The VAGAYBOND experience with Couchsurfing

THE VAGAYBOND EXPERIENCE IN COUCHSURFING

I have been doing my own version of couchsurfing with friends in places like:

Beirut  (staying in the Christian area;Achrafieh at my Druze friend's flat, where a Mother Mary statue stands by the front door of the building!)

Moscow: Experiencing Moscow as local as I could possibly can with my Russian friend in his flat. 




Syria: Staying at my friend's private home in a residential area of Damascus, being treated like a celebrity



Pakistan: I stayed with my Pakistani friend in a typical Pakistani village home in the male sector of the home.



Later, Chris and I discovered the organisation called Couchsurfing. (our profile is CJGUYZ). When we travel and stay with couchsurfing hosts, we usually stay with those who are gay.



ROME Italy-  Our wonderful friend, Raniero who lives just outside of Rome



 let us stay at his flat in his own bedroom for 6 weeks! He met us at the airport, shared wonderful Italian dinners, introduced his friends to us, took us on some fun day trips to exciting places like Florence and a local hot springs called Saturnia. We love him!

We are enjoying the warm waters at Saturnia

MADRID: We stayed with 3 fun guys in 3 different locations in Madrid to get a good feel of that marvelous city. Our first was with a gay couple who lived in a very bohemian flat. There were several cats, clothing on the sofa, bottles of wine on the table. I celebrated with them our new friendship by sharing the "peace pipe" around smoking 'something green' together!

Our second Madrid couchsurfing host experience was at a nice flat in a smart residential neighbourhood in Madrid. We nicknamed this experience, "the boy house", as it had an open door feeling which a stream of playful gay guys came through to partake in everything happening in the flat. (there were sticky condoms on the bedroom floor we slept in- whoops!) We bonded also by cooking together really fun dinners and going out together to LGBT rallies in the city centre. They are fun guys and we stay in contact with them.

Our third Madrid experience was with a really nice guy who lives in an intimate flat in the famous writer part of town, and also near an immigrant neighbourhood. Our host took us to try Senegalese cuisine, and I really loved strolling and wandering through the ethnic groceries through that part of the city.

Each of our hosts were wonderful to us and we stay in contact with most of them. We read the forlorn accounts from other couchsurfers unfortunately who didn't have good experiences about some of their guests who stayed with them. We must say, the hosts accepting you welcome you into their home!  Don't use your host like a hotel.  When staying with your host share a cooked meal together, share your stories about your life, your culture and your country with them. They may become friends for life with you!
Mostly, don't leave your mess behind for your host. Think of it as your place if you were the host and how you would expect a guest to treat you and your living place. It is common sense.

HOW  GAY COUCHSURFERS HAD A STRAIGHT EXPERIENCE

Whilst Chris and I were still in Rome, we received a message on our couchsurfing inbox from a couple who came to know that we were staying in Rome, and they welcomed us to stay with them for a few days. They were a heterosexual couple, and it was a first experience for us to stay in that kind of arrangement.
Guiolio and Angela were our hosts at their lovely flat in the town near Lake Nemi (the area where the Pope has a getaway palace for the summer). We stayed with them twice and shared wonderful dinners, magical homemade breakfasts

also  moments of"passing the "peace pipe" with "green" on their veranda, and stimulating conversation as well as visits to a nightclub to hear a local band play. They had a very liberal and progressive viewpoint, and I suppose, found us a novelty as we found them to be. We stay in contact and dream of travelling together to one of our favourite places, Morocco.

Staying with Giolio and Angela broadened our horizons and taught us not to limit our couchsurfing experiences to gay hosts but experience the whole couchsurfing community as much as possible.





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