If you’re heading to Kuala Lumpur, you might have the Batu Caves on your bucket list. Hostel guests always ask a few different questions about the Batu Caves, so here’s a quick guide with everything you need to know about heading to the Batu Caves for a half-day trip!
Tag Archives: tourism
What’s Couchsurfing? (And 4 Reasons Why You Should)
Hey! I’m back from Europe but I haven’t posted in a long time since my phone was stolen in Berlin! (More on that later.) I still want to write about traveling because, let’s be honest, I’ve got the travel bug. I came back to Philadelphia on September 12, and two weeks later I moved to Austin! The weekend before moving, I took a road trip to Boston Calling Music Festival with four friends I met on Couchsurfing. I’ve always been asked a lot of questions about Couchsurfing, so I figured this would be a great topic to start up the blog again!
What is Couchsurfing?
Couchsurfing is a website, an app, and most importantly, a community found throughout the world. It’s a way for people to help each other, learn from each other, and have an enhanced traveling experience.
How does Couchsurfing work?
When I first joined Couchsurfing, I created a profile on the website with information about myself, my travels, whether or not I can host, etc. Before I ever surfed with anyone, a friend and I hosted a fellow student from Manchester last-minute and had an awesome time exchanging stories over pitchers at McGillin’s. I also met up with a lovely girl from Taiwan and brought her to VegFest in Philly. Soon enough, it was time for my backpacking trip.
When I knew I would be needing a place to stay in a new city I would either directly message hosts from that city or put up a public trip telling hosts that I would be around and I would need a place to stay. After getting in touch with hosts and arranging the length of my stay, I would show up at their place! I usually Couchsurfed for 2-3 days at a time, but the length of your stay is up to you and your host. While you’re there, some hosts want to show you around their city. Some prefer not to. Some want to get drinks with you and their friends, some want to have deep political conversations. Every experience is different, but every experience gives you a more authentic view of the city (in my opinion) than say, a hostel or a hotel.
A little snippet of my Couchsurfing profile!
via couchsurfing.com
IS COUCHSURFING SAFE??
Would I do it if it wasn’t?
Being a young woman alone, I knew I would have to exercise more caution than most people on their travels. Although the Couchsurfing community (like the rest of the world) is for the most part full of lovely people with good intentions, I still used a few different methods to “screen” potential hosts.
- I checked out their “references”. Couchsurfing allows you to leave notes about each host/guest/traveler you come across. You can say your experience was positive, negative, or neutral, with details about your accommodations and time with your host. I made sure to read a few of the references and only stayed with people who only had positive references.
Sam and I left references for each other after we hung out at a music festival, I crashed at his place, and we met up in Vienna.
via couchsurfing.com - I added them on Facebook (and did a little creeping). This isn’t necessary or required, but it was just another way to make sure I was in good hands during my trip.
- I checked to see if they were verified. Basically, if you pay 20 dollars to Couchsurfing you get a green check mark and you can have your phone number/address/existence verified. I think references are more telling/important than verification, but again, always nice to see that little check mark.
Four Reasons Why You Should Couchsurf on Your Next Adventure:
You learn from locals
As I mentioned earlier, Couchsurfing gives you more than a touristy experience. As much as I enjoy staying in a hostel with Americans, Brits, and Australians and using hostel maps to guide my wanderings, I also enjoyed talking to people who know what’s going on in Vienna, or who are pros at navigating Danish public transportation. I learned more about European politics from my Couchsurfing hosts than anyone or anything else – and that includes my formal education.
Ok, let’s just say it….it’s cheap.
Besides the $20 verification fee (which in my opinion isn’t 100% necessary), Couchsurfing is free! You get free accommodations while you travel. You get tips on where cheap beer/food is and any free events going on in the city. I try and buy my hosts a drink, gift, or make them food while I’m staying with them, but besides that, Couchsurfing is a great way to save money while traveling.
Meetups!
Even if you have accommodation throughout your travels, Couchsurfing meetups are another way to talk to people from all over the world. If I remember correctly, I went to a Couchsurfing meetup every day that I was in Berlin. Language exchanges at bars, free yoga classes at parks, picnics, happy hours….you name it, you can find an event for it on Couchsurfing. They’re not so common in America, but in Europe there are tons! Sometimes you can even find hosts at meetups.
You can also use it as a resource for pretty much anything.
Couchsurfing has discussion boards for each city where you can find local advice, rides to and from the city, events and more. It also has larger groups where you can post just about anything. As I mentioned before, when I made my way up to Boston for Boston Calling, I didn’t want to drive alone (or pay for gas alone). I posted on the Philadelphia & New York discussion boards that I would be driving up to Boston and could offer a ride, and by the time I left for Boston my car was full! I also have an Australian pen pal thanks to the “Alternative Ways of Living & Consuming” group.
