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Travel In Search of Locals

August 10, 2012 By Jillian

[Editor’s Note: Thanks to Dave and Vicky for today’s guest post on meeting locals! If you would like to guest post on IShouldLogOff, contact us at info [at] ishouldlogoff [dot] com and check out our submission guidelines.]

I love how in traveling locals are treated like a nearly extinct bird. There are literally thousands of posts on the web about how to meet locals. Isn’t it somewhat paradoxical that in a foreign country locals seem to be the minority – shouldn’t it be how to meet travelers? Oh well, the fact of the matter is it IS HARD to meet locals. I remember how Vicky and I traveled through Greece for 8 days. Sure, we interacted with locals, but we didn’t meet locals, not until we couchsurfed on our last night.

From that point on we knew that couchsurfing was going to be a wonderful opportunity to interact with locals/travelers, and we were determined to host people upon returning to the US. Since then, Vicky and I have collectively hosted 10 people and while it’s always been a pleasure, we’ve had our share of stand out experiences.

The RTW Europeans

“Firsts” are a beautiful thing. It’s amazing how simply by being a first an experience automatically gets promoted to an unforgettable event. Whether or not this is deserved, I certainly will never forget the first couchsurfers we ever hosted – the RTW Europeans.

I don’t remember exactly how we decided on them – but I know the screening process was extensive. These guys fit the bill exactly. A RTW couple who had been traveling through Europe and Asia for the last year. They were us a year into the future, we had to host them.

When they arrived, 25 lbs backpacks on their shoulders, legs weary from months of travel, we welcomed them in to our 525 sq ft apartment. They were the experienced couchsurfers and we didn’t really know what we were doing. What do people usually do with Couchsurfers? What do they talk about? I immediately made a b line for the obvious conversation starter “Couchsurfing”.

But this was just the tip of the iceberg. Over the next two nights we soaked up hours of advice from these guys. I remember Vicky even pulling out a notebook. We couldn’t keep up fast enough with the travel tips and advice these guys were spewing.

The German Bachelor

With the ice broken and nothing stolen, Vicky and I were ready to open up our apartment once again. This time was different. Our Couchsurfer was younger, a student on break traveling around America. He had been to parts of this country, I’m sad to admit, I couldn’t even put on a map. We hosted him for 5 days, a record for us.

We decided to up the ante a bit by taking our couchsurfer to a comedy show in DC. It was really a pleasure to introduce American humor to a German. He loved it, and took us out for drinks later that night to show his appreciation.

The Colombian Nomads

Every now and then some couchsurfers come along that leave an impression beyond just the days they spent at your place. The Colombian Nomads were this more than anyone. Not quite RTW travelers, not quite on break, these guys fell somewhere in the undefined middle of simply wanderers. They came to DC without a plan, no idea how long they were staying, and no idea where they were going next. They spent two nights at our place during which time we had some great conversations and heard more than a few entertaining stories from their mishaps in India and Nepal.

To our luck Luis happens to be an incredibly talented photographer and graphic designer and when he offered to help design a logo for our travel site we jumped at the opportunity. What would we do in return? It turned out they were going to be biking up to Boston and were uncertain what they would do with their bag. It also turned out that during this same period I was going to be taking the bus home to Boston. My offer, to take their bag with me. A perfect barter system and a great way to consolidate our friendship – by taking their bag as hostage and forcing them to befriend us.

Christine From China

Vicky was giddy with excitement for our first Asian couchsurfer and especially for the cooking lesson she was about to receive. Christine only stayed with us for one night but this didn’t stop her from taking charge of our kitchen, sharing her family’s authentic recipe and preparing a 3 dish meal. She treated us to pork spare ribs in a soy sauce glaze, served with a tomato egg stir fry, a lettuce garlic stir fry and rice. The meal was finger-licking good and was by far the closest we’ve ever gotten to real authentic Chinese food. To sweeten the deal even more she even left us the spices and seasonings she used to make the dish so Vicky can recreate it herself.

