1000 Americans: Lily & Terry, Coos Bay

Terry and Lily did not only offer us a warm and dry shelter as well as a wonderful meal, they also taught us a lot about a new way of building houses more ecologically. He showed us examples of Straw bale or Mud houses, ‘green’ houses and all the benefits that come with it (energy efficient, ecological, cheaper, stronger, personalized).

It was very nice to see his passion for the subject and definitely had made us think about any future house we might build…

1000 Americans: Alan Arvidson, Otis, Oregon

Alan had grown up in the Otis, near the Salmon River estuary and knows the area as the back of his hands.

He is in doubt which direction his life should take, but likes to show visitors his part of the world…

1000 Americans: Linda & Gilbert Lopez & Sissy & Boy, Waldport, Oregon

Linda & Gilbert are wonderful people with a great sense of humour. They are much younger than their calendar indicates and are enjoying their house near the beach as well as their two ‘young ones’, cats Sissy & Boy!

1000 Americans: Andy “Schock” Schocken, Seattle

Andy is a filmmaker, having worked on several documentaries, usually with a social or environmental character.

Raised near Seattle, he knows the mountains and loves to hike them. This is a rare photograph of Andy, as he is not carrying his camera 🙂

Thanks Andy, for your hospitality, friendship and patience.

1000 Americans: Carol, Mike & Ben

We already had met Ben in Northern Alaska and had the pleasure to meet his family Carol & Mike and to spend Thanksgiving with them.

Even though life has not always been easy on them, they are positive and have faith in the future and each other…

1000 Americans: Joe ‘Metal Cowboy’ & Beth Kurmaskie

Joe Kurmaskie is a famous cyclist as he has written and published many stories about his travels, very recommended for cyclists as well as couch potatoes with a sense of humour and adventure.

He got the nickname “The Metal Cowboy” from a blind person he met on the way… He also met his wife Beth on one of his trips, and it is very nice to see them and their family (3 boys) together now!

Joe is trying to get 1000 1000 Americans to (re)start cycling again before August 9, 2009, see also the news announcement on BikeTravellers.com.

1000 Americans: Tom & Sandy Hubbard, Vancouver, WA

When I found out that Tom Hubbard and his wife Sandy were living on our path, I wanted to meet them.

As a photographer, it is a pleasure to talk to Tom, who has decades of experience as a photographer and has worked with all the other great photographers during his work as Director of the Time-Life Photo and Digital Image Lab. Most recently, he was the Pro Photo Business Development Manager for Hewlett Packard’s new line of professional photographic pigment printers in North America.

Currently he is looking for new challenges. I told him that he should either start writing (e-)books or teach as he is filled with valuable information for beginning as well as professional photographers.

He has a –slightly confusing mix of- very useful websites, which are useful for BikeTravellers and other photographers:

• http://www.hubbardcamera.com/ with great tips for starting photographers,
• http://hubsidarkroom.blogspot.com/ about digital processing,
• more general photography tips in http://hubsphotographytips.blogspot.com/ &
• inspirational interviews at http://www.visionaryphotographers.com/.

And he is not finished, having many more ideas to share the wonderful world of photography.

He also finally got me to start organizing thousands of photos and was kind enough to give me a legal copy of Adobe’s LightRoom, which after some learning curve already is making my photo life much easier and my images much more interesting 🙂

Thanks Tom & Sandy, for your hospitality and sharing your knowledge!

1000 Americans: Dave & MC, Vancouver, USA

Sometimes you know people for a long time, and are friends, even though you have never met in person. MC had been a true fan of our 7summits Expeditions and even became a client, when she asked me to organize her climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro through 7summits.com.

She hikes, composes & plays music, sells art and does many other creative things; Dave likes to design and build things, which will come in handy in their new home :).

It was so nice to be able to meet her and Dave in person and spend some time together.

1000 Americans: Dan & Nancy Nelson, Olympia, USA

Dan & Nancy are a great couple who enjoy life. They live in the dark woods South of Olympia, but spend the coldest time of the year in Costa Rica. They both love cycling and almost have finished their trip across the USA, even though Nancy has lost a large part of her leg in a motorcycle accident several years ago.

They have prepared a special type of tandem, with one recumbent part and one regular part and have done 3 of the four parts so far, hoping to finish next summer!

In their spare time, they both play the ‘Irish Fiddle’, though they actually master a range of instruments. If you are ever in the Irish pubs in Olympia, check them out during one of the great ‘sessions’ they have there!

It was a pleasure to spend some time with them, thanks Dan & Nancy!

Tips from the road: Couchsurfing, WarmShowers & Hospitality Club

This post is a thank you to all the wonderful people that have hosted us on the way and offers advice for travelers as well as hosts.

For those new to Couchsurfing, WarmShowers.org and the Hospitality Club, these are networks of people opening their house and/or local knowledge up to other travellers, supplying them with free lodging (a ‘couch’, though it can be a spare room, a sofa or just a spot on the floor or in the garden).

Couchsurfing is the largest , currently there are almost a million members inviting strangers into their homes, following the mission of Couchsurfing:

“CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance, and facilitate cultural understanding.”

WarmShowers.org is an older, but much smaller organisation (less than 10,000 members), but it is especially focused on BikeTravellers.

