To say that the last two-and-a-half years have been a challenge for everyone would be a massive understatement. For travelers, this period had been nothing short of a nightmare.

Most of us had to alter or indefinitely postpone travel plans. Some of us had to cut short our journeys due to travel restrictions, oftentimes paying big money for hurried changes in flight arrangements. And a few of us found ourselves stranded for months in places we had only intended to visit for a short time.

With the pandemic seemingly in a slowdown and entry/visa restrictions being lifted in most places, many travelers are champing at the bit to get back out there and explore.

Others are still a bit wary, especially if it involves couch surfing. Opening your home to strangers or staying with a host whom you don’t know at all may raise a lot of questions that didn’t exist before.

• Are they vaccinated?
• Do they expect me to wear a mask?
• What cleaning precautions do they take/require?

The couch surfing movement was built on trust and human decency, and will continue to require both in the future, probably in ways that we hadn’t imagined in the past.

An informal poll of some Couchers.org members in different places around the world revealed that most are looking forward to traveling and hosting in the near future. Some are already getting back out there, and many have already begun hosting couch surfers or are open to requests from others.

One thing is for sure: if we are lucky enough to experience couch surfing connections, we are going to have some epic stories to share with our fellow couch surfers and hosts about what we did during the “dark” times.

Written by Bob. Published on 2022/10/11

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