Couchsurfing is a blast…I really enjoyed using it throughout my backpacking trip. This is just a brief overview of how you can use it, so if you have questions, leave them in the comments! Also, if you have suggestions for what I should write about next, let me know!! Thanks for reading!
Week 2 (and a half?): Poland, part 1!
I originally had no intentions of going to Poland – nothing against it, but I was looking toward more popular tourist cities like London, Barcelona, etc. Then the lineup for Open’er Festival came out and all of a sudden, I roadtripped down the west side of Poland. Here are some highlights from each city:
Gdansk: First stop was Gdansk. I knew nothing about this city, but it was a good meeting point before the festival. Turns out, it was the perfect place to start checking out all of the beautiful town squares that Poland has. The only real sightseeing I did was checking out the Old Town (and getting my first order of Polish pierogi), but it was beautiful.
I was totally fine with hanging out at the hostel, The Mamas and Papas hostel. It’s run by Mama, who was a savior when it came to navigating the city, and Papa, a Deadhead who has pretty much convinced me to go to Polish Woodstock during this trip. I spent two nights in, talking with the other travelers in the hostel and meeting Sam and Erin, who would accompany me and my friend Mackenzie to Open’er. (Erin is Mackenzie’s flatmate in Prague, Mackenzie and I have mutual friends from Temple, we met Sam on Reddit.) Good group for sure.
Open’er Festival: At the request of my crew, I’ll refrain from drooling profusely over Chet Faker (ok but he covered Moondance and No Diggity and was absolutely beautiful and fanta….), so I can talk about all the other artists at this festival in Gdynia. The Libertines, Alabama Shakes, Hozier, Major Lazer, The Prodigy, Tom Odell, Swans, Disclosure…..the lineup was killer and the vibes were good. Everyone was super friendly (special shoutout to our Latvian friends) and no one was too wild. Overall, one of the top festivals I’ve been to.
We also went to the seaside one day! Music didn’t start until 4 PM, and the insane heat got us up pretty early so we had time to kill. (The music also lasted until 4 AM….saw a lot of sunrises in Poland.)
Poznan: Sam lives in Poznan, so we hitched a ride down there and stayed for a night to have even more pierogi and grab drinks in the Town Square. We stumbled upon a Jack Daniel’s bar and got red white and blue jars by accident….USA! Poznan is a hip little city and if I could go to their juice bar every day I would. Shout out to Juice Drinkers.
Kraków: After grabbing a ride from the most fun BlaBlaCar driver ever, (it’s a ridesharing app) we made it to Kraków. If I could spend a summer in any city, so far it’d have to be Kraków. It’s beautiful, it’s a nice size (not huge, but with tons of things to do), the bars are great and it seems like there’s a ton of music festivals. We stayed with David, who is quite a character but really interesting to talk to. Nights were spent exploring the city, and the one full day we were there Mackenzie and I went on a big tourist tour.
Auschwitz and the Salt Mines: These were the two main attractions I wanted to see near Kraków. Auschwitz was powerful. I tried to ignore the idiots who thought it was appropriate to use Selfie Sticks and pose in front of the gate — honestly, I understand wanting to document the experience but I’ll remember the day without instagramming it. The massive amount of human hair shaved off after the selection, the ruins of the gas chambers, the massive size of Birkenau, the constant feelings of nausea from the tour…they’ll stick.
Anyway, the salt mines. Those were breathtaking. I didn’t get too many pictures of the massive chapel carved out of salt (by 3 people, mind you), but I did grab a few. Don’t be alarmed, since bacteria apparently can’t grow on salt (or something like that), the walls were totally lickable. Tasted pretty good. (Wish we had brought tequila and lime, but then again, Mackenzie and I got lost in the salt mines regardless and ended up with a Polish tour group.)
Currently, I’m on a train to Prague with Mackenzie and Erin. Big shout out to these girls for hanging out with me the past week, through all the shows, all the pierogi, all the awful pronunciation of Poznan (by me). Shout out to Sam for driving and bringing that umbrella and jumping around during Disclosure and seeing Swans with me. Latvians are really awesome, Columbians have a strange sense of humor, and Julia from Kraków was the best bar hopping tour guide/fairy. Even though I’m technically on this trip alone, I haven’t spent more than a day by myself since the first two days in London. I’ll post more updates after Prague, Vienna, and Villach! Here’s a bonus photo of a fantastic billboard in Poland.
