Couchsurfing in the USA
Oct 7 2009 By Fiona Cullinan
My new friend says it all: Texas is famous for two things: cowboys and beef. Oh, and if we can make it fat, we will! I'm sitting in Hula Hut with two hunks of beef. One is a rather fit bloke, the other a state-sized TexMex burger, with fries.
There's a glorious sunset in process over Lake Austin, and we're sipping Mexican Margaritas, each with its own mini-cocktail shaker for refills. This, combined with the jetlag of an 11-hour flight, means everything is feeling rather groovy. There's only one problem. I'm about to go home with fit bloke.
We've talked via the internet but really I've only known him since he picked me up at the airport 30 minutes ago.
You see, Austin is not only the Live Music Capital of the World but it's one of the capitals of Couchsurfing - a phenomenon whereby a local host offers to put you up for free.
There are 10,000 Couchsurfers in Austin alone, making it the eighth most couch-friendly city in the USA.
Since I was there to attend South By South-West (SXSW) Austin's world-renowned music, film and interactive festival and it was going to cost me a fair penny, I needed to cut costs. Aside from the weird factor of staying with a random stranger, Couchsurfing sounded perfect.
It works a little like eBay, except you surf for local hosts instead of Ikea bookcases. Each host's profile has eBay-style feedback from previous visitors as well as three levels of verified membership.
As a solo female, I decided to pick the person with the most good reviews and the highest level of verification. That was Davey Kay, a 28-year-old Californian anti-litter campaigner and Couchsurfing veteran, whose listed interests were travelling the world, having fun, Star Wars, pirates, heavy metal, cycling, and meeting new people. He kindly agrees to put me up for two days before a five-piece band moves into his home for the SXSW music festival.
We head for his home in the North Austin burbs. Im half-expecting a Silence of the Lambs setting, but Davey's home is large, clean and welcoming.
I'm given my own room, bed and TV. Better still, I have a host who's going to give me a chauffeured tour of the city. The next day, though, Davey's darker side starts to appear...
