People from couchsurfing 3

Part 3:

1 - Rough travelers            2 -Backpackers           3 -Tourists             4 -Random             5-Guilty ones             6 -Confused ones


18_ Luggage.
1_ either small luggage, because it's troublesome to carry many things over long distances, or very big one, because they carry tent, sleeping bag, mat, food, water, broccoli.
2_ massive
3_ more than they need
4_ a bag of potatoes
5_ slightly less than groups 2 or 3
6_ same as group 2

19_ Social behavior
1_ loners
2_ social butterflies
3_ outgoing, socially competent, but sometimes they find it hard to trust strangers
4_  imagine waldo, where's waldo with kramer's (seinfeld) personality
5_ same as 3
6_ same as 2


20_ Preferred Activities
1_ surviving, parks, free stuff
2_ beer, taking pictures, sightseeing, facebook, second hand markets, beach, bars
3_ pictures, sightseeing, restaurants, museums
4_ dancing macarena
5_ worrying
6_ same as 2


20_ notes on specific nationalities


21_ Other notes
s:
they all live in their own world within their own borders, we all do, and well, there was supposed to be more to it but i got tired of writing so much so this will have to do it.

oh, and all the groups come together in thailand, for some reason.

People from couchsurfing 2

part 2

1 - Rough travelers            2 -Backpackers           3 -Tourists             4 -Random             5-Guilty ones             6 -Confused ones

11_ Percentages
1_ 5%
2_ 60%
3_ 25%
4_ 2%
5_ 5%
6_ 3%

12_ Couch requests timing
1_ as their means of transport are not reliable their requests are usually for the same day or a few days in advanced.

2_ they usually know when they will arrive so they will send you a request anything from a few days to a month in advanced
3_ they know exactly when will they arrive, how and where from, they will send you a request anything from a month to a year in advanced, this are very short holidays for them so it has to be well researched and planned and accommodation has to be taken care of well in advanced.
4_ Any
5_ few weeks to few months in advanced
6_ few weeks in advanced



13_ Couch request quality
1_ usually copy and paste, because they have a hard time finding internet and no time to plan, often no computer, but when they have time they will surprise you with a very personal request
2_ usually copy and paste but changing the names and maybe referencing something on your profile
3_ very well written and personalized requests, and they usually want you to know they are not on couchsurfing to save money but to meet and interact with the locals
4_ the kind that makes you think 'what did I just read?'
5_personalized telling you about their jobs, major in uni, work experience and why are they traveling, more like a CV than a couch request, they want you to know they are decent people, not tramps.
6_same as group 2



14_ Behavior as guests
1_usually respectful and considerate, they often clean up the house, do dishes and make sure they don't intrude or invade your personal space, on the downside they are probably hungry and smelly because they may have been a few days without a shower or warm meal, they may on occasion overstay their welcome.
2_ Usually good guests, sometimes they buy some groceries and cook a meal for you, or buy you a few beers
3_ very respectful and always make sure they are not crossing any boundaries, they bring some nice gifts or wine sometimes
4_ you'd be surprised
5_ couchsurfing is usually a one time thing for them so they may not seem very comfortable at times.
6_ same as  group 5

It should be noted that all the groups get along very well when they are sharing a host or at the meetings, they know they are different in many ways but are their similarities that brought them together in their paths, and they share the same couchsurfing spirit.

15_ Numbers and gender
1_ most of the times it's a boy alone, occasionally 2 boys or a couple
2_ boy or girl alone, couples, groups of 2+ friends
3_ man or woman alone or couples
4_ boy alone
5_ boy or girl alone
6_ same as 5

16_ Employment
1_ they'd do anything
2_ they would sometimes take some jobs if they are for a short time and doesn't interfere with their plans too much
3_ they wouldn't take a job unless it has been previously arranged and organized in their home country and it's related to their field or major.
4_ again, you'd be suprised
5_ same as 3
6_ they don't usually take jobs abroad

17_ Notes on some details and relationships between groups
1_ they sometimes would like to be more like group 4, some they try to hard and you see they are faking it and others can sometimes become 4s because of unexpected circumstances, like the lost of their passport or immigration policies. a seasoned 1 can become a 6 when it's dragged along into something he doesn't want to do or has done hundreds of times before. some 1s they think they are 4 but they are just 1s
2_ they would oftentimes envy 1s, dislike 3s and are somehow indifferent or unaware of other groups.  some 2s think they are 1s but they are not.
3_ they envy 2s and would like to travel like they do, they think 2s are very brave, if only they had done that when they were their age. they dislike 1s and look as them as homeless souls who have strayed away from the herd. they are often very similar to 5s in many ways but not always. some 3s think they are 2s or they would try to hang out with them, for example they may go to the backpackers hotel but stay in a single room instead of a dorm, eat a good meal somewhere else and have a beer with the backpackers afterwards.
4_ any relationship applies
5_ admire 1s and 2s, if only they had that freedom.
6_ they like 2s and think they belong to the same group




