When I travel, I often combine volunteer projects, workaways, friends’ places and Couchsurfing sites, which means that I can spend weeks without spending any money at all. Not that this is my motivation, far from it, as I would much rather spend the night in a Couchsurfing host’s house, visiting a friend or in an interesting Workaway than in a five-star hotel. Ashwin’s case, however, is different and somewhat more extreme.
As I have mentioned in other articles, I have used Couchsurfing in the past and I find it an interesting way to travel and meet locals. So when I got a message on the app last week from a guy heading to Edinburgh asking if I could host him for a night, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I know what it’s like to be on the other side, the uncertainty of not knowing where to sleep that night, and I assumed that at that hour no one else would take him in.
When he came home and told me that he had come all the way from London and was making his journey without spending a single pound, I knew immediately that I had to interview him. Many of you may find some of his practices questionable or unethical, but that is not my point. I’m just offering the platform I have for someone who has something interesting to say.
