As I sit here on the floor of my dorm in the hostel in Austin, TX, about to write a post on Couchsurfing I have to chuckle at the irony. Over the last few months I have had my fair share of Couchsurfing experiences and have also had the opportunity to connect with other travellers and discuss their experiences with CS as well. After many discussions, I felt it was appropriate to throw together a list of tips that may help both parties out - surfers and hosts.
Tips For CouchSurfers - How To Be A Good Guest:
- Always be clear when sending requests on how long/how many nights you are looking to stay.
- Advise a potential host of any special requests or circumstances. Ex: if you have allergies OR don't just show up with your two dogs. Remember, this is not your house.
- Respect your hosts privacy. If they want you out of the house when they are not there - respect that. Remember, you are a guest and are staying for free!
- Although not required, showing up with a host gift is always a nice way to connect. It can be something as simple as a bottle of wine or something unique to where you're from - tea from England or a pin from your home state.
- Always be sure to ask if there is anything you need to bring - blankets/pillows/food.
- Be sure to research the location of your host before arriving. A 10 minute commute from downtown, as listed on their profile, might be talking to those with a car. Public transportation could and probably will take significantly longer.
- When you're sending out a request, be sure to personalize it. Nothing is more off-putting than seeing a generic two-line request where you have just substituted the addressee (some not even going that far to take the time to write out the name of the person you're requesting to stay with).
- Most importantly, remember your manners people. This is not your house. You are a guest. Everyone does things differently and be sure to respect that. You aren't staying with this host forever but while you are you need to be flexible to their routines.
Tips for Hosts - How To Prepare Your Surfers:
- Before accepting a surfer, let us know if you have any rules of the house - no drinking, no smoking, bed time is 10 pm, etc. This prepares us and ensures there are no surprises or moments of awkward miscommunication.
- Advise your surfers on your proximity to things like public transport, tourist attractions, and places like downtown. Many travellers do not have a vehicle with them so this will affect their plans.
- I know many of you take pride in your cities and love showing surfers around but also be mindful of when a surfer may have things on their to-do list that they might want to do or see on their own. Furthermore, respect their decision. What you may write off as old news is probably something your surfer has never or rarely been exposed to - hence the trip to your city!
- If you require a surfer to bring anything let us know well in advance - blankets, pillows, food, etc.
- If you do not want a surfer to use certain items, or if you have certain items you will allow a surfer to use, let us know. Examples: oven, washer/dryer, coffee maker, etc.
- Although it is never a requirement, let your surfers know ahead of time if you do not have wifi. Many travelers rely on wifi to communicate with friends and family back home as well as to plan the next stages of our travels. If you let us know before arrival that you do not have wifi we can be sure to do planning ahead of time or at least look up the nearest Starbucks where we can go chill out in the twenty-first century.
- Do your best to keep your place clean. You don't have to be a Martha Stewart or Monica from Friends but don't make your surfers sleep on dirty sheets, wade through garbage to get from one room to the next, or step into a shower that they leave dirtier than when they entered.
To both parties - be kind. Respect each others life views. If you have a affinity for a certain religion, political party, social group, etc perhaps avoiding such topics is a way to go so as not to make anyone uncomfortable should they not share the same views.
Most importantly, have fun. As I mentioned several posts ago, CouchSurfing has revolutionized the way people can travel nowadays. Staying with a stranger, free of charge and truly getting the locals' point of view is a priceless experience. I have stayed with countless amazing people that I am truly grateful to have met. Thank you to all that have hosted me, and cheers to those of you that will!
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Don't Call Me A Survivor
In August of 2005 I was seventeen years old. I was probably ending a long summer of softball and travelling around Canada and the Northern US for tournaments. I was also probably getting ready to start my last year of high school - a very exciting time in any teenagers life. For the first time, my peers and I were going to have run of the school. It was our time.
In August of 2005 Kat was also seventeen and probably doing many of the same things that I was doing as she and her peers were getting ready to start their senior year of high school. And then tragedy struck. In what has come to be known as the worst civil engineering failure in US history when the levees broke, and a natural disaster that is synonymous with New Orleans - Hurricane Katrina.
I sat on the L-shaped leather and off-green couch until 1:30 am on Friday night asking Kat questions about Katrina, just hours after meeting for the first time. Graciously, she let me into her world. She was like any other high school girl, she had her problems - it's hard to be a teenage girl. But when the warning came her sister, mother, and Kat packed their usual three-day bag, expecting to be back home by weeks' end in time to carry on with her senior year.
