073 – KL Couchsurfers
September 21, 2008 in Malaysia
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If you’re looking for a place to stay and want to meet locals while you’re at it, couchsurfing is a great way to do it. In this episode, Linda chats to two couchsurfing hosts in Kuala Lumpur – French students Aurelie and Elsa.
Couchsurfing is a way to find a bed when you’re travelling – you set up a profile of yourself on couchsurfing.com, and can search other people’s profiles to find someone who lives where you need to go and is willing to host travellers. You can then communicate by email and work out the details from there.
Aurelie and Elsa have been living in KL for seven months and have hosted heaps of travellers from around the world. In this interview, we talk about what makes a good and a bad couchsurfer, and they tell us about some of the people they’ve met.
You can find Craig and Linda on couchsurfing or the other social networks we are a part of.
Writing opportunities
Craig’s looking for some contributors for his ebook “Indie Travel Guides: Travelling Europe”. If you’ve travelled a lot in Europe and can write from experience about one of the following topics, please get in touch.
Each article should be 500 to 800 words, full of practical advice about independent travel in Europe. We’ll be choosing one author for each piece.
Topics are: solo male travel; solo female travel; disabled travel; family travel (both with kids and with older family members); and older people’s travel.
In return, we’ll give you US$15 via paypal; a short bio with picture and links to your site (in the book and in marketing material); and instant access to the top tier of our affiliate programme. Plus you’ll get the joy of being published!
If you’re interested in this please send a detailed email with your pitch to mail@indietravelpodcast.com or using the contact form at indietravelpodcast.com. Make sure you include your perspective, experience and an article outline.
Read more:
This article was written by Craig and Linda
Craig and Linda Martin have been living on the road since February 2006. Both born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand they are ... somewhere in the world! Craig and Linda host the Indie Travel Podcast - you can get in touch with them here.
Since November 2006 the Indie Travel Podcast has evolved into an independent travel hub with regular audio and video podcasts along with articles by travellers from all over the world. 
Hosts Craig and Linda Martin started travelling in February 2006 and have been to over 50 countries. They were 
Greg said on September 23, 2008
Hey Craig,
Good stuff…also something that I discovered a while back – you can use couchsurfing.com to meet some great traveler friends in your own hometown as well! We have a local forum group to keep in touch and meet up to party and swap stories. Its a cool way to meet new local friends.
- Greg
Craig and Linda said on September 23, 2008
That’s a great idea. We’re hoping to meet some travel bloggers whilst we’re here in Perth, so we’re going to use that as a contact point.
byteful traveller said on October 4, 2008
If I had been to Europe before, I would have signed up in a heartbeat, but alas…
I did, however, recommend a traveller friend of mine contact you. I hope you’re getting many responses back.
I’ve been listening to you since about the beginning of the year. Keep up the educational work!
Craig and Linda said on October 4, 2008
Hi Byteful, thanks for that.
It’s great to have people listening “long term”. I know people’s needs change so it’s great to have some kind of virtual community forming up around our travels and our podcasting. I’m glad you find it helpful; that’s the goal!
In terms of writing, we’ve had great submissions from solo women, couples and family travel but none from older persons, disabled travellers or solo men. Surprising? I think so!
byteful traveller said on October 6, 2008
Hey, what plugin are you using that emailed me about my comment? That’s a cool idea.
Craig said on October 6, 2008
It’s called “Thank me later”. I like how you can use it to email people a few days after their comment – leave a comment to try it out.
byteful traveller said on October 6, 2008
Thanks, Craig!
All the best on your adventures!
Donn said on April 29, 2010
Is this website fully trustful? I mean what are the risks? People may encounter troubled houses, what makes this method completely safe?