couchsurfing

How to Couchsurf Around the World

Why Couchsurfing is a Great Way to Travel

Couchsurfing is one of my favorite types of accommodation when traveling. It’s a community of like-minded travellers who are willing to let you crash at their place for free. While the name certainly implies that you’ll be sleeping on a couch, this isn’t always the case. When searching for a place to sleep, you can read profiles and search for people who have private rooms available rather than a couch, which comes in handy for couples and families. I have found couchsurfing to be the best way to meet friendly locals. Think about it – they are letting you stay with them for free! You can view their profile and see if you both share similar interests and if other people found them welcoming. Couchsurfing is much more work than Airbnb, hostels or hotels because you need to sift through your potential hosts, read their profiles and send messages to each and every one of them, waiting for a reply as to whether they can host you or not. You can’t just book it like you can with the other options. Also, couchsurfing is not the best option if you only plan on staying one night or have no interest in the host themselves. Hosts generally expect that you spend a little bit of time with them. After all, you’re staying in their house! Couchsurfing is built as a community so if you’re looking to actually meet and hang out with the hosts, this option is for you!

Best Websites for Couchsurfing:

Vegas on the Cheap

by Matt 2 Comments

Hanging with Little Elvis in Vegas

First off, let me be the first to say that Las Vegas is not one of my favorite places. It can be a ton of fun but it’s just not my typical type of adventure. However, It’s definitely a cool place to see once and I know many people who absolutely love it. When I go, I try to keep things relatively cheap, so here is some tips for you to do the same.

Las Vegas was one of our stops on the 40-day American road trip we did last year. We didn’t have a lot of cash and we knew we wanted to see some shows (which are expensive) so we needed to cut down on other expenses while visiting.

Believe it or not, Las Vegas can be cheap if you want it to be. First off, for accommodation, we chose to couchsurf. We found an awesome guy living in the suburbs who let us, along with other people from all over the world, stay at his place. They were totally cool to hang out with, gave us our own room, but the only problem was the A/C stopped working. June in Vegas was the hottest temperature I have ever experienced, even having been to Australia, Indonesia, and Mexico.

Because of the no A/C issue, we decided to say 2 out of the 5 nights at a hotel on the strip to relax and be able to breathe at night time. We managed to get 2 great deals (Planet Hollywood on thursday night and Flamingo on friday night) for just $50 per night thanks to Priceline and Hotwire. Another option if your traveling alone is to book a hostel for about $25 per night. Hostels in the USA are very expensive (especially in New York at $45 per night) but if your alone in Vegas, this would be my choice as it allows you to meet other people and create more of a party atmosphere.

Another thing you’ll probably like to do while baking under the sun is take in one of the many fantastic pools the city has to offer. My three favorites were Mandalay Bay, Flamingo Go-Go pool, and the Tropical hotel pool at the end of the strip. If you want a party, the Go-Go pool at the Flamingo is the best bet. It has beautiful waterfalls cascading into the pool along with places for girls to dance. It does smell like beer though as the day goes on. Tickets are usually $20 I believe but you can get in for free by just grabbing a “players” card that someone is bound to leave next to slot machines. We were staying at the hotel and noticed are key said nothing about Flamingo but it got us into the pool. This made me realize anyone can get in for free with a little creativity.

Mandalay Bay is the fancy wave pool that’s very fun to hang out in. You can party here but it’s not really the type of atmosphere. It feels more of the posh/family hangout. It’s totally the best pool overall and although I have never stayed at Mandalay Bay, I’ve managed to get into the pool for free on more than one occasion. What you need to do is walk to the pool and before going in, ask someone who is about to enter if they will let you come in with them (since you need to be a guest to enter). It worked both times for us and the guests were more than happy to pretend we were with them. Just don’t look to shady.