When they started making it a mandatory evacuation that's when we knew it was serious, that had never happened before. Kat recalled for me. It took some time to choke out the reality of what she and thousands just like her in New Orleans had gone through in 2005. What would normally be a one hour drive from New Orleans to Baton Rouge took over nine hours as cars full of evacuees gridlocked the interstate. I remember seeing people standing on the side of the road waving cars over for a ride because they had run out of gas. But, even at that time I still don't think it was real yet.
Kat and her family took refuge with some family in Baton Rouge and she recalls that at least five days went by before contact could be established between her and her dad. Five long days. Not knowing - that was scary. Once she finally found out that her dad had made it out of New Orleans safely she started thinking about all the others - her friends, classmates, teachers, her community. In 2005, it wasn't anywhere near how it is today. You couldn't just send out a mass text (message) to contact everyone at once. A five day communication black out left many unknowns at the other end of the line. But, I still don't think it was real yet. We still didn't really realize what was happening.
With as much fragility as the situation warranted, I asked question after question of Kat - not even with this blog in mind but solely because I wanted to understand. I wanted to try and wrap my head around what happened here: the feelings, the panic, the surreal-ness of everything going on. I am so grateful that Kat was willing to share with me what she has gone through. I remember coming down the stairs at my aunt and uncles house and everyone was sitting around watching the tv. They were showing coverage of Katrina and that was the moment that it really hit me. Like, shi!t, this is real. This is really happening. And I'll never forget that moment.
When I think of New Orleans, I think of Mardi Gras, partying, and Hurricane Katrina. Having never been here before I wanted to understand at least one, as varied as the three may be. I am so grateful to Kat for her sharing her experiences with me - the realness of it all that could never truly be conveyed in any news story or picture on google. I could tell it was hard to recall all the details and emotions and revisit all those horrible memories of Katrina. But don't call her a survivor. I wouldn't, no. I don't think I would call myself a survivor. We were just here. I don't know anyone that says that.
More than eight years later, survivors or not - I admire and respect the healing power that is prevalent here in New Orleans. And I thank you, for helping this Canadian girl try and understand what was once the unimaginable.
In August of 2005 Kat was also seventeen and probably doing many of the same things that I was doing as she and her peers were getting ready to start their senior year of high school. And then tragedy struck. In what has come to be known as the worst civil engineering failure in US history when the levees broke, and a natural disaster that is synonymous with New Orleans - Hurricane Katrina.
I sat on the L-shaped leather and off-green couch until 1:30 am on Friday night asking Kat questions about Katrina, just hours after meeting for the first time. Graciously, she let me into her world. She was like any other high school girl, she had her problems - it's hard to be a teenage girl. But when the warning came her sister, mother, and Kat packed their usual three-day bag, expecting to be back home by weeks' end in time to carry on with her senior year.
When they started making it a mandatory evacuation that's when we knew it was serious, that had never happened before. Kat recalled for me. It took some time to choke out the reality of what she and thousands just like her in New Orleans had gone through in 2005. What would normally be a one hour drive from New Orleans to Baton Rouge took over nine hours as cars full of evacuees gridlocked the interstate. I remember seeing people standing on the side of the road waving cars over for a ride because they had run out of gas. But, even at that time I still don't think it was real yet.
Kat and her family took refuge with some family in Baton Rouge and she recalls that at least five days went by before contact could be established between her and her dad. Five long days. Not knowing - that was scary. Once she finally found out that her dad had made it out of New Orleans safely she started thinking about all the others - her friends, classmates, teachers, her community. In 2005, it wasn't anywhere near how it is today. You couldn't just send out a mass text (message) to contact everyone at once. A five day communication black out left many unknowns at the other end of the line. But, I still don't think it was real yet. We still didn't really realize what was happening.
With as much fragility as the situation warranted, I asked question after question of Kat - not even with this blog in mind but solely because I wanted to understand. I wanted to try and wrap my head around what happened here: the feelings, the panic, the surreal-ness of everything going on. I am so grateful that Kat was willing to share with me what she has gone through. I remember coming down the stairs at my aunt and uncles house and everyone was sitting around watching the tv. They were showing coverage of Katrina and that was the moment that it really hit me. Like, shi!t, this is real. This is really happening. And I'll never forget that moment.
When I think of New Orleans, I think of Mardi Gras, partying, and Hurricane Katrina. Having never been here before I wanted to understand at least one, as varied as the three may be. I am so grateful to Kat for her sharing her experiences with me - the realness of it all that could never truly be conveyed in any news story or picture on google. I could tell it was hard to recall all the details and emotions and revisit all those horrible memories of Katrina. But don't call her a survivor. I wouldn't, no. I don't think I would call myself a survivor. We were just here. I don't know anyone that says that.