The Refined French Man

Couchsurfers often give rise to the standard image of a younger, budget traveler with his clothes drenched from sweat and his soles worn from the miles he’s traveled, but this isn’t always the case. One of our most recent couchsurfers was an established French gentleman in his mid 40s in DC for a work conference. Despite having the means to secure himself his own place in the city, he chose couchsurfering purely to meet locals.

We welcomed him with dinner and he brought us dark French chocolate and a bottle of red wine. It was not too long before Vicky and I both became uncomfortably aware how the French stay slim. Vicky gobbles her food up without even chewing and I’m usually only a few chews behind. Although she desperately tried to space her bites at 15 second intervals there was no way to eat slower then our French guest. We both looked at each other, and then our plates, trying to keep pace, but it was futile. By the time he finished his first portion I was on my third.

It was a lesson in fine dining – the art of eating slowly, savoring every bite, taking in the aroma of the wine before slowly tilting the glass up to one’s mouth. Discussions on the political and economic happenings of Europe filled the air. Ah to be French. The rest of our evenings together were much more American – we watched movies on Netflix from our instant queue (but they were foreign!). Hopefully we get a chance to return the favor someday, by taking him out to McDonalds in Paris.

Who’s Next?

With Vicky and I taking off in September to travel around Asia and Europe we’re determined to make Couchsurfing a cornerstone of our trip. It’s hard to predict who we’ll run into and what kind of interactions we’ll have, but one thing is for sure, we’re in search of locals.

About Dave and Vicky: Having spent 2 years in the working world, Dave and Vicky are ready to exchange their briefcases for backpacks, dress shoes for sandals, and beds for sleeping bags. Starting in September they will be embarking on a 2 year journey across Asia and Europe. You can follow along at A Couple Travelers where you’ll find travel reflections, blogging resources and restaurant reviews.

Travel Inspiration: How I Built My Own Path

August 1, 2012 By Guest Blogger

‘A true seeker could not accept any teachings, not if he sincerely wished to find something. But he who had found, could give his approval to every path, every goal; nothing separated him from all of the other thousands who lived in eternity, who breathed the Divine.’ Hermann Hesse

After 13 years of conventional education, this quote was the most important thing I read. It resonated within me unlike most of the things I was taught in school. Funnily enough, it wasn’t something that my teacher had ever stressed any importance on. It comes from the novel ‘Siddhartha’ and I read it during my sophomore year World Religion’s class. I had spent most of my education being told that I wasn’t looking at things the right way, that I had to conform to the educational system that had been set in place, that everybody but me knew what was best for me.

To me, it seemed as if public school education had this obscure ideology that nobody could define, but somehow it was important that every student met the same goal through the same path.

How else would they get into college, get a job, and live some picturesque American life? Since this was something I didn’t want for myself, I became the kid who in one of my teacher’s words ‘would be fired from McDonalds at the age of forty because you are too stupid to work a fry machine’. After dropping out of high school, getting sent to an alternative education boarding school, and spending a year in college not understanding what I was even doing there, I found my path: it was travel.

Fast forward to 2004. I was finishing my freshman year at Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona. I was studying culture and religion at the time and as wonderful a school as Prescott is, I did not feel fulfilled. I became disinterested in my classes as we were always discussing the world as if we understood it, even though none of us had ever explored it. I decided it was time for me to begin exploring.

It started with a summer trip to Thailand. I spent most of my time in small villages as the only foreigner. I had no idea that Thailand was a huge tourist destination until a few weeks into my trip when I passed through Khaosan Road. Those first six weeks in Thailand opened up something inside me that I had only perceived vaguely before. It was an insatiable thirst to experience the world on my own terms: through travel.

Upon returning to Prescott I began searching for ways to get back to Asia. I wanted to go back to Thailand, but I also wanted to go everywhere. India was on the top of my list. After talking to my career counselor at school who had helped me my freshman year when I felt my education and life was lacking direction, he suggested a program called The Institute For Village Studies. The program would bring me through more villages in Thailand for two weeks and India for five. After that, I’d have the rest of the spring and summer to travel.