A Casino on Fremont Street

There a few free shows in Vegas that are not to bad as well. The two best ones in my opinion are the fountains at Bellagio and the laser show on fremont street. The fountains at Bellagio are outside and go off at certain times at night to music. It’s only about 15 minutes but its well worth checking out. The laser show on fremont street plays music and effects along the roof of the street. Freemont is the best street in Vegas in my opinion and the drinks are cheaper than anywhere else. The show is very cool to see and you can even zipline across it if you like. That part isn’t free of course.

Although I don’t know of any free food in Vegas, you can eat moderately cheap. My top choice whenever I travel the USA is Subway. A footlong sub is typically just $5 (certain kinds) and is very filling. Two of these bad boys per day is just $10 and more than enough most of the time. If you don’t mind spending a little more, I also recommend the buffet at Flamingo. It’s approx $18 and has hundreds of items ranging from seafood, steaks, desserts, salads, soups, asian food, sushi, fajitas, and much much more. I believe a day pass is $35 if you can eat that much. Also, one of my favorite bars is the House of Blues located inside Mandalay Bay. It has a very cool atmosphere and if you get there for happy hour, most beers are just $2-3 and all appetizers are half price.

Keep in mind that if you want to drink but still save money, buy your booze from one of the many gift / convenience / liquor stores for dirt cheap and then drink it on the strip.

My biggest tip is to STAY AWAY from all the timeshare offers you will get. They will offer you great gifts like free show’s or $200 gambling credits. Unless you don’t mind wasting 6 hours of your day (they will tell you it’s just 2 hours or less) in a high-pressure sales situation and then STILL having to go through other troubles to get the free gifts, then just ignore every one of them.

If your okay with spending hundreds on shows, you can’t go wrong with Cirque Du Soleil. I’m not usually a big spender for shows but I managed to shell out a whopping $180 for a ticket to O by Cirque. It’s the most famous show on the strip and is almost always sold out. Try and get tickets within the first 20 rows if your going to go. The theatre itself is absolutely beautiful and the performance is the best I have ever seen. It’s a mixture of theatrical play, acrobatics, aquatics, and a 25-foot disappearing pool. The music is outstanding and it’s really the best memory I have of Las Vegas. I’m sure any other Cirque show is unbelievable as well.

So, my best advice (from my own experience) on spending little while in Vegas is:

Try couchsurfing, booking a hostel, or using Priceline/Hotwire to find great deals on hotels (unless you bought a package with your flight)
Check out the great pools in the area and with some creativity, they can be totally free.
Go see some of the free shows in the area including the fountains of Bellagio and the Freemont Street Laser show.
Eat at places like Subway, gorge on cheap buffets, or find happy hour deals at places like House of Blues.
When booking tickets for shows, try looking online for any deals happening, or if you don’t mind last minute, you can always find one of the many “Last-Minute” ticket sellers on the strip.
Walk. The Strip is a cool place to walk, as well as inside the casinos, and down freemont street.

If you’ve been to Vegas, did you keep it cheap? Do you have any more recommendations?

Inspired on the Couch

by Matt 3 Comments

couchsurfing, las vegas — Couchsurfing in Vegas

Who says we can’t be inspired while lying on a couch! I know I was.

I was sitting there before pulling the couch out into a bed, amazed by the kindness and openness of the people we were staying with. We didn’t know them at all. My girlfriend and I had arrived in another country in a new city and had simply contacted this couple via couchsurfing. We told them about our trip and they told us we could spend a night at their place. We arrived, bags in hand, to a hearty welcome and a home cooked meal. We sat at their table like we already knew each other, yet we were just like strangers sitting at the same table in a bar. They passed me a beer and we talked about travel stories, insights, experiences, and where we should go for a good sweet breakfast.

