Couch Surfers....The site

So with all the traveling we have been doing, and trying to come up with ways to save money on hotels, plus finding out my youngest daughter might be hitting the road for some traveling, our oldest daughter let us know about a website called "Couch Surfers."

Reading the stories and the FAQ's it all seemed like a really cool, fun, educational and CHEAP way to travel to other countries and the US. Hundreds of thousands of positive experiences by over a hundred thousand actual "Surfers" in over almost 60k cites around the world in over 230 countries.

Sounds all great, especially reading about the safty features they listed:

Verification Our Verification System gives members the option to confirm their identity and physical location. When you see the little green lock on a member's profile you can feel more comfortable they are who they say they are.
References References are an excellent indicator of the type of experience you can expect to have when interacting with a member. What do fellow members have to say about them? What kind of references do they leave for others?
Vouching The Vouching System is taken very seriously here at CouchSurfing. Users can only vouch for members that they have met face to face and feel are trustworthy people. Respecting the significance of vouching is essential to the integrity of the network.

Then the Guidelines:

Safety for Surfers When surfing, be aware of your surroundings. Your safety is your primary concern, and your responsibility.
Safety for Hosts When hosting, evaluate your situation and your guest. Here are some things you might want to think about when meeting guests for the first time.

Then you read the "Terms and Conditions":

1.2 Identity Verification. Because user verification on the Internet is difficult, we cannot and do not confirm each user's purported identity. Although we provide tools intended to assist you, such as verification of addresses (see Section 1.4) and our "vouching" system, you are responsible for determining the identity and suitability of others with whom you may match by means of this Site. We do not endorse any persons who use or register for our Services. We do not investigate any user's reputation, conduct, morality, criminal background, or verify the information such user may submit to the Site (other than the address-verification tool). We encourage you to communicate directly with potential hosts and guests through the tools available on the Site.

There is a lot more information also regarding responsibility waivers, use of information, rights to terminate accounts etc.

At first looking at it I loved the idea and thought, this would be great! Like hiking through the UK but, KNOWING where you will be sleeping and touring in advance. Just knowing you will need some money for traveling and food, which I am sure your host mostly prepares for you. I can also imagine that the "Surfers" do help the "Hosts" with help, either through work or donations of food and groceries.

But, in looking closer at the site I did not see anywhere about warnings or blogs about not so positive experiences. And the site, though they say they wanted to be contacted "If you stay with or host anyone who you feel is acting or has acted inappropriately, including but not limited to offensive, violent or sexually inappropriate behavior, who steals from you or engages in any other disturbing conduct,you must immediately report such person to the appropriate authorities and to us by contacting us at safety@couchsurfing.com;'

But, the kicker for me is:

" provided that your report shall not obligate us to take any action or cause us to incur any liability."

AND:

"13.2. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT (C) ANY INFORMATION THAT YOU MAY OBTAIN THROUGH OUR SERVICES WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE; "

So, this makes me worry that all they do is veryify your address and rely on people and others that know that person, to be honest about who they really are.

Now as a mother, these things would stop me in my tracks. Sure there are supposedly all these great experiences that are going on all over the world right now and great freindships are being made. This makes it sound like the safest way for your child to hit the road to places they want to explore and have adventures at. But, where are the reports of misconduct? You know there has to be a few bad apples out there that are a danger.

Don't you think we need this to make an educated decision? We all know there are risks in everything we do and usually we can gather the statistics related to these risks. It is when we don't know whether or not 30 or 50% percent of the time something bad happens because we are only seeing the successful trips. Usually the risks involved have to be told when it comes to doing just about anything, eating, parking, taking a medication or having a medical procedure, buying different products, participating in sports or visiting Disney Land. All the risks are posted or explained. People will post about a bad experience somewhere. We post sexual offenders on the internet, criminal backgrounds are investigated and can be found out very easily.

So, I am searching the internet regarding blogs or sites that talk about the negative as well as the positive. I guess I want to be thorough so I can educated the kids about doing this kind of thing so they can make an informed decision.

