Couchsurfing tips for flashpackers

"Is couchsurfing for flashpackers?" This was a question posed recently by TuxInBackpack, a site aimed at travellers who wants to see the world independently, but without using those two dreaded words: "roughing it".

The site's author - an Italian career-breaker called Andrea - admits he's yet to try couchsurfing himself, but he has used a blog post to brainstorm a few ideas on why it may, or may not, be suited to flashpackers.

Personally, I believe this type of travel is less about people's budget and more about their mentality. It could certainly work for flashpakers, providing they are flexible, open-minded and easy-going.

Even those with sofa phobias will find that there are plenty of people offering up beds and spare rooms. You just have to keep searching through the profiles until you find something that suits.

Andrea presents a couple of hypothetical situations when looking at potential downsides. "What if you'd like to go to a place different from the one your host is suggesting? Wouldn't it be bad to be stuck for dinner with your potential messy-chef host when you're dying to visit that restaurant you read about?"

The advice for avoiding these situations is simple: never turn up on someone's doorstep with a backpack full of expectations.

Here are some other points flashpackers should note:

• Most hosts are keen to help their guests have a good time, but they're not mind-readers. Establish some email contact with your host before you arrive. Tell them what you want to do while you're there. If you communicate properly in advance, you'll be able to predict potential personality clashes and still have time to make alternative arrangements.
  

• If you really want to be in charge of your own schedule, consider staying in a hotel or hostel for some, or part, of your time. You'll still be free to socialise with couchsurifing contacts for coffee, lunch, or a night out.
• Try using a site such as AirBnB or Crashpadder instead, where you pay a small fee to stay in people's houses. Hosts on these sites sometimes post more detailed pictures and info on what you're going to get. Plus, if you're going to be handing over money, you may feel more comfortable asking questions.
  

• Find equally flash travellers by bypassing sites like Couchsurfing.com and getting yourself into one of the more elite travel-networking sites, such as ASmallWorld or Qube.
• And, as for worrying about not going for a meal at "that" restaurant. If you're really flash why not treat your host as a thank you?

So, what do you say, Andrea? Ready to give it a try? If you do, let us know how you get on.

Photo: Napoleon's bed in Château de Compiègne is not on Couchsurfing.com. Wiki Images/Andreas Praefcke.

Where to network with millionaires

If you've never managed to get a sought-after* invite to the elite travel network A Small World, here's a solution. Newly launched network Affluence.org doesn't require a recommendation from another well-established member. Instead you can sign up yourself with zero prior connections. And it's free.

There's only one small hurdle: you must have a demonstrable minimum household net worth of US$3 million, or an annual household income of at least $300,000. Or, if you come in a little shy of the required millions, you can also gain entry by getting invites from five others that qualify.

But, before you start calling all your millionaire friends, is it really worth it? The site lists the benefits as follows:

• Interact with other affluent people from around the world
• Receive free access to a dedicated Affluence Concierge
• Attend the most exclusive parties and events in the world
• Receive priority access to the world's most exclusive nightclubs, hotels, and restaurants
• Find other millionaires, billionaires, and socially elite people to network with.

Choosing your friends based on their bank balance? Nice. I wonder if Affluence members can "poke" each other, Facebook style, or if this has been replaced by the virtual airkiss?

Perhaps the site will appeal to ASmallWorld members that complain the network had lost exclusivity since becoming overrun with estate agents, WAG wannabes and expats.

* As for A Small World membership still being "sought after", I'm not so sure. The name seems to be being banded around almost as much as Facebook in expat circles. It's now dropped into conversation as if it no longer needs explanation. "Yeah, I'm looking for apartments in the usual places, you know, Craigslist and ASmallWorld," a backpacker told me the other day.

** Photo from WikiImages/David Shakebone

Paris Hilton is not your friend

What happens to members of elite travel-networking site ASmallWorld.net that break the strict rules of conduct? Those, for example, who after gaining much sought-after membership simply can't restrain themselves from sending a wishful friend request to the site's celebrity contingency, such as Paris Hilton or Naomi Campbell?

Immediate expulsion followed by profile deletion was the worst I imagined. But no, it's much more humiliating than that.

ASW wrong-doers get relegated to a purgatory otherwise know as A Big World. Next time they log in, they find the normally blue welcome screen has turned a shameful green, access to the forums and other profiles is denied, and all they can read are the "what did I do wrong?" lamentations from other ejectees.

An old article from Wired details an anecdote from one reluctant Big World member: a 20-something from Geneva called Talal bin Laden, who admits he's "distantly, distantly related to that guy no one likes".

"One guy posted some anti-Arab racist slurs, and I responded with a polite deconstruction of why I felt that was inappropriate," says bin Laden. "For that, I was evicted to hell."

It’s not such A Small World after all

Is it the end of ASmallWorld.net? This week the Guardian predicted the demise of the exclusive, invite-only travel networking site. "Did you manage to get into the site?” sneered a well-to-do member at the reporter, as if this illustrated its downfall.

I'm sure the same member would turn his nose up at me. Not typically moving in the same circles as other members, which include Naomi Campbell and Ivana Trump, I managed to wangle an invite to ASW through a very vague contact.

I've dipped in from time to time, curious to how travel networking functions at the other end of the spectrum. However, when I mentioned the site within my weekly travel-networking column in the Guardian, it sparked a couple of reader emails.

One wanted to know if I could hook him up. (Sadly no, I'm a low-level member without invite privileges). Another said it was wrong of me to include it when it was clear out of bounds to most readers. (Although perhaps not anymore, if this week's article is anything to go by.)

I'd argue that ASW - even if you can't or won't join - is fascinating. Not just because of the outlandish snobery found in its forums, but it is also an interesting illustration of how the travel-networking movement is forming "niche" offshoots and how it is motivated by the idea of “belonging” to a likeminded group. Whether you’re a member of ASW or BeWelcome.org, people trust each other based on a presumed mutual understanding.

The Guardian has recently reported on how the future of social networks lies in niche sites. I also predicted this when I started out on my trip.

However, achieving a small-club feel on worldwide web must have its limits. Have some already reached their peak? ASW has now grown to 325,000 users. Far behind Facebook’s 90 million, but almost matching the 328,000 of Hospitality Club, a site that is open to all and sundry.

I've always thought that ASW and HospitalityClub/Couchsurfing – although based on the same principles of bringing travellers together – share no overlap. But it seems this is changing too. One of the other big hitters in the ASW forum recently was a thread suggesting ASW members start accommodating each other in their own homes ("Couchsurfing on ASW" was its heading).

What surprised me the most was finding there is already such a big cross over of members from the two sites. It seems many ASW members are also part of the exceedingly down-to-earth and non-elitist Couchsurfing.com. It’s something that must horrify the core elite. An old-school member (since 2004) replied to say he didn't believe the two networks are compatible: "Everyone is satisfyingly rich on aSmallWorld. Every ASW member I know stays in the Belle Etoile Suite at Le Meurice when they visit me.” He was soon shot down by the Small World Couchsurfers for totally missing the point.

It seems ASWers aren’t as likeminded as they once were. Perhaps the original members will set up their own offshoot where people have to provide proof-of-funds before signing up.

Meanwhile, the ‘Death of ASW’ thread (9,000 views) is nothing if not entertaining. One London member said the day they knew it really was all over was when a Foxtons estate agent told him he’d “discovered cool new website for chatting up girls and all his mates were on it”.

A London/Dubai member added: "This used to be a playground for the jet set, the good looking, the creative and business powers that be. now i feel like a slimebag when i log in." Something tells me his inner slimebag has been waiting to get out for sometime.