CS newsletter for the Netherlands: Difference between revisions

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Draft 1st newsletter
Old newsletters:


nog te doen:
[[CS Newsletter for the Netherlands 2010.1]]


* CSinterklaas:
[[CS Newsletter for the Netherlands 2010.2]]
- meer inhoud zoals een inleidende tekst


* Interview met couchsurfer
Draft 3nd newsletter


* trivia / weetjes
=Heading=


* meer aankondigingen / verslagen
=CouchSurfers meeting up=


=Past meetings=
==Grote zomermeetings in Europa==


==CSinterklaas Rotterdam 2009==
More and more CouchSurfing communities are organising couchsurfing events this summer. Wherever you go, you can meetup with local couchsurfers.


===Presents===
Below is a selection of interesting events:


We asked some people what they will do with the presents Sinterklaas gave them
July 16th - July 18th: Oostende, Belgium: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=62713 CS Beach Weekend]


[http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxQnyOYqmpI/AAAAAAAAFCo/enYltkmMq5A/s800/IMG_3613.JPG Sam]: give it to a boy I know very well
July 16th - July 18th: Champ-du-Boult, France: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=53351 Normandy Summer camp]


[http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxQnykUkYVI/AAAAAAAAFCs/vu1_XP27GQ0/s800/IMG_3614.JPG Paul]: I am going to put coins in it
July 16th - July 21th: Brussels, Belgium: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=72244 Brussels CS summer event]


[http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxQnzeJvR_I/AAAAAAAAFCw/Q1W7Di1DgDs/s576/IMG_3615.JPG Sagnik]: I will break this puzzle tonight, before I go to sleep
July 23th - July 25th: Dundee, Scotland: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=74886 Dundee Calling]


[http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxQnrcI1vgI/AAAAAAAAFB0/pmAPyCppxPg/s800/IMG_3601.JPG Jessica]:
July 23th - July 26th: Paris, France: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=71291 Paris Rendez Vous]


===organisation===
July 28th - August 1st: Pescosolido, Italy: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=48567 Italy summer camp]


?
July 30th - August 2nd: Aberdeen, Scotland: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=66899 a summer camp on the stunning balmedie beach]


===Sinterklaas Pastry Extravaganza!===
August 2nd - August 8th: Tokaj, Hungaria: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=56737 Canoe tour]
Part of the Sinterklaas Event in the last weekend of November was the [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=50714 Sinterklaas Pastry Extravaganza!]


For this meeting 21 people signed up but at the day itself about 10 people showed up. So did [http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/wizzardofoss/ the Wizzard of Oss] who is writing this article.
August 6th - August 8th: Spychowo, Poland: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=72666 II CS International Family Weekend (IFW)]


August 1st: Barcelona, Spain: [http://hitchgathering.org/barcelona Pre Gathering for the 3rd European Hitchhiking Gathering]


As we arrived the hoster of this event hosted by [http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=1YA2FUP Maartje] had already some tea ready.
August 6th: Sines, Portugal: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=69794 3rd European Hitchhiking Gathering]
The forecast told that it would be raining a lot that day so everybody was happy to be at this workshop not having to do sightseeing in the rain. After finishing the Tea we all had to get to work.


In the work we made pepernoten wich is good for getting [http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409590869192774994 Dirty hands] and a good view on the recipe.
August 27th - August 29th: Karisilla, Estonia: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=74663 Summer camp in Setumaa]


Afterall many things were made including like: [http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruidnoten Kruidnoten], also many decorations were made with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzipan Marzipan].
September 2nd - September 5th: Milano, Italy: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=57923 This is FO(u)R MI!]


In the end after all our work we managed to prepare:
September 3rd - September 5th: Lille, France: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=72089 The Braderie de Lille]
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409592114868791538 Pepernoten and Cookies]
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409592348657724402 The Horse of Sinterklaas that was very tired]
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409593014472790642 A flag (guess from wich countr)]
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409593149510617506 Meat and a present vegetarian meat;-)]
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409593329163313042 Fresh big pepernoten]
[http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=43L1EXA Linda] liked to color her [http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409594099720538930 Fingers]
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409594680871282306 A bored Couchsurfer with die sick dogs of the host] Maybe someone was killed there.
Bet when seeing [http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409594545561912610 this Pepernot] Everybody was happy again.


