If you are considering creating a public trip, great choice!
A Public Trip is a way to announce your upcoming arrival to a city to the local hosts in the area, so that available hosts can offer to host you. Hosts searching for travelers in the area will be able to see your Public Trip, review your post and profile, and send you a Couch offer.
Learn how to create, edit or delete Public Trips in this article.
Here are some tips to having a successful and safe Couchsurfing experience using Public Trips.
- Fill out your profile completely. Hosts will want to get a good idea of your personality and whether or not you'd be a good fit, so be sure to go into detail! Add pictures, and tell the community why you are on Couchsurfing and what you interests you. Make your account stand out by Verifying your profile. Learn more about Verification and Get Verified Today!
- Write a detailed description of your plans for the city, and what you’d like from your host, and what you can offer. For example, if you’d feel more comfortable staying with a woman or a family, say so!
- Review every Couch offer thoroughly. For every couch offer, do not reply until you’ve thoroughly read the entire profile, My Home section, and references. If something feels off, or you aren’t super excited about meeting this host, politely decline their offer and move on.
- For your safety, keep all communication within the Couchsurfing messaging system and do not share your personal contact information with someone until you have a confirmed stay with them.
- If your potential host says anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, report it and block them! By doing so, you’ll be sending the Safety Team a signal that they should review this member’s profile.
Examples of things to report:
- Asking you for money or labor in return for a couch
- Saying they can’t host you, but a friend without a Couchsurfing profile can
- Asking for a date, sex, being overly interested in your relationship status or appearance, etc.
- Aggressively asking for personal contact information, such as Whatsapp, Facebook, etc
- Says that they have used a different profile on Couchsurfing in the past
Safety Tips for Solo Travelers:
These tips are important for everyone, but especially if you are a solo traveler! You are responsible for your own safety - take as many precautions as possible in order to ensure that you have an experience that is not only safe, but life changing.
- If you are a woman traveling alone, consider staying with women, families or couples.
- Think twice about staying with new members or members that do not have many references from other surfers
- Always have a backup plan - know the location and phone number of the nearest hostel and police station. If you feel at all uncomfortable during your stay, leave immediately.
- Give your itinerary to a trusted friend or family member. Make sure to include the dates you plan to be in a location, links to your hosts’ Couchsurfing profile, as well as their address and phone number as soon as you have it.
Comments