We all know we cannot just say, "No" anymore. And tell them "Cause I said so!" They need to know how to find out all the facts and be prepared so they know when to walk away or stop before something bad happens since we are no longer there making sure they are safe every minute. It is almost even more scary now then when they were younger. At least then we were in complete control, so we thought. Now, we have so little. Oh, how it hurts when they run into trouble and you cannot fix it for them. They have to suffer through the consequences themselves. But, we all did it, had to do it and we are the better for it.

I am not easily finding facts except the good ones. Which IS a good sign. But, if anyone has information, please feel free to share. Never know, we all might join up and have a blogger group where bloggers travel around visiting other bloggers, etc. How much fun is that especially for all the moms with young ones or the empty nesters who are traveling around trying to see their "always our baby" adults. Of Course, I am not to sure the kids will let the parents crash on the couches, if they have one but, I am sure the kids will crash on others to get back home!

I did talk to someone about another person we know that is not a trust worthy person that is using the the site to try and plan a trip. This is where I worry. Knowing that even though this person has not done any serious damage, or is in legal trouble, but, that they have stolen from many people, lied and is not a responsible individual, makes me nervous. Will this person be able to restrain from stealing from others or taking advantage of them? It makes me wonder how many more irresponsible people are going around and taking advantage of good hearted folks that open their homes with blind trust.

This is something I think would be fun to do except for knowing that one fact or one person. How many people are like that person out of the 130k+ people that are members of just this one site. 1 out of 20, 50, 5 that are undesirable and how would we know?

So we need to be able to report on the bad as well as the good to know our odds and so we can better protect ourselves. And at least be able to create a better way of confirming people that can be trusted.

I will do some more looking around, and any help or information anyone out there that has information would be so appreciated, the good and the bad. I have been reading a lot of good stuff from the site. If we can arrange something for Mason for his trip, that would be exciting and a great adventure for Mason on his first road trip! He is a bit of a shy guy and might not go for it. But, we can check it out. I know my oldest daughters Dad use to live near Frisco, and he knew a lot of people. Hopefully we can get a referral for someone in this area. I am sure Mason would get a kick out of seeing the San Francisco area.

AMTRAK is flying us on a trip, and Mason is driving on his first ever Road Trip!

Wow, what a crazy last few weeks it has been!

First I want to send out a HUGE HUG to Amtrak for going beyond the call of duty and making it so I can fly out to see Sarah since I could not take a train trip anywhere because of my disability!

When I entered the "Journey to the Center of the Earth Contest", I was not this disabled. I don't enter contests I know I cannot use or take. That would be a waste of time! But, when I tried to tell them I could not accept because of my recent disability and the rules stating I cannot upgrade so that I could handle the long rides, have a place to stay for the day long layovers or ability to sit on long bus rides they would not take "No, I can't do it!" for an answer.

Lena was insistent that I won and that I was going to take a trip to be able to see my daughter like I had planned but had thought I would have to give up. So, Lena worked her magic and got a hold of Debbie and they gave Greg and I round trip tickets and a car rental to be able to fly to Ohio to see Sarah and Michael!

So, thank you Debbie and a SUPER HUG and thank you to Lena!! Sarah an Michael are ecstatic and cannot wait for us to come so I can finally meet Michaels side of the family and see their home.

Sarah and I are already planning on doing a LOT of swimming, going to auctions, touring Amish country and crafts. Then we are hoping that while we are there the trees will be turning into their fall colors. It has been so long since I have seen the fall colors on the East side of the country. It is also right at the time of Sarah and Michaels birthdays, WOOOHOOO, time for some fun. I bet we will have lots of Michaels family there for a reunion. I am smellin' the BBQ, it had better not be too cold!

And yes, you read it right! Mason is taking one of our cars and going on a road trip down the 1-5 corridor from here to AZ! He tried to tell me he can drive straight through for 24 hours without rest to get there.....Uh, NOT! If you are thinking like me which is "There is no way in this lifetime you will EVER drive that long" then be sure to comment so I can show him how much of a very, VERY bad idea this is. Papa tried to do it once coming back from Colorado. Let's just say, he was lucky he was not hurt, did not freeze to death and that the car was not too damaged to drive the rest of the way.