It was truly inspiring to meet such open-minded welcoming human beings. And what’s even cooler is that this was just one of several couchsurfing experiences we had on our 40-day U.S.A road trip. We spent roughly 4 nights in hotels, 4 nights camping, and about 32 nights in the homes of welcoming people whom we had contacted via the internet.

couchsurfing in Seattle — Couchsurfing in Seattle

We stayed with a sweet couple in Kelowna who welcomed us to chocolate crepes, another awesome couple in Seattle who welcomed us with beer and a home-cooked meal, a really cool guy and his dog in Portland who gave us the keys to his amazing loft studio, a lady in Oregon City who took us in at 11 pm and made us breakfast in the morning, another lady who let us stay with her near San Francisco, a family in Anaheim who welcomed us at 1 in the morning after a long day at Disneyland, a couple in Los Angeles who let us come and go for 3 days, a down-to-earth couple in San Diego who shared food and wine with us in their industrial pad, a really cool guy who let us and other surfers from Germany stay at his house in Las Vegas while getting us into jam-packed night clubs, and a Brazilian dude who welcomed us into his home in Salt Lake City and talked to us about Brazil over a cool glass of wine as we made our way towards Canada.

It’s so inspiring that so many people of all different shapes and sizes, age and ethnicity, gender and background, are willing to let 2 strangers stay under their roof and make them feel welcomed into a new city and new experience.

If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend couchsurfing on your necxt trip. You can start a free account and start by couchsurfing yourself or by hosting others on their adventures.

Maybe this world ain’t so big after all!

Planning the Interactive World Domination Road Trip (Wanna Help Out?)

by Matt 5 Comments

In less then a week, I will be embarking on the World Domination Road Trip through Calgary, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Grand Canyon National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Glacier National Park.

The road trip is epic to say the least but the heart of it lies with the World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon from June 3rd – 5th. This is where 500 inspiring people will come together to discuss various ways of making the world better, creating freedom, traveling the world, and starting businesses.

Since the event is going to be highly valuable, I didn’t want to limit it’s scope to just the 500 people who could make it so I’ve been planning ways to document it with video, pictures, and writing and then share it with my readers. I wrote about this in my last post, which mentioned the need to raise money to make this happen. I’ve never started a fundraising campaign before so it should be interesting as to whether it will work. The goal is to create a web documentary of the World Domination Summit including interviews with remarkable people and also document the road trip and all the exciting adventures along the way.

This will inspire hundreds of other people to begin designing a remarkable life and thus, a remarkable world. If you can donate to the cause (and score some perks while your at it), that would be amazing and very much appreciated. Money goes towards gas and the equipment used to document things as best as possible. As mentioned, you get awesome perks like unreleased ebooks, free access to the videos, links, secret webinars, and 1 on 1 coaching to name a few.

Big shout-outs right now to the fantastic individuals who have helped start this epic road trip by donating: Ben Eadie, Niall Doherty, Mark Powers, Nick Laborde, Matt Koenig, and Trever Clark. You guys are awesome!

Along with this of course is planning the trip to be as epic as the budget allows. Since I left it to the last minute (2 weeks before departure), it’s been a bit hectic trying to figure out where to sleep, where to go, who to interview, and what to do but it’s been coming along great though despite the lack of time.

This is what’s happening so far:

I’ve been using couchsurfing.org to try and secure most of my accommodation needs. I’ve used it in Boston and Tokyo, Japan before and had a great time. Not only is it free but it introduced me to local travelers and a unique way to experience the cities. I’ve already secured places in Vancouver, Seattle, San Diego (I think), and a couple night in Los Angeles. I’m still looking for a few more nights in Los Angeles (or surrounding area), San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Portland for a few nights. If you have a place for 2 people (my girlfriend is coming) and would like to host us, please let me know!
Camping is the other option. I love camping and since much of the time will be spent along the coast and in national parks, it’s only fitting to spend the nights in a tent under the stars. This is most likely what will happen from the Oregon coast down into Big Sur, California. It’s also likely what we’ll do in Grand Canyon National Park and Yellowstone NP. If you know of any stellar camping spots, please let us know.
Some activities that are currently planned are jumping out of another airplane, jumping of another bridge, hiking some of the parks, and visiting Disneyland. Luckily, all of these are discounted in some way or another to save us some money. If you know of other exciting or unique things to do along the way, please let us know.