Upon speaking with the director of the program, I knew that this was the right trip for me. The director was a lifelong traveler and became the greatest teacher I ever had. On that first trip, I designed my own curriculum and studied holistic health in Asia, Tibetan Tantra, and received a service work internship working with hill-tribes in Thailand and Tibetan refugees in India. After three days in India, I told my director that I needed to find a way to spend the rest of my studies in Asia.

It turned out there was a distanced learning program at my school designed for people with families or full time jobs that still wanted to receive college credit. Students would develop their own curriculum and seek experts in different fields to be their academic mentors during their studies. I proposed to my school that I would do that program while traveling the world and they accepted me.

I was responsible for my whole education. I chose every course I took and developed my syllabus and assignments for everything I did. A whole new world opened up to me because I decided to take control of opening it. During my studies, I developed courses such as Cultural and Religious Pilgrimages where I studied the concept of travel as a sort of pilgrimage. I traveled to pilgrimage sites in India and Bhutan and learned the theory, but also experienced what pilgrimage meant for myself. My Indian music course had me watching concerts in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh while comparing the difference in musical styles and taking tabla lessons in Pushkar. My Thai culture and language courses had me in villages in northern Thailand where nobody spoke English and the only way to get around was to speak Thai. I learned more in a month than I learned in three years of Spanish before.

For my senior project, I traveled with my brother from Madrid to Bangkok by train, bus, and hitchhiking. I did a cultural and religious survey of the land we traveled and designed one other course entitled the Mongolian Nomad where we would stay with nomads across the country and learn about their way of life. My brother Justin had just graduated college and was working on his own film project. I ended up graduating with a concentration entitled Experiential Cultural and Regional Studies with an Emphasis On Religion and Spirituality. During my studies, I worked as a translator and guide for Village Studies every winter.

It’s been four years since I graduated college and I’m still following my path by running Off The Path Travel with my brother. That Herman Hesse quote is as true as it ever was for me. It has also taught me something invaluable as a tour guide. The greatest thing a leader can do is to teach people to lead themselves. I’ll never tell a person what path they should take. Only they can decide that for themselves. The best I can do is to help them gain the tools to find their own path on their terms.

Alex Martin is Co-Owner of Off The Path Travel,which offers authentic responsible itineraries throughout Asia. Intimate small group tours and specialized itineraries take travelers beyond the boundaries of tourism into the homes, lives and cultures of Asia. From India to Thailand and Mongolia, Off The Path Travel uses local guides to create relationships and experiences that transcend the anticipated. You can follow Alex on Twitter @otptravel, find him on Facebook or email him at alex@otptravel [dot] com.

Giveaway Alert: Win $100 to Travel Like a Local

July 30, 2012 By Jillian

That’s right!

Last week we shared some insider tips on our hometown, Washington, D.C. Traveling like a local can make the difference between “amazing” and “just ok”. With private accommodation you get access to local neighborhoods, authentic experiences and insider information – everything we love about exploring a new place.

That’s why, from July 30 through August 5th we’re giving you the change to travel like a local with Wimdu!

Three lucky readers will win credits to Wimdu (first prize- $100, second prize- $100 and third prize $50) to use for any Wimdu listed bed and breakfast, apartment or accommodation around the world. No guarantees you’ll get to stay in the Treasury at Petra, but what about in downtown Barcelona or on the beach in Capetown?

It’s easy to enter, comment on this post with your favorite “not for tourists” travel tip from your hometown to unlock 10 more entries! Good luck! Winners will be announced August 5th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tempted By A Honolulu Sunrise

July 27, 2012 By Lauren

When I planned a trip to Hawaii last February, I immediately rejected the idea of spending much time in Honolulu.

It’s a city, I reasoned. Why bother?