Sarah told me about this website called "Couch Surfers" and I will have to look it up before we try to reserve hotels for him. (I want him to stop at LEAST twice) But, Sarah says that people are put in touch with other people that need a couch for the night while they are traveling.

You know me, being a mom and of the era of never going with strangers. They can make it look good an then who knows, they might sell him off somewhere for hard labor, or kidnap him..ahhh!

I really gotta look closely into this. Any of you know about it? Any body living on the I-5 corridor? I think I would trust my bloggers before a "Couch Surfer" website!

Of course we are getting the car ready, and yes of course it is ending up costing us more then what is was suppose to. Gosh, taking your car in for a simple tune-up, new brakes or tires ALWAYS results in something else being wrong that costs a fortune. I remember my van a few years back, the engine light kept coming on, seemed like it cost us 3 grand each time we would take it in, then, then after they seemed to have fixed everything, it needed a new engine!! All in about a 6 month period! So, by the time we were done paying for everything, about 9k later, we could have bough another car!

At least the 4Runner is not in as sorry shape, but, still those unexpected costs when we want to save our money for the trips and those unexpected costs that pop up for college, it makes you dig in and do what we need to save and make more together. So, not only am I entering contests, having a garage sale, selling things on Craigs list hopefully on my blog by next month, we are looking for some "Couches."

I was also thinking that since he is taking the double bed with him and it will be tied on the top of the car. he could just camp out under the stars on top of the car with one of those pop up tents, at the rest stops! Or he can just sleep under the stars and hope the bugs don't get him.

He is going to be able to stuff the car full of his things which kinda has me feeling blue. I have just recently got those feelings of him not living here anymore. Especially when he said he can't stay very long when he comes. He has to get back because of starting training for Cross Country, having to move again into his permanent apt since he has been "couch surfing" with friends the last couple of months. He has grown up so much, not physically, but, mentally this past year since he has been gone. He is no longer the baby. He has learned a lot, some the hard way, some in a good way. But, he knows what it is to be an adult and how we cannot come rushing in to make everything better like we use to do or when we want to or HE wants us to. I am waiting for that phone call when he starts getting his utility bills in the mail and he calls me up like Sarah did and says "MOM! I don't LIKE being an adult anymore, I don't like getting all these bills, and they won't stop coming!" LOL!

It is terrifying, because we spend our whole life trying to protect them from the real, unfair world and now he is out there and it is slapping him in the face and there is nothing I can do. I only know that he hs the strength to handle it. He has done well and I know next year is going to go a lot smoother for him. He really grew up into a very mature adult, and learned from some really tough times on how to get through it and come out shining.

Oh, and it looks like Mason might be going to the US Championships the end of June. He is still only at about 80% healthy he says. But, hopefully he will recover even more by then. I am dying to go, but, we can't even if it is in Eugene. With the car costing us more, and who knows what will come up after this, we can't risk spending money. We are hoping he makes it past the prelims so that he is on TV so we can watch and record him racing. So please pray that he heals fast and gets back into shape so he can show everyone he is still the great runner he has always been!

OK, I had all these pictures taken so I thought I would at least share them. They are of Mason and others from AZ when they were at PAC-10 Championships. I did get a shot of Andrew Wheating who was the Champion by a lean in the 800m. He made the Olympic try outs. (One of these days, Mason will beat him, I know it) I also got some pictures of Garrett when they played the Championship game and lost to Squalicum. Garret is graduating this year, so I hope to hear about all the great things he is going to be reaching for. Now is the most important time to get those goals set and to start woring for them. He will, if he wants too. So, enjoy the pictures.

Nectaly Barbosa running the 800m

Mason and John Klien running the 800m This is the first lap for Mason and he is already out of energy. He WILL be back!

Andrew Wheating running the 800m

Garret playing Squalicum HS

Keep up the hard work!