More than eight years later, survivors or not - I admire and respect the healing power that is prevalent here in New Orleans. And I thank you, for helping this Canadian girl try and understand what was once the unimaginable.
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| The Lower 9th Ward was one of the places in New Orleans that was hit hardest by Katrina. Each and every single house in New Orleans was checked by emergency workers once the water had receded enough. |
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| Eight years have gone by but the FEMA markings still remain on some houses (right house, left side of the door). This house was not able to be searched until September 12th - two weeks after Katrina hit. |
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| This was once a house, now over run with vegetation. |
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| The now abandoned Six Flags New Orleans |
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| What was once the entry/ticket office. |
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| A single swing remains. |
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| Nine years ago I would not have been able to take this picture because of the crowds. |
Monday, 11 November 2013
Here, let me.
How many times have you gone on a great vacation with friends, family, or a significant other, gone and done some amazing things, snapped hundreds of pictures only to get home and realize that there really aren't many - if any - (good) pictures of your entire group? Pretty often, I'd guess.
It's funny. You can be at the most touristy destination, like Disney World or Graceland, and people are so extremely hesitant to stop another tourist to ask them if they wouldn't mind snapping a quick picture of their group. It seems people tend to think this is some huge inconvenience or something. When really, a simple: you take ours, we'll take yours, trade makes life a lot easier than trying to fashion a good selfie - attraction in frame and all.
Travelling on my own I kind of started making a joke out of it on Instagram, and those of you that follow me will know, I started a little "hashtag" collection of images #PicsWithHalfMyFace because there seems to be very few opportunities that one can capture the attraction and their entire person in the same frame, especially on a cell phone. All jokes aside, however, I was reminded of the kindness of strangers when I accidentally happened upon Metropolis. Yes, it is the one you are immediately thinking of. Home of Superman.
I saw the sign indicating the exit for Metropolis was only a few miles up the road and I just thought it was a coincidental name. Yet, as I travelled along the interstate I started seeing signs about Superman and Superman Museums and Superman Wax Museums - okay, this is real life. Of course I decided I was going to stop because how can you just drive past Metropolis and not. Take the exit and about five miles down the road to the right you pull up to a GIGANTIC Superman statue and various other Superman-themed outlets. Of course I wanted my picture with that statue.
I snapped a few of the man himself from a distance away, being sure to capture all it's glory. I then proceeded to walk up the little pathway into the display. Tried as I might, there was not a hot chance in you know where that I was going to be able to take a picture of this statue and anything more than #HalfMyFace. As I struggled, a dad with his three children and a few other dads and their kids walked up to Superman and the dad, without hesitation, said: "Here, let me."
It's the simple things that can brighten someones day and I want to send a sincere thank you out to this dad and the COUNTLESS others that have either, of their own free will offered or have agreed after my asking to snap a photo for me in these truly amazing places that I've been lucky enough to see thus far.
Next time you find yourselves out on the road and you see another group struggling to take a selfie or watch as the odd man out has to volunteer to not be in the picture, take three seconds out of your life and offer to help. Good deed of the day: check.
It's funny. You can be at the most touristy destination, like Disney World or Graceland, and people are so extremely hesitant to stop another tourist to ask them if they wouldn't mind snapping a quick picture of their group. It seems people tend to think this is some huge inconvenience or something. When really, a simple: you take ours, we'll take yours, trade makes life a lot easier than trying to fashion a good selfie - attraction in frame and all.
Travelling on my own I kind of started making a joke out of it on Instagram, and those of you that follow me will know, I started a little "hashtag" collection of images #PicsWithHalfMyFace because there seems to be very few opportunities that one can capture the attraction and their entire person in the same frame, especially on a cell phone. All jokes aside, however, I was reminded of the kindness of strangers when I accidentally happened upon Metropolis. Yes, it is the one you are immediately thinking of. Home of Superman.
I snapped a few of the man himself from a distance away, being sure to capture all it's glory. I then proceeded to walk up the little pathway into the display. Tried as I might, there was not a hot chance in you know where that I was going to be able to take a picture of this statue and anything more than #HalfMyFace. As I struggled, a dad with his three children and a few other dads and their kids walked up to Superman and the dad, without hesitation, said: "Here, let me."