I forgot one crucial fact: it’s a city in Hawaii. That automatically makes it a little bit more bearable. Yes, the traffic is horrible, and no, it’s not exactly an accurate representation of the islands, but that doesn’t mean you should skip it.

Pearl Harbor

I’m by no means a history buff, but it felt wrong to skip Pearl Harbor when we were so close. Although we were staying on the windward coast, we drove down for a morning to check it out. But Honolulu? I still wasn’t tempted. We left the infamous site, bypassed the city, and drove back along the north shore of Oahu.

Waikiki Beach

This is one of Hawaii’s most famous beaches, but ‘famous’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘good.’ The day before we flew out, I had an afternoon to kill in Honolulu, so I checked out this tourist attraction. The verdict? I was glad I’d visited. A city beach has a different vibe than a country beach, and I found myself really enjoying the people watching.

Group Hula

Hula Lesson, Honolulu, Hawaii — I hope I’m still hula-ing when I’m her age.

In that one afternoon, I realized that I’d made a grave mistake: I’d overlooked the shopping. If you’re coming from the US, this may not tempt you. But I’d been living in rural Korea, where finding a store with clothes that would fit me required making a 2-hour journey to Seoul. I tried to cram in a few shops but I was sidetracked by this amazing group hula session in the middle of a courtyard.

Sunrise in the City

Sunrise in Honolulu, Hawaii — And it was a thousand times more impressive in person.

Seeing that sunrise was like finding a Lotus in Honolulu on my last day in Hawaii. Against the backdrop of the ugly high-rises was this melting morning sky, and suddenly I wanted more. Next time, I’ll plan to explore what else this city has to offer.

My First Solo Trip Abroad

July 24, 2012 By Danny

I needed to study Spanish and I figured there was no better place to do that than the Costa del Sol in Spain.

That was after my parents strongly objected to studying in Central America.

As part of my undergrad degree I had to learn a language. Spanish was a natural choice because I was from South Florida and already understood a good bit of the language. Naturally, I wanted to go and study in the jungles of Central America but my parents didn’t feel so good about sending their 18 year old into the jungle to learn Spanish. Instead, they paid the airfare to Malaga, Spain and so I was off.

My first morning of Spanish school I woke at 2 a.m. Not because of the excitement of class. A newbie to travel, I had plugged my alarm clock in without a converter and the different electrical currant wrecked havoc on the timepiece. Welcome to life abroad!

School was simple and I found myself picking up Spanish easily. More importantly I learned what Spain was like. We enjoyed our siestas and then went out for tapas. I tried sherry for the first time and at one restaurant I chose my fish for dinner from a bucket held by the fisherman himself. The beach was always packed and I had an awful lot of time to spend on it given that classes were part-time.

Malaga is something of a holiday town for all of Europe and lots of people flock south for holidays to Costa del Sol. I happened to choose the week of the annual Feria for my visit and a full 10 years later I can still remember the Flamenco in the street and the gypsies trying to pick the pockets of people as they passed along their way. The party literally lasted all night long and was simply unlike anything else I’d ever experienced back in the USA.

Without question, the most amazing part of my first solo trip abroad was the weekend I spent in Morocco. The weekend trip was $150 all inclusive without drinks. As a student, I agonized over the decision to spend that much money over a weekend but somehow forced myself to take the plunge. Years later I still look back on that lesson as a turning point.Money is just money, but using it to create great experiences for ourselves, that’s what counts. That weekend in Morocco was like being in another world. Walking through the markets, seeing an actual snake charmer for the first time, felt to young—naive—me just like the start of Disney’s Aladdin.

I had a great time in Malaga and all along the coast of Andulcia, but I had an even more amazing time stepping out of my comfort zone and into the great unknown. What I learned on this trip though, aside from some basic Spanish, was that it really was easy to travel to live a completely different life than the one I’d always expected to live.

On my refrigerator is a birthday card with an Abraham Lincoln quote: “It’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.”