End of part 2 of 3

People from couchsurfing 1

We will reference groups of people using numbers from here on, group 1, group 2, etc

1 - Rough travelers            2 -Backpackers           3 -Tourists             4 -Random             5-Guilty ones             6 -Confused ones




Table of contents:

1_ Brief description
2_ Examples
3_ Nationalities
4_ Transportation
5_ Duration
6_ Budget
7_ Accommodation
8_ Age range
9_ Clothes
10_ Diet
11_ Percentages
12_ Couch requests
13_ Behavior as guests
14_ Numbers
15_ Employment
16_ Social behavior
17_ Activities
18_ Notes


1_ Description:
1_ People who travel in a difficult or very low budget, sometimes because they have very little money and sometimes for the thrill of it or because it's more fun/interesting/challenging.ult or very low budget, sometimes because they have very little money and sometimes for the thrill of it or because it's more fun/interesting/challenging.
2_ Young travelers who travel with an over-sized backpack, hence called backpackers
3_ Mid age travelers who enjoy a more up class and comfortable holiday
4_ "that guy"
5_ People who, either because of their environment or upbringing, feel some kind of remorse for being traveling instead of working/studying in their home country. (They will usually justify their trip with the excuse of being working on a book, doing some kind of research, working on their thesis or something their families and friends back home would approve of)
6_ People who are traveling because of unforeseen circumstances, or are not sure why they have to travel.


2_Examples:
1_  Dimitri, who crossed africa overland by bicycle just for the heck of it
2_ Jennifer, who took a few months off in between uni and work to backpack around europe for a few months or doing a year long working holiday in australia.
3_ Tom, who has 1 week holiday a year, las week he went to paris and this year he's going to Bangkok.
4_ Arthur is traveling because he had a dream, in his dream someone told him he should walk barefoot along karakoram highway with a shovel, and his metal detector looking for precious stones, or Florian who came by unicycle from the gobi desert birdwatching along the way and he wants to show you his bird sketches (which are pretty bad).
5_ Richard went to germany for a month to "test the waters" and see if it would be a good place for him to settle down in the future.
6_ Yaniv just finished highschool and his parents said he has to take a year off and see the world before he goes of to the military service..


3_ Nationalities
1_ Mostly russians and europeans
2_ Any, ok maybe not russians.
3_ North americans, europeans, middle eastern, india, australians.
4_ Europeans, specially eastern europeans.
5_ Mostly north americans, ocasionally japan, korea, singapore, HK.
6_ Mostly israelians.



 
4_ Transportation
1_ Mostly hitchhiking and cycling, they may walk occasionally but it's not natural to them, it's more like "hey look at me, I'm walking from one country to another"
2_ Low budget airlines, buses, trains, they may hitchhike sometimes but it's not natural for them, it's more like "hey look at me, I'm hitchhiking, I'm so brave"
3_ Airplanes, taxis, they may use public transport occasionally but it's not natural to them, it's more like "hey look at me, I'm taking the bus in a foreign country, I'm so brave"
4_ Usually walking and very seldom some unusual transport like horse, skateboard, tuc-tuc, rickshaw, and sometimes they travel with their pets, somehow.
5_ Airplane, bus, train.
6_ Taxi, bus, train, flights.


5_ Duration
1_ 6 months +
2_ Anything from 1 month to 1 year.
3_ Anything from 2 days to one month
4_ 3 months +
5_ Anything from 2 weeks to 6 months.
6_ 2 months to 1 year.


6_ Budget (in USD)
1_ Anything from 0 to 2.000.
2_ Anything from 1.000 to 10.000
3_ 10.000+
4_ Could be anything, literally.
5_ 3.000+
6_ 2.000+



7_ Accommodation: (as I have encountered all of them through couchsurfing, either by hosting them, being hosted, sharing hosts or at a public gathering, it's implicit they all use couchsurfing in some way or another, I'm sure they are people who don't use couchsurfing on their travels, diplomats or something, but this article is not about them, now this are other forms of accommodation they use besides couchsurfing.

1_ Usually tent, outdoor sleeping, knocking on people's doors, churches, temples or some form of squatting.
2_ backpacker hotels, obviously, i know some people call them hostels or guest houses but i don't think there's any difference.
3_ hotels
4_ as they are usually in unusual places at unusual times they often get invited into people's houses and sleep there, but randomness is their forte, so they could be building a shelter out of recycled materials they found laying around, or you could find them in a cave as well, or inside the rubbish bin, anywhere.
5_ hotels, backpacker hotels.
6_ backpaker hotels.