It's the simple things that can brighten someones day and I want to send a sincere thank you out to this dad and the COUNTLESS others that have either, of their own free will offered or have agreed after my asking to snap a photo for me in these truly amazing places that I've been lucky enough to see thus far.
Next time you find yourselves out on the road and you see another group struggling to take a selfie or watch as the odd man out has to volunteer to not be in the picture, take three seconds out of your life and offer to help. Good deed of the day: check.
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Jinx
Remember that time I stopped travelling and took a two and a half week break? Remember that time the day before I was heading back on the road and I told you not to worry and that I would have stories for you soon? Well, my friends, this would be what they refer to as jinxing yourself.
It wasn't four hours into my nine and a half hour drive from Minnetonka, MN to St Louis, MO that I picked up my phone from it's resting place under my stereo to check the time to see an error message reading, "Please visit apple.com to restore phone."
What the heck?
I pulled over into the next rest stop to further investigate. Thank you Iowa, by the way, for having free wifi at all your rest stops. It's rather convenient. I powered off my phone and when I tried to power back on, nothing. Obviously at this point I was in panic mode so I pulled my laptop out from it's hiding place behind the back seat, slid it out of it's pink protective case and was on apple.com/support faster than you could blink an eye. Trouble shoot, restore attempt, connect to iTunes - my apologies if this sounds like complete gibberish to you, that's not my intention. The main thing you need to take away from this little forty-five minute pit stop is that the phone was not coming back to me, no matter how hard I tried.
Get to St Louis. Get to St Louis and find an apple store. E-mail my couchsurfing host, Allie, and let her know what's going on and that I no longer have a phone she can reach me on. Drive, drive, drive.
Five and a half hours later, five and a half very long, boring, radio-filled hours later I was pulling up to the Galleria Mall in St Louis and virtually sprinting in to find the Apple store. To make a completely long, and enraging experience a short story, the "Geniuses" that I dealt with at this store were clearly 100% more concerned with getting off their shift and going home for the day than helping me solve my problem. They came to the conclusion that both my hardware (phone) and SIM card were damaged and could not be fixed. That's right folks, the two things that make my life line work had apparently both simultaneously self-destructed while sitting in my car, not in use. Makes perfect sense. My favourite part of the whole Apple transaction was that this moron Andy expected me to purchase a new replacement iPhone before leaving - even though having a "damaged SIM card" would make it virtually impossible for me to make this replacement phone work.
This is the part when I can feel you all rolling your eyes in disgust at how reliant my generation has become on technology and cell phones. Well, you'd be proud to know that I lasted a full thirty hours before I caved and went to AT&T and purchased a new pay as you go phone.... and then an iPod touch so that I could still use all the apple functionalities and apps without actually having my iPhone. You know what they say, though, you can't help who you love. And although I was beyond furious with Apple and their service, I still purchased a new Apple iPod - which WILL be for sale once I can make it back to Winnipeg to get my phone up and running (32GB, 5th Generation, Blue, iPod touch - with case, screen protector, charger, and 2 year applecare warranty - leave a comment if you're interested).
Anyways, as you can see, it has been an eventful couple days. Yet, aside from technology withdrawal, St Louis was absolutely incredible. I found a fabulous host in Allie which met me at her place with a glass of red wine upon my arrival after the Apple store ordeal. Needless to say we were instant best friends.
On that note, and that glass of wine, here's to the next destination - iPod, and new phone in hand.
It wasn't four hours into my nine and a half hour drive from Minnetonka, MN to St Louis, MO that I picked up my phone from it's resting place under my stereo to check the time to see an error message reading, "Please visit apple.com to restore phone."
What the heck?
I pulled over into the next rest stop to further investigate. Thank you Iowa, by the way, for having free wifi at all your rest stops. It's rather convenient. I powered off my phone and when I tried to power back on, nothing. Obviously at this point I was in panic mode so I pulled my laptop out from it's hiding place behind the back seat, slid it out of it's pink protective case and was on apple.com/support faster than you could blink an eye. Trouble shoot, restore attempt, connect to iTunes - my apologies if this sounds like complete gibberish to you, that's not my intention. The main thing you need to take away from this little forty-five minute pit stop is that the phone was not coming back to me, no matter how hard I tried.
Get to St Louis. Get to St Louis and find an apple store. E-mail my couchsurfing host, Allie, and let her know what's going on and that I no longer have a phone she can reach me on. Drive, drive, drive.
