed in a tipi and had tasks like feeding the chickens, collecting fire wood, weeding and composting. I helped with several big projects like installing irrigation pipe, building a greenhouse, brain tanning hides and experimenting with forest dwellings. The guy who I lived with was kind of a prick, but I learned a lot of cool shit and got to squat for 4 months for free. This was my first experience on the WWOOF program and its really sweet...I'm now off to Alabama to work on a goat, sheep, and organic vegetable farm. I'm sure that there are some large scale commercial farmers who are on there, but most of them are just small-scale families who obtain a good portion of their own food. The program is fairly cheap ($20 for one person $30 for two) and you can squat for short term or long term while learning some preety cool shit........


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## stove

I've couchsurfed all over europe, and little but in North America. So far, everything has worked out, I've met some awesome people, and I've learned TONS (I found StP through a CS friend, thanks Lily!). It's worth a try.


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## Gypsybones

I wwoofed in Ireland on 2 separate farms and It was an amazing experience!
I stayed with two women from northern Ireland (they lived in Wicklow co) very polite very humble folk.
on the second farm I even was fortunate enough to experience a Irish drought, two weeks no rain alll sunshine! fucking amazing!


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## Mejnun

Ive been on CS for the past few years and have had amazing experiences all - US and internationally-around and made some lasting friendships through it- One thing that I really dislike is the "verification" system, which seems to be gaining import on the site. A Cser becomes name and address verified by paying 25 bucks to prove you have an address via your CC payment. Thats all fine and well, but many people on the site are true wanderers and never stay in one place very long. Even if they wanted to pay for the service they dont stay at an address long enough...A few years ago this never seemed to be an issue but now when I use the site it seems that there is a real push to get everyone "verified." I was at a CS meet-up once and heard people mention that they would only stay with verified hosts etc etc...as though by having a CC someone could be somehow more reliable or more trustworthy...The site and community is great, I just really dislike the push for verification and how it may effect whether a host or surfer responds to me.


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## dirty_rotten_squatter

Ive done couch surfing a couple of times and everytime have had awesome experiences, the people were all really cool and hospitable.


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## hg14

hospitalityclub.com dead site here's what you get http://hospitalityclub.com/


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## SpaceCadet

It's .ORG and not .com


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## Hollywood

i haven't had success with wwoofing yet. i feel a lot of farms take advantage of cheap labor. plus the whole feedback system is terrible because there really isn't one. at least on the USA one. 
this seems obvious but i think the best thing to do if you wanna volunteer on a farm is go to a farmer's market. find a farmer and ask if you can come out and work. this is how i worked on a farm in my hometown for 3 years.
i unofficially wwoofed by meeting someone on couchsurfing that volunteered on a farm. so, there are ways to do it by not joining the organization.


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## pola negri

I had an amazing experience with WWOOF. Read the descriptions carefully, communicate well beforehand, and then just hope for the best. I talked to a lot of ranchers/farmers before I settled on the one I ended up going to.


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## luckydub

Also check out helpexchange.net yes there is a $30 dollar fee, which i think is about the same as the average wwoof, but seems like a lot of cool folks on there. Good variety too.


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## Poking Victim

wait...wwoofing costs the worker $30?
I met some wwoofers on a small farm in BC. They seemed to like the arrangement; they had there own house.


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## SpaceCadet

To sign up on the website, it costs the worker. I've read some farms that you had to pay and also some that paid you. A lot will offer a small house/cabin for the wwoofers.


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## pola negri

I suppose it's all relative, but paying a $30 fee to have the resources they gave me, someone welcome me into their own home, teach me skills, feed me, shelter me, etc was more than worth it. I had my own room, my own horse, went swimming everyday in one of the most beautiful places I'd ever been to in my life...it is what you make it.


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## nitepeepole

i'm all over couchsurfing. i love that site. its my main source of housing...but i put in my time hosting as well. i've never met a bad egg from cs. sure ive met a couple of annoying ones but that's to be expected.
woofng...i'm considering it but i'd rather just live in a tent on the beach than work on a farm.


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## hardlyart

i've been using couchsurfing since last summer and i stayed for 3 months with people on there, and had a shit ton of people stay with me. it is an incredible site and a great way of connecting with people within certain communities in different cities. never had a bad experience yet.


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