Seeing the world from couch to couch

MANILA, Philippines - Since 2007, a modest room in a Quezon City apartment Liliane Cobiao shares with her two sisters has served as home to some 50 male and female foreigners, many of whom she has met for the first time. About the same number of visitors has bunked in the sofas of Will Yutuc’s bachelor pad in Makati. And those who have crashed in Ronnie Gatbonton’s residence in Quezon City are assured not only of a bed to sleep in but also have the company of their host, who personally takes the time to get to know his guests.

What seems a terrifying prospect  imagine opening up your home to a total stranger from another country  is a thrill for Liliane, Will, Ronnie, and the millions worldwide known as couchsurfers. Founded in 2003 by the American Casey Fenton after he sent an e-mail blast to some 1,000 University of Iceland students asking if anyone would host him during his stay in their country (he got 50 offers of accommodations), “couchsurfing”  that is, hosting a foreign guest in your home purely for goodwill and cultural exchange  has since become a practice among adventurous travelers in over 230 countries, including Antartica, since 2004.

Contrary to first impressions, it is neither an inexpensive way to travel per se, nor is it a moneymaking venture for hosts. “The only thing that’s expected,” reminds the website www.couchsurfing.org, “is an inspiring experience.”

Travelers who wish to see a country outside of the typical tourist bus and guide books simply log on to the website and read through the profiles of potential hosts from their country of choice. The profiles are specific: a host will tell you what he or she is willing to do for you during your visit, and there’s even feedback from previous guests.

“That’s why it’s important to read the profile and references before you accept or stay with someone,” says Liliane. “It’s also important to write any negative experience you had with someone on their profile to warn future couchsurfers. The more references, the more real the person is.”

Liliane, who works for her family’s clothing manufacturing business, first heard of couchsurfing through an online forum three years ago. Then in the thick of planning a five-week vacation to France, Italy, Holland, and Spain, she went over the site and “was fascinated with the idea of being hosted. It’s like having an instant friend in a country.”

And how! In Marseilles, France, she was met by a couple who took a weekend off to pick her up at the airport and drive her all the way to Nice, “their version of Boracay,” says Liliane. Once settled in their home, she slept on their sofa, a gesture which she found touching because “even if they had a small space, they still took me in.”

Through couchsurfing, Lilliane Cobiao has made friendships with people from around the world. A world map with photos, postcards from couchsurfers who have stayed with her and her sisters hangs on the wall in the guest bedroom for couchsurfers.

High from her experience, she created a profile of herself on the website and has since embraced a veritable United Nations of couchsurfers into her home. A world map mounted on the wall in the room where her guests stay is proof. Beginning with a Texan in 2007, Liliane has hosted guests from Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Nairobi, Belgium, Denmark, England, Indonesia, Israel, and several other nations.

Like the French couple who first hosted her, Liliane has been just as hospitable: guests have gone diving with her to Anilao and exploring Chinatown for some dimsum. And true to couchsurfing’s mission, a stay with Liliane, who has been appointed ambassador among Filipino couchsurfers, has been inspiring. Moved by a diving trip in Puerto Galera, a gentleman from the UK promptly quit his job as an English teacher in China and is now working as a dive instructor around Asia.

Though Will has only been an active couchsurfer for a year, the Deutsche Bank business analyst has hosted as many travelers as Liliane. Skeptical in the beginning (“I thought it was the craziest idea,” he admits. “Why would you sleep in a stranger’s house, and why would you let a stranger sleep in your house?”), Will has since become one of its staunchest supporters, thanks to an unforgettable weekend in Oman with his Syrian host in October 2009.

“He picked me up at the airport, left me to explore an area in the city while he went to work, then met me after work, took me to his favorite restaurant, and introduced me to his friends. We went hotel-hopping for drinks till 4 in the morning. It was amazing fun!”

The same may be said of the day Will treated a visitor to a tour like no other around Manila. After taking the LRT to Intramuros, he and his guest took a train ride on the rickety PNR along a route “where squatters threw stones at us,” he recalls with a laugh. The train ride was followed by another ride, this time on a makeshift, manually operated cart on the tracks, then a visit to the bustling Dampa market where they picked out fresh seafood and had it cooked before them. Drinks in the lively bars of Greenbelt and Burgos, Makati capped the colorful evening. 

Tours like these are not only eye-openers to international couchsurfers, but to Will, who has only been in the Philippines for some five months. Nevertheless, the Australian citizen who spent the last six years living and working in London before relocating to Manila considers himself a Filipino through and through. “I try to cook chicken adobo for my guests,” he says with a chuckle. “Couchsurfing has taught me to represent and think of my own country.”

Even the likes of Ronnie, who only started traveling out of the Philippines in 2005, credits couchsurfing for his newfound appreciation of the country. “I studied in the University of the Philippines where love for country is very strong. Now I think it applies to me, I really love my country. Before couchsurfing, I didn’t know squat about Manila,” says the global design engineer for Shell, who has played host to Lithuanians, Britons, Americans, and Will’s Belgian buddy Stein. In fact, it was with Stein, an aeronautics engineer, that Ronnie stumbled upon a unique and affordable way to see a famous tourist site: for P6,000, he and Stein rented a four-seater plane and flew around the crater of Mt. Pinatubo.

Through couchsurfing, Ronnie has also been able to showcase the Philippines’ greatest resource   its people. “The guests I’ve hosted usually come with an open mind, a blank slate about the Philippines. But after they visit, I keep hearing from them about how warm our people are. Nakakataba ng puso,” he says with a smile. “With couchsurfing, you act as an ambassador to your country, so the more you talk about the Philippines, the more you paint a good picture of it, and the more people will want to come.”

As such, some of the most memorable couchsurfing these Pinoys have experienced have been right in their own backyard. Will recalls hosting a girl from Iloilo who brought him along to a convent in Katipunan, Quezon City to witness her friend receive her vows as a nun. And when 80 couchsurfers from all over the Philippines got together for one Christmas party, they held the affair at Liliane’s house. “I thought I knew the Philippines,” she reflects, “but when my guests would ask me about my country, I realized I didn’t know much. So I spent last year and this year traveling around the Philippines.”

With its ability to reach anyone anywhere almost instantaneously, the Internet makes couchsurfing and its goals  learning about the nuances of a country and its culture through a gracious local host, appreciating your own country in the process, cultivating genuine friendships among strangers, and as Ronnie put it, “restoring your faith and trust in humanity from the kindness you give to and receive from people all over”  possible. “Not just the Internet but mobile technology,” points out Will. “It’s revolutionized the way we interact. Without the Internet, none of this would be possible.”

“It’s a strong force that’s breaking barriers,” declares Ronnie. “Access to the Internet is key in moving a society forward. As a social medium, if we choose to use it for the right reason, there’s no wrong direction we can take it.”

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“Internet for All” is an advocacy of Smart Communications to bring the Internet within the reach of every Filipino. To further the advocacy, Smart tapped three of the country’s renowned young photographers  Jo Ann Bitagcol, Apple Tapan, and Jake Verzosa  to travel around the Philippines and capture compelling images that showcase how the Internet is changing and improving the lives of people.