Afterall everybody liked it and as the group was small made this beeing a very cosy meeting as a part of the Sinterklaas event in Rotterdam.
September 10th - September 12th: Prague, Czech Republic: [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=58166 Cz3echsurfing]


===?===
==overzicht van regular meetings==


==Sinterklaas in Utrecht==
In more and more Dutch cities CouchSurf-meetings are being held on a regular basis. If you want to know when to go where, you can check this [http://couchwiki.org/en/Netherlands#Regular_meetings list].


Sinterklaas was all over the Utrecht community for several days this year. It all started with the monthly meeting of friday december 4th where Sinterklaas left some [http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqHvC4HCmI/AAAAAAAAFS0/W3-u2RNXIZw/s800/IMG_3737.JPG nice] [http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqHfZ8meGI/AAAAAAAAFRg/b_-_tOPmL0U/s576/IMG_3693.JPG presents] for [http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqHyWPevII/AAAAAAAAFTQ/D-5y7689yhc/s576/IMG_3744.JPG some]. When Sinterklaas himself showed up it appeared that Utrecht has the honor of the very politicly correct [http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqIDTcw2jI/AAAAAAAAFUU/wI-q_j5TMAE/s800/IMG_3769.JPG Zwarte Klaas and Witte Piet] who were quite will to give all those naughty couchsurfers some [http://picasaweb.google.nl/Lizzie82ish/CSMonthlyMeetingSinterklaasEdition04122009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJyz4OLa8MzyEQ&feat=directlink#5411787236789597778 decent spanking]. After that is was time to say goodbye to Graham in Utrecht-style, so with [http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqINdsk24I/AAAAAAAAFU8/dmjDv5NlGdY/s576/IMG_3787.JPG something to write on], this time a table-cloth. 
==[http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=60151 Castlefest] - Festival of Light==
On Pakjesavond (the evening of december 5th) Sinterklaas was too busy for us, so we had to make our [http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxuvSIZzIyI/AAAAAAAAFY4/0IW0O4vNPLI/s800/IMG_3802.JPG sinterklaascandy] [http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxuvXwYpMOI/AAAAAAAAFZY/k7NrBEb-wNs/s800/IMG_3816.JPG ourselves].
6, 7, 8, August, Lisse, The Netherlands
Luckily Sint managed to come back from Spain on the 8th to attend the surprise-evening of the Dutch lessons in Utrecht.


For more pictures check here:
People from all over the world come to visit this, I would call it...
[http://picasaweb.google.nl/Lizzie82ish/CSMonthlyMeetingSinterklaasEdition04122009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJyz4OLa8MzyEQ&feat=directlink# monthly meeting], [http://picasaweb.google.nl/Lizzie82ish/SinterklaasBaking05122009?authkey=Gv1sRgCPDb95DGuYrnhQE&feat=directlink# baking evening] and [http://picasaweb.google.com/Nynke87/CSSinterklaasUUNL09# Dutch lessons].
Medieval, hippy, folk, family, fantasy festival.


International world, pagan, celtic & folk music, encampment of medieval Re-enactors, a medieval & fantasy market. Art, theatre, visitors dressed up in most beautiful clothing.
All sort of things to do: Balfolk, Sword fighting, painting, poi. Food is all Biological!!


==Sauna Meetings?==
It's a festival of enjoyment, relax & amazement. And I love it...would be awesome to have a CouchSurf meeting here!


==?==
Place to be:
Every year there is a Wickerman burning on Saturday. A hugh wooden construction, filled with the wishes, dreams and gifts from all visitors. You can put your own dreams as an offer inside. The perfect spot to meet!


=Future meetings=
I’m working as a volunteer (coordinator backstage) on this festival ever since the beginning and I love to show you people around. The most fun part is to explore the festival your self, so I suggest we meet Friday, Saturday and Sunday 14:00 hours for a drink in front of the Wickerbeast, and share our adventures of couchsurfing! After a drink, I can take the people who are interested for a short backstage tour.


==Arnhem Calling==
Relax & hope to see you there!
[http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/chantel_bleu/ Chantel]


Sytse
More info: http://www.castlefest.com


==Small meeting==
!!!voor Floris: ik heb op 1 juli je een paar foto's gestuurd voor bij dit bericht!!!


