If you missed the story of how I met my wife, let me remind you. I was couchsurfing at her family’s house in Morocco.
Couchsurfing likes to remind people that it’s not a dating site, but in fact, it is a place where I’ve met many of my closest friends and the woman I married.
One of the keys to mastering the art of world travel on almost nothing is learning to trust strangers and let them become friends.
World Travel on Almost Nothing Tip #4: Make strangers into friends.
One of the things that I love about Couchsurfing.com is that it relies on opening your heart and mind to the hospitality of strangers. Contrary to popular belief, most people on the planet are good and want to help you in this life. If you doubt that, look inside yourself and I’m sure you will see it is true.
I wrote a thesis about fans of the TV show LOST. One of the amazing things I found was that when fans traveled to Hawaii they often found places to stay, free guided tours, and new friends waiting for them. In that case, what brought these people together was a love of a TV show. For the world traveler, you are more likely to come together because of a love of travel.
I’ve made friends just about everywhere I’ve been and in the process I’ve managed to avoid paying for hotels, meals, and sometimes even transportation. I’m not saying you should be mercenary about seeking out and using people, I’m saying that when you open your arms to the world, you often get a hug in return.
While I’ve never been a WWOOFer or used HospitalityClub.com, I certainly have known plenty of people who have. These sorts of communities thrive on the fact that people are in general kind and good natured. If you don’t believe that, then you better keep paying for hotel rooms and guided city tours.
THEY REFUSED TO STAY PUT. SO DID CD DAMITIO.
The person you just read about is one of them — the ones who chose the road over the roof, the horizon over the mortgage, the interesting life over the safe one. History is full of these people. Most of them never made the textbooks.
Vagabonds: Getting Lost Is the Point collects their stories — from Herodotus and Ibn Battuta to Jack Kerouac, Grandma Gatewood, and Anthony Bourdain. Sharp profiles, honest portraits, and the one thing they all share: a refusal to accept the default life on offer.
Written by CD Damitio — two VW buses, fifty countries, a decade outside America, and eventually Japan. He knows these people not as history but as kin.
The book ends with interviews with living vagabonds. And, in the final interview, with Planet Earth itself.
My books don’t fit in any neat box — because they’re about people who feel something huge is missing… and actually go look for it. Some even find it.
Dive into the full catalog and see which story hits you hardest. CD Damitio on Amazon.
More from Vagobond
CD Damitio writes at indignified.substack.com — essays on utopias, dystopias, and the spaces between. Free to read. No algorithm, no sponsored content. His books can be found on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/stores/CD-Damitio/author/B001JP7NWA
CD Damitio writes INDIGNIFIED — utopias and dystopias explored. Free to read.
