Home / Accommodation /Podcasts / 073 – KL Couchsurfers
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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.
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.
Written by: Craig and Linda
Posted on: Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Posted in: Accommodation, Podcasts
Responses: 8 so far
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
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:09 amThat’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.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 amIf 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!
October 4th, 2008 at 8:34 amHi 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!
October 4th, 2008 at 9:28 amHey, what plugin are you using that emailed me about my comment? That’s a cool idea.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:24 amIt’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.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:45 amThanks, Craig!
All the best on your adventures!
October 6th, 2008 at 11:39 amIs this website fully trustful? I mean what are the risks? People may encounter troubled houses, what makes this method completely safe?
April 29th, 2010 at 5:20 pm