8_ Age range
1_ 18-35
2_ 18-30
3_ 30+
4_ 20+
5_18-40
6_18-25



9_ Clothes
1_ Discarded clothes, rags
2_ second hand clothes.
3_ the north face, columbia things
4_ either very sloppy or very well dressed
5_ better than most
6_ same as group 2



10_ Diet
1_ dumpster diving, gathering, foraging, leftovers, canned beans and spaghetti
2_ discounted/reduce things from the big supermarkets, beer, fast food
3_ restaurants
4_ squirrels
5_ restaurants, fast food
6_ same as 5



end of part 1 (out of 3)

Intro to people from couchsurfing

I got that other list you ask me about


the list of sexual partners?


eh, no, hm... the list of travelers i've met during the years


I wasn't serious that day, we had a lot to drink and i was just brainstorming, please don't tell me you made a list with tens of thousands of names


i figured that wouldn't be possible, but... i also found that most people I've met had suspiciously similar characteristics, and based on this similarities it was possible to group them all up into 5 major categories. This is the analysis of all the information I've gathered during a 10 year long research, which started when I joined www.couchsurfing.org in early 2007
  

that would be 9 years


I know, but 10 years sounds more impressive


I don't like the way this is going, are you going to manipulate the information you've "gathered" to make it sound impressive?


I wont, you're right, only cold hard facts from now on


good, so let me get this straight, you're somehow going to divide the tens of thousands of people you've met during your travels into 5 categories


that's right, all the faces, names, personalities and backgrounds of everyone I've met the last 10 years into...


9 years


right, into 5 groups, and a systematically detailed description of each and one of them


sounds like your generalizations will get many people offended again today


haters gonna hate?


yeah, sorry, we don't use that one anymore either


ffffffuuuu...


nor that one


it's like we are from different planets


meh


that one we can still use?


oops, lets stay focused here, you were saying...


so much pressure!


yeah, there's like this tension in the air now



you blew it, so you'll  have to wait till tomorrow to read more


oh, come on don't be so childish


see you tomorrow


you're gonna make me beg?


au revoir

List of countries

oh, sorry i forgot t tell you, we don't use fighting anymore


why not?


i don't know, people just stop using some words and phrases over time so that new ones can take their place


can i still use ftw


i don't think think so, they wouldn't know what you mean


kind of like quoting monty phyton?


yeah, something like that, wait, how long have you been off the internet?


i don't know, a few years, i remember when i was using it last time people were making fun of justin beaver a lot, i didn't know who he was, but his name kept popping up, so i looked up a song and it was somehow catchy 'one less lonely girl' do you know it?


i don't think I do, and i don't think they are making fun of him anymore, i think he may be an adult now


can i say call me maybe?


i'm not sure


oh yeah, i got that list you asked for the other day


which one?


list of countries you've been to


oh yeah


i realized it wouldn't be possible to check out the passports because i had to take out too many stamps over the years to make way for new ones, and threw them away, that's how i managed to run out pages last year for the first time, and also it'd be kind of a show off to list every single country, the exact number it's something people should keep to themselves, something private, kind of like the number of sexual partners they had


well, actually saying you wont do something because you'd be showing off, sounds like an even worse way of showing off, but anyway you've got a point and it's somehow interesting so keep going


so i figured the easiest way would it be to list the countries i've spent more than 6 months at or in (I'm not sure which one to use, at or in?)


yeah, that makes sense, no one cares about a place you just spent a few weeks at (or is it in?), many people travel for a few days or weeks


exactly, well anyway, i figured i should make one every 10 years, it may probably also help people have some kind of chronological guide into all the previous posts, so here's the list

2005-buenos aires
2006-barcelona
2007-berlin
2008-india
2009- thailand-china
2010-china-japan
2011-australia-korea
2012-korea-taiwan
2013-new zealand
2014-china
2015-china-present


nice, and now what?


nothing i don't know, oh wait, yes i know, now here is the list for the next 10 years, it's probably not going to go this way at all but if someone were to ask me to make a plan for the next 10 years from now, a plan i should stick up to no mater what, this one would be it

2015-china
2016- travel in south america
2017-travel in central america
2018-canada
2019-italy
2020-iran
2021 travel in africa
2022-russia
2023-pacific islands
2024-japan
2025-korea


you are 30 now in 2015, so it seems like a good plan to make the list every 10 years that's every decade of Bruno's age


