Couchsurfing is so much more than a couch to sleep in

by Adriana Correia (Portugal)

I didn't expect to find Korea South

The next morning I get up just in time to receive my breakfast in the room, still with sprouts in my eyes and listening to some Moby song because I was in the mood. After the morning shower and putting everything back together, I leave the house towards an unknown destination. My flight would be at dawn to South Korea and I didn't want to pay for a night at a place or sleep there. - You should rest. Do you think you'll be able to sleep at the airport or on the plane? - Mom, I know I'm a scrooge aunt! I'll try. If I can't, I'll sleep well when I arrive. And so it was. I walked a few kilometers until I found a 7/11 and had a well-deserved coffee. In the meantime, I speak on WhatsApp with my host Yasmin who would be taking me to Seoul and decide to book my return flights to Portugal. Yasmin is a master's student and is about to leave, although not sure what she will do next. She sends me three videos of how to get to her house and I'm all glad I don't have to wander around town with my backpack on until it's time to meet with her. This happens several times in couchsurfing but with Yasmin it was different. I immediately felt a connection with her and the opposite also happened on her part. It was super funny that she mentioned it later and we made each other a good company. It turns out that I was unable to sleep at all at the airport and there was zero rest on the plane. It was very cold and not even with all my warmest clothes covering me I was able to warm up and fall asleep comfortably. I also had a bad cold since El Nido, so everything was much more complicated. I had to blow myself every two minutes and I got goosebumps all over my body every other three. When I arrive in Seoul, I decide to stop to charge my phone a little at one of the various stations for the purpose and rest a while while trying to understand the best way to go to the host's house whose name is just the same as my Mozambican bestie / Portuguese from Iceland. I was super tired and just wanted a hot bath and sleep. Without much patience, I decide to rent one of those eggs for Wi-Fi and buy a transport card to catch a direct bus. It was the most expensive option but I just wanted to get to the destination. And this time money was not something that I had to think about all the time and all the time like on my first trip to Southeast Asia, because I was traveling in a much more comfortable way at that level. After arriving at Yasmin's house, the hot shower and a little nap for an hour and a half was exactly what I did before leaving to discover the city. I was walking down the stairs of your building when I see a perfect mirror to take a fun picture and I get scared when I see someone walking up the stairs, hiding the cell phone in a mess. - Do you live here? - No. What’s your name, sorry? - Yasmin. - I'm Adriana, you silly! And we both laughed with that super silly moment. With this she ends up taking the opportunity to give me her house keys and we agreed to keep in touch and wait for each other at home. And so it was. Still sick, I decide to just walk that day. I did twenty-five kilometers that day and the same for the next two days. I literally covered the whole city, using public transport only once or twice. Later that night I would have a typical Korean dinner with my present host and another couchsurfing host I had back to 2016 who was living in Cambodia that year. How cool is this world?