“The Warm Showers List is a list of Internet cyclists who have offered their hospitality towards touring cyclists. The extent of the hospitality depends on the host and may range from simply a spot to pitch a tent to meals, a warm (hot!) shower, and a bed.”

This has some advantages:

• the hosts generally have cycled themselves, so you do not have to explain why or how you do it 🙂
• They usually have storage space for your bike
• They might have spare parts, but at least useful tools
• They know all the local cycle routes and the best way to get out of cities etc
• They are very friendly 🙂 and almost always will answer positively to any requests

The disadvantage is of course that there are fewer members, but usually the ‘quality’ is more important here than the ‘quantity’.

The Hospitality Club is the second largest organisation, with currently about 330.000 members. Their mission is similar:

Our aim is to bring people together – hosts and guests, travelers and locals. Thousands of Hospitality Club members around the world help each other when they are traveling – be it with a roof for the night or a guided tour through town.
The club is supported by volunteers who believe in one idea: by bringing travelers in touch with people in the place they visit, and by giving “locals” a chance to meet people from other cultures we can increase intercultural understanding and strengthen the peace on our planet.

Joining any of these 3 organisations is free, takes just a minute and everyone is welcome. Members can look at each other’s profiles, send messages and post comments about their experience on the website. Of course you can become a member of all of them, it will increase your chance of finding a host and to meeting new travellers. You can be very clear about what you can offer and what you request: if you only want to meet up for a drink, that is ok. If you have a backyard where people can pitch a tent, that is perfect as well. if you want to offer a spare room and serve dinner that is wonderful, but not required. if you need a week’s notice, that’s no problem (though many travelers, especially BikeTravellers, cannot tell exactly when they arrive as it is dependent on wind..)

We had only ‘Couchsurfed’ a few times so far, but Samir was a professional. Even though they had surfed only a few times themselves, he gave us all kind of tips about how to find hosts and how to use Couchsurfing more effectively, though these are mostly true for the others as well:

Samir’s CS tips:

• Sign up for local CS groups (the ‘Amsterdam’ or ‘California’ group etc, any group of the place you are travelling in), so you can easily get in contact with members and post message in the group.
• Check for people who are online in your area (CS shows where you recently logged in from). This is actually how Samir found us, he just checked which CS-ers where near him and checked our profile!
• Of course, if you want to be hosted, you will need a complete profile, so add much information about yourself.
• Try to meet other CS-ers locally if you are new. This way they can see you face to face, and vouch for you.

Why would you sign up with any of these organisations?

To give

• You can help travellers finding a safe place to stay, or even just help them out with useful information or just a cup of tea or a warm shower & a washing machine. Travellers do not need fancy places, just a roof can be great.
• You can save travellers a lot of money, they otherwise had to spend on expensive hotel rooms. This money is much better spent on travelling more, food, a museum etc!
• You meet many different people: travellers with great stories about their hometown/-country, travelling tips and much more. It is a free way to get a good bite of ‘strange’ culture!
• You can show the world, that not all strangers are bad people and that it is easy to help a fellow human being; even though the media will try to convince you to believe the ‘fear culture’ (don’t trust anybody, axis of evil, discrimination etc). Fear is big business, with the weapons industry leading the way…
• To show that the Internet is a great thing. Our generation is empowered by it and can use it to make the world a better place.

To receive

• To find hospitality in unexpected places by unexpected people and restore faith in humanity.
• To get first-hand knowledge about the place and area you are staying in.
• To save a lot of money which is much better spent otherwise 🙂
• To see how people are really living in the place/country you are staying in. No Hotel can teach you about local breakfasts, the way people talk to their kids etc in foreign countries!
• If you are a cyclist, it is a great way to have a day ‘off’: when you know your gear is in a safe place, you can go for a ride, without luggage, or walk into town, without a bike for a change. If you do not have to watch your bike, you can visit museums, shops, a swimming pool, library, or simply have a siesta in the park. You would see cities, you would otherwise have to pass.
• You might be able to freshen up (a Warm Shower) or even do some laundry and generally load up your energy levels.
• If you like pets, you will love the chance to play with the dog or cat (hosts generally have pets, unless they travel a lot themselves :))

We already met so many wonderful people, many of them are mentioned in the ‘1000 Americans’ Category. Most of them we would never have met, if it was not for the 3 initiatives mentioned here, and without them we would have camped more, but also learned and seen a lot less…

Of course you must always use your own mind when deciding to stay with somebody as in culture, both online as well as offline, there are a few less good people trying to spoil it for the rest. Whatever you do, in the end it is always your own responsibility/choice, but do not let this stop you from travelling and meeting new people.

Unaware hosts 🙂

We have stayed at several people, who either had no internet connection, and/or no idea about the organisations above. Still they invited us into their homes, becase they wanted to help us out, dry us, feed us, listen to our stories or share theirs.

They found  us on the street, in front of a library, looking for a place to camp, or stumbled upon our website and invited us: spontaneous Warm Showers!

They are great hosts, who offer help from their hearts without even thinking about the huge internet resources. As one host said: ‘You know, they should make a website to connect travelers!’. When we told them about the 3 mentioned above he was pleasantly surprised 🙂

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