Five and a half hours later, five and a half very long, boring, radio-filled hours later I was pulling up to the Galleria Mall in St Louis and virtually sprinting in to find the Apple store. To make a completely long, and enraging experience a short story, the "Geniuses" that I dealt with at this store were clearly 100% more concerned with getting off their shift and going home for the day than helping me solve my problem. They came to the conclusion that both my hardware (phone) and SIM card were damaged and could not be fixed. That's right folks, the two things that make my life line work had apparently both simultaneously self-destructed while sitting in my car, not in use. Makes perfect sense. My favourite part of the whole Apple transaction was that this moron Andy expected me to purchase a new replacement iPhone before leaving - even though having a "damaged SIM card" would make it virtually impossible for me to make this replacement phone work.
This is the part when I can feel you all rolling your eyes in disgust at how reliant my generation has become on technology and cell phones. Well, you'd be proud to know that I lasted a full thirty hours before I caved and went to AT&T and purchased a new pay as you go phone.... and then an iPod touch so that I could still use all the apple functionalities and apps without actually having my iPhone. You know what they say, though, you can't help who you love. And although I was beyond furious with Apple and their service, I still purchased a new Apple iPod - which WILL be for sale once I can make it back to Winnipeg to get my phone up and running (32GB, 5th Generation, Blue, iPod touch - with case, screen protector, charger, and 2 year applecare warranty - leave a comment if you're interested).
Anyways, as you can see, it has been an eventful couple days. Yet, aside from technology withdrawal, St Louis was absolutely incredible. I found a fabulous host in Allie which met me at her place with a glass of red wine upon my arrival after the Apple store ordeal. Needless to say we were instant best friends.
On that note, and that glass of wine, here's to the next destination - iPod, and new phone in hand.
Monday, 4 November 2013
Catching My Breath
I count myself a fairly lucky person. No, not because I've taken the gypsy life on, full swing, quitting my job and travelling around North America relatively care free. I count myself lucky, because if you haven't guessed yet, I have some pretty incredible people in my life. I count myself lucky that over the years I have somehow managed to find individuals that I may not see for days, months, weeks, and even years but am still lucky enough to call my friend.
I've spent the last two (plus) weeks in Minnetonka, MN staying with my friend Amber, her sister Ashley and her fiance Paul, and their roommate Cam. I haven't seen Amber in over a year. Sure we may Skype and FaceTime, we text and catch up on Facebook, but something can be said about a relationship when you can go for such long periods of time without seeing one another and when you're finally in the same room, it's like you haven't been apart for a single minute.
I know it's been a little while since I wrote a new post. I don't want anyone to think that I have given up on The North America Project, because I haven't. I was just taking some much needed R&R - yes, sometimes you even need a vacation from the vacation. Although I don't have any tales or words of wisdom for this post, you can rest assured as tomorrow I will be getting back on the road and we all know what that means - more stories, more posts. But for now, I want to take a moment and give a sincere thank you and shout out not only to my incredible friend Amber and her household for letting me into their home, and lives, and more than likely getting in their way a time or two, but I also I want to thank all the folks out there that have given me a bed or a couch to sleep in/on over the last three months.
It's been an incredible three months, and I have met so many amazing people and I would not have been able to do many of the incredible things I have done this far without your kindness and hospitality. From Toronto to Maine to Kissimmee back to Minnesota, and everyone in between - to all my hosts, for everything,
Thank you.
I've spent the last two (plus) weeks in Minnetonka, MN staying with my friend Amber, her sister Ashley and her fiance Paul, and their roommate Cam. I haven't seen Amber in over a year. Sure we may Skype and FaceTime, we text and catch up on Facebook, but something can be said about a relationship when you can go for such long periods of time without seeing one another and when you're finally in the same room, it's like you haven't been apart for a single minute.
I know it's been a little while since I wrote a new post. I don't want anyone to think that I have given up on The North America Project, because I haven't. I was just taking some much needed R&R - yes, sometimes you even need a vacation from the vacation. Although I don't have any tales or words of wisdom for this post, you can rest assured as tomorrow I will be getting back on the road and we all know what that means - more stories, more posts. But for now, I want to take a moment and give a sincere thank you and shout out not only to my incredible friend Amber and her household for letting me into their home, and lives, and more than likely getting in their way a time or two, but I also I want to thank all the folks out there that have given me a bed or a couch to sleep in/on over the last three months.
It's been an incredible three months, and I have met so many amazing people and I would not have been able to do many of the incredible things I have done this far without your kindness and hospitality. From Toronto to Maine to Kissimmee back to Minnesota, and everyone in between - to all my hosts, for everything,
Thank you.
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