I’ve got a lot of exciting people lined up to interview during the conference and I’ve been contacting others who won’t be at the conference as well. In fact, I plan on having lunch in San Diego with Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income. Really looking forward to that.

Planning a trip with couchsurfing is interesting because it can be a challenge to find suitable hosts at times. There are lot’s of people available but they can be hard to reach with certain time frames. And considering internet will be a little more scarce once we start the trip, were really trying to secure the first half of the trip as soon as possible. Luckily, the weather should provide for beautiful camping which will help us on nights when we can’t couchsurf.

I’d also like to figure out ways to meet more bloggers, entrepreneurs, and other remarkable people along the road trip. I was thinking of having meetup parties in each city if there is a solid way of organizing them. If you can help with hosting a meetup somewhere in one of the cities (or along the way) or know of a creative way to do so, please let me know! My favorite part of travel is the people I meet along the way.

Since I’d really like to make this interactive, please feel free to comment or send me an email to let me know any cool things we should do, scenic routes we should drive, or people we should meet. If your along the way, let me know so we can meet up!

I think that’s it for now! I can’t wait to get this started.

PS: Did you know phone carriers (at least Rogers Wireless) allows you to have roadside assistance for just $5/mth and you can cancel anytime? Awesome!

Inspiring Interview: Mochan of Japan Wish Club (Plus Ebook Update)

by Matt 1 Comment

Mochan cooking — Crazy Mochan preparing our feast in Izu Japan. Delicious!

This is an interview with Mochan of the Wish Club in Japan. I met Mochan in October 2010 while traveling across Japan. I emailed him through couchsurfing.org and ended up staying with him and some other travelers for 2 nights. What made this couchsurfing experience different from other ones was that Mochan does this full-time and sometimes hosts up to 20 people at a time. Mochan also bought a bus and started the Wish Club to help travelers experience Japan in a unique way while also building a network of amazing people all over the world. When I stayed with Mochan, he also had a guy from Spain, a woman from Vietnam, and a couple Japanese friends staying with him and all of us quickly became friends and joined Mochan for a couple days of fun around Japan. He brought us to temples, a sake factory, Mt.Fuji, a traditional tea ceremony, a giant robot, fish markets, picnics by a lake, and we even spent a night at a friend’s cottage in Izu. I couldn’t help but be amazed by the thousands of gifts and postcards that travelers have given Mochan over the years. When I arrived back in Canada, I knew I had to interview Mochan one day and see what this was all about. Here is that interview. Note: I have edited some of the interview (English is not Mochan’s first language) so that it will be better understood by you. Also, if you would like a free copy of my ebook featuring over 20 inspiring online personalities, sign up below and I will notify you immediately upon it’s completion. [Read more…] about Inspiring Interview: Mochan of Japan Wish Club (Plus Ebook Update)

You Don’t Need to Be Rich to Travel

by Matt 30 Comments

I don’t know what it is about the terms “rich” and “travel” that society has seemed to put together but unless your talking about how “rich” in thought, character, and experience you will be when you travel, then they have nothing to do with each other.

I was recently watching an old movie called Wall Street and heard Charlie Sheen’s character say he wanted to make insane amounts of money so that he could leave the game and ride his motorcycle across China.

Wait a minute! I rented a motorbike in Indonesia for $3/day so I can assure you that insane amounts of money are not needed to ride across China or any other part of Asia.

Sadly, most people think like this. The experience of travel and vacations has constantly been sold to us with a “cash value”. Somehow society has been coerced into thinking that the experience of travel is intertwined with the amount of money you can spend on such a trip.

What bullshit. [Read more…] about You Don’t Need to Be Rich to Travel