In April 2010 there is about a SMALL CS meeting to Happen in and around 's-Hertogenbosch (also known as Den Bosch)
==The best way to spend a Kruidvat train ticket: 18 hours of train travelling in NL==


This meeting will be organised as one main eventlocation somewhere in or near 's-Hertogenbosch and several Sub-events during the day.
“Would it be possible?”
“Hmm. If we start early and do some smart planning, yes, why not?”
“Let’s do this!”
I imagine the initiators of the idea came to the idea like this. The idea of the 24-hour train race project. The ambitious idea to visit all 12 provincial capitals of The Netherlands in just one day. Probably one of the few countries where such a thing is possible.
Many CS members, armed with a special Kruidvat train ticket to be able to travel for the whole day, would accomplish this mission on the 22nd of May. First train: 6:10am from Amsterdam, on to Haarlem and The Hague.
The fun started right from the beginning: the Dutch Railways (NS) decided that not our train, but the one 150 meters down the platform, would be the train that leaves.
And that’s how you create a delay: we started the journey with already 10 minutes off-schedule. “Off to a good start”!
Fortunately we caught up pretty quick, and, frankly, practically didn’t experience any delays for the rest of the day! Thank you, NS! There, I said it, something positive about the NS. They deserved it for once.
People were encouraged to join us during the journey whenever they wanted. And boy they did! “Are you guys from the 24-hour train race?” et voila: we had once again a bigger group of train travellers on a mission.
A few hardcore people made it all the way to the last stop: Lelystad. 0:18am the train arrived at the station! To make the last miles less painful we sang songs and people were already dreaming about their bed out loud... The other passengers thought we were gone nuts, I’m sure.
Once on the platform, we started praising the station signs and kissed the ground in true Pope style.
Relieved, proud and tired as hell, we could finally say we visited all 12 provincial capitals. Not only that, but we did it in one day!


Check [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=46053 The meetingpage] for all details as far as they are ready and signup to the subevents that you like.
Fotolinks:


In this meeting the following sub-events are part of the plan:
http://images.couchsurfing.us.s3.amazonaws.com/1X9GA8A/7869872_l_d4aa32afa3c87006c610c513658f1e5f.jpg
- City walk around 's-Hertogenbosch (with all the stories doing it slow this meeting can take op to 4 hours for getting a good view on all the nice details of the city
- Canal boat tour in the evening on the canal de Binnendieze (will start at 20:00 or 21:00 u reservation will be confirmed 100% in february)
- Main party event in the evening (for gathering together and having fun)
- Maybe a walk into the nature the next day.


Checkout the meetingpage for all the details about this nice happening.
http://images.couchsurfing.us.s3.amazonaws.com/1X9GA8A/7770295_l_671ade1bfeaaa2ea00c51695fefbaf1b.jpg


==CS Carnaval==
http://images.couchsurfing.us.s3.amazonaws.com/1X9GA8A/7770316_l_22883d7bfb73dd66771e51bf5046575e.jpg


Couch Surfing Alaaf! The Netherlands Alaaf! Traveller
http://images.couchsurfing.us.s3.amazonaws.com/1X9GA8A/7770213_l_8603c1f3667916c4116bd86b6bf63f50.jpg
Alaaf!


CS Crazy Couch Surfing Carnaval in the Maastricht (NL)
===The Netherlands today, Europe tomorrow!===
/ Aachen (D) / Belgian village (B) Euregion.
For me personally, the 24-hour train race was a learning experience as well, because I’m involved in a project that is a bit bigger than just The Netherlands. The project is called The Unity Express, and is about a journey across as many as 24 European countries in a single, privately chartered train, with stops in major cities along the way, for a period of four weeks in the summer of 2011.
The train has room for more than 400 people on board simultaneously. When traveling, people literally live in the train: eating, sleeping, partying, laughing, learning, discussing... It all happens there.
The main goal of this project is to create unity among as much European citizens as possible. By bringing all those people together, on the train and in cities we attend, we create a better understanding for each other, so we can live more peacefully with each other.
This project will launch in mid July on CouchSurfing and with its own [http://www.unityexpress.eu website]. Want to help? This project cannot exist without your help! We need every profession you can think of: paramedics, chefs, security, writers, programmers, entertainers, DJ’s, organizers, thinkers, planners and many more! Go to the website or do a quick search on CouchSurfing to find the working group where you can get involved!
Want more information about the project before the launch? Send an E-mail to coen@unityexpress.eu with your questions and I’ll be happy to answer them!