Bruce's age


right, Bruce's age, so if you go to all those places in the next 10 years what about your dog?


that's the reason I'm still in China, because I love her too much and can't leave her here by herself, i know if I ever leave China and have to say goodbye to her it will be the hardest thing I'd ever done


i guess you'll have to stay in china then


that's the only way


here's when you point to the unfairness of chinese political system and society, how all the countries are terrible because they don't let you travel with your dog and china also doesn't let you stay here forever so sooner or later you will have to say good by to her, you're just postponing the inevitable


my freedoms have been taken away a while ago by governments and their immigration policies, but I'm still better off than most people, i have a job and a salary at the end of the month, i have a nice cozy room with a bed to sleep at night, hot shower, plenty of food, people who understand me and accept me how I am and a dog who loves me unconditionally, what else could I ask for?


you could ask for internet


i have internet


yes, you have a few chinese websites that you have somehow manage how to operate but how about facebook, google, gmail, youtube, 4chan, cracked, you don't miss them?


of course i do, but they also took too much of my time, this holidays i climbed the mountain a few times, i went hiking, i played football with my students, i walked around the lake a few more times, i got to catch up with many people, i wrote here, i got to clean and look after all the turtles, hamsters and rabbits i have, spent time with dog i went out with my CS guests and had many beers with them and I still had some time left to play some games and read, if i had had internet i may not have done many of those things, so if i had to choose between facebook or checking emails and my dog, i'd choose dog every single time, i know i have given up on all the people i have ever met in my life, without gmail or facebook there's no way to get in touch with them, but the dog's still worth it, I'll just meet new people in the future


that's actually very sweet, a side of you i hadn't seen before and i didn't know you had


I didn't know i had it either, anyway, looks like that's it for today


yeah, it was fun, lets do it more often


sure thing

Writing our thoughts

I have an idea!


oh, hi!


I have an idea


you can write here again?


you should ask "what kind of idea?"


i thought you had lost the password for this blog and for your cutepuppybruno gmail account, how come you can write again?


same as before i can't access it or read what i wrote, can only email it from my chinese email for it to be autoposted


oh yeah, i remember, well, how have you been?


I have an idea


ok ok, what kind of idea?


what if i were to write down every single thought i have, for one week and just leave it here for posterity


every single one? you don't have like... a job, or something?


i have 10 days off for chinese new year


what? you are still in china? why?


because that's just how it is, so how about my idea?


and you want to spend your only holidays writing silly things that no one will read?


yes, what do you think about it?


i'm both thrilled and terrified by the prospects of reading every one of your raw ideas


should i go for it?


absolutely not, look, i know you've got plenty of good ideas, but the world is just not ready for them yet, to put it mildly


good ideas? no no, it's not about good or bad, it would be more like some sort of an experiment,


like pressing random buttons just to see what happens?


exactly


i say don't do it, remember a few years ago you wrote something and some people took it literally and wrote a long response explaining many things


vaguely


what i mean by 'the world is not ready for it' is that your lack of tact and sensitivity gets many many people offended, i've known you for a very long time, i know you hate all the smokers because your mother has wronged you, i know you hate the governments and i understand why, i know you have many crude dark thoughts, and i know other people don't understand you the way I do, so when they read something negative about something they like, they will take it as a personal attack on them, i know you don't mean it that way, but people will hate you. I know deep inside, you want to kill all the smokers, you want to go to the zoo and release all the animals, you want to tell people they are wrong and you want to tell them why, and you want them to know you are smarter than them. i know you don't understand each one of them lives in their own world with their own views and opinions, or lack of them, and in their worlds they also think they are smarter than you, but they are polite enough not to let you know because they know you may feel bad. if you write every obscure thought you have without thinking twice or editing you're going to make many people feel bad.


what if i were to write happy thoughts only?


how would you pull that off, you find the glitch in everything and you try to fix everything and everyone


I'll think only happy thoughts then


you can't control that, seeing the flaws around you it's both your blessing and your curse


well, i guess i wasn't such a good idea after all


try to write about life in china, most people don't know what that's like, or about some other place you've been to, you've been to many places and did some amazing things, you had many jobs, it could be interesting reading about, or about the girlfriends you had


i wrote about those things already


but not in great fantastic detail


the other day i taught the word fantastic in my class and one student said 'fantastic baby'


and....


that's it, i thought it was funny


how is that funny?


because of the song


which song?


'fantastic baby', big bang, it's a silly song, very famous some years ago and she remembered the word from that song


if you were to write down every thought it would be very hard to read


or... could be a literary masterpiece



probably not, you would just get people be very very confused



yeah, i guess you're right, i'll have to come up with something better than that


i know you can do it


fighting!


hahaha