CouchSurfing in Kiev
CouchSurfing is all about staying on the sofa / couch / mattress / spared bed of someone you've never met, in a foreign land, in an alien language and culture. Often somewhere urban / suburban for which you need to avail yourself of public transport.
From the website: "CouchSurfing is a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit.".
It was the most fun and exciting part of the trip I think. Especially so as I completely failed to meet anyone in any of the sleeper cars I traveled in.
I joined just before my trip and so had no 'history' that made me a 'safe bet'. Still, I quickly found; communicated with; and 'booked' places to stay in Kiev and Moscow. The photos from the Moscow part of the trip I posted a few days ago. Now, after my trip, all my new friends have added their feedback to my CouchSurfing profile, and some have even vouched for me. I'm looking forward to hosting someone in Cambridge. Unfortunately, my first surfer was to have been in a few weeks time but she wanted to come at a time when I was away from home.
When I got to the flat, there were three other surfers there - remember, I wasn't expected for a day or so. Anyway, nothing was a problem and a bed was found, and the food was stretched. Yes, it was half ten but there was cooking going on (the French student couple were cooking). Well, I was still hungry after the Sushi...
The only thing to drink was vodka. Yevgeny provided good Ukrainian vodka and what is euphemistically called 'vodka light' (this phrase is on the label). Vodka is %40 and 'light' is %37.5. Hmmm. Seem pretty similar to me. I had purchased an emergency suply in the supermarket - a 500ml bottle of something whose label I liked (in the supermarket, there were three isles dedicated to vodka...).
A bottle of good Ukrainian vodka was about £2. Good beer was about 20p a bottle.
Around the dinner table was Yevgeny, his girlfriend Olga (the one with the camera in the pics), their flatmate, Roe (couch surfer from LA), Agnieszka and Clement (French couple studying on Poland) and me. You'll see in the pics how small the table was.
What struck me most was that this was based on real trust and community. Travelers sharing. Travelers who would reciprocate to some other traveler at some point in the future. Within minutes of my arrival I was given the keys to the flat and shown how to operate the locks.
At 46 I was by far the oldest. All were in their twenties. As Roe said "you sure don't act 46".
Lots of pictures of people.
The 'Point It' book is not mine but I do now have one on order. I first saw it on BoingBoing. It is just 1800 categorised photographs of objects. The idea is, if you can't say it, point at it!
From the website: "CouchSurfing is a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit.".
It was the most fun and exciting part of the trip I think. Especially so as I completely failed to meet anyone in any of the sleeper cars I traveled in.
I joined just before my trip and so had no 'history' that made me a 'safe bet'. Still, I quickly found; communicated with; and 'booked' places to stay in Kiev and Moscow. The photos from the Moscow part of the trip I posted a few days ago. Now, after my trip, all my new friends have added their feedback to my CouchSurfing profile, and some have even vouched for me. I'm looking forward to hosting someone in Cambridge. Unfortunately, my first surfer was to have been in a few weeks time but she wanted to come at a time when I was away from home.
When I got to the flat, there were three other surfers there - remember, I wasn't expected for a day or so. Anyway, nothing was a problem and a bed was found, and the food was stretched. Yes, it was half ten but there was cooking going on (the French student couple were cooking). Well, I was still hungry after the Sushi...
The only thing to drink was vodka. Yevgeny provided good Ukrainian vodka and what is euphemistically called 'vodka light' (this phrase is on the label). Vodka is %40 and 'light' is %37.5. Hmmm. Seem pretty similar to me. I had purchased an emergency suply in the supermarket - a 500ml bottle of something whose label I liked (in the supermarket, there were three isles dedicated to vodka...).
A bottle of good Ukrainian vodka was about £2. Good beer was about 20p a bottle.
Around the dinner table was Yevgeny, his girlfriend Olga (the one with the camera in the pics), their flatmate, Roe (couch surfer from LA), Agnieszka and Clement (French couple studying on Poland) and me. You'll see in the pics how small the table was.
What struck me most was that this was based on real trust and community. Travelers sharing. Travelers who would reciprocate to some other traveler at some point in the future. Within minutes of my arrival I was given the keys to the flat and shown how to operate the locks.
At 46 I was by far the oldest. All were in their twenties. As Roe said "you sure don't act 46".
Lots of pictures of people.
The 'Point It' book is not mine but I do now have one on order. I first saw it on BoingBoing. It is just 1800 categorised photographs of objects. The idea is, if you can't say it, point at it!
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Hi Nik,
I've been looking at your blog and enjoying it!!
Looks like you're having a great time.
All the best,
Terry