We start on the 11th of February and go on until
Cheers,
Ashwednesday on the 17th of February. Note that te
[http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/riddergraniet Coen]
official Carnaval days are 14, 15 and 16 February, be
sure to stay till Monday, Tuesday or (best!)
Ashwednesday! Besides sleeping, on Ashwednesday it’s
a custom to go for “haringbijten”, usually with
classical music!


All days there is the Carnaval Style Open CS House at
=News from CS Netherlands=
Marten’s place, close to the central station and the
center; for meeting, disguising and eating! During all
days there are Carnaval activities from the end of the
morning until deep in the night! Main organizers are
Frank ~ inofficial CS Carnaval Ambassador ~ who’s
guiding you through the traditions from the morning
till midnight, and Marten whom you can follow for
Carnaval “the nightlife edition”.


The organizers are giving each square cm, so just the
==New Ambassador program==
two of us can already host 33 people at the same time!


[http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=33037 Sign up!]
Maybe you already saw profiles of CouchSurfers that have a strange yellow flag on their profile, those people appear to be [http://www.couchsurfing.org/ambassador_list ambassadors]. All CouchSurfers are equal, so ambassadors are certainly no more important than any other CouchSurfer. Ambassadors are only more visible. Quite often they are the people involved in the internal organisation of CouchSurfing, welcoming new members, organising events or just answering questions about CouchSurfing. Find all about what it means to be an ambassador on the [http://www.couchsurfing.org/amb_levels.html CouchSurfing website].


==regular meetings==
The last few months the CouchSurfing headquarter in San Francisco has been busy on improving the ambassador program. This ment there have been no new ambassadors added for over half a year. We cannot give any details yet, but soon it will be possible again for people to apply for the new ambassador system. The Dutch CouchSurfing organisation is looking forward to welcome new people, so if you like CouchSurfing and want to do more with it don't hesitate! You don't need any superpowers to become an ambassador. 


Jasper: imo we have to say something about those (see also this post in the NL org group: http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=5031&post=4398815#post4512320). Maybe just a link to [http://couchwiki.org/en/Netherlands#Regular_meetings here] might be enough.
Are you interested?
Contact [http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/kilgoretrout/ Jasper] for more info!


=Community uitgelicht/place unknown=
=Nomadic adventures=


Who wants to pick one and write something, Amersfoort or Leeuwarden might be an idea?
Do you have a nice travelstory? Tell us!


=Interview=
==Dodging bullets in Syria==


Who wants to select a couchssurfer and make an interview?
Somewhere on the edge of Europe lies an invisible line. Many people on the European side are afraid to go across this line. But those adventurers who do dare to risk their lives by passing this invisible line will be rewarded with their own weight in gold. Beyond this line, most media based presumptions which try to tie you up in your own state, turn out to be foolish. One of the random people I told about my upcoming visit to Syria and Jordan answered with a serious tone, that he preferred to visit places where less bullets were flying around. That was before I told him I would go there hitch-hiking.


=tips / trivia=
Xenophobia; I stumble upon it a lot, during my travels as well as at home. Mostly the xenophobia is directed at the neighboring country. Sometimes even on fellow inhabitants of ones' own country. In Turkey, on my way from the Netherlands to Syria, I was soaked with warnings about how often I would get killed once I would reach Eastern Turkey. They almost scared me, but assuming it would still be human beings living there, I went nonetheless. Now, two months later, I can tell you that the Eastern-Turkish people are just as hospitable as the people who warn you for them. I've got too many examples to offer, like this man who spontaneously took me home in the middle of the night, sparing me a long night in my tent at the outskirts of Antakya. Next day, wandering through the dark streets of an unknown village in Northern Syria, the first man I say 'good evening' to, interrupts his walk to the mosque and let's his son take care of me. The whole evening they've been treating me with tea, food, stories and Internet, inviting me the next day to come back any time I like. I didn't even get a chance to return to them the next evening; on my way to their village a man on a motorcycle persuades me to stay at his place instead.


And tips or trivia?
Syrians compete for their guests, doing everything to prevent you from visiting someone else. That's what I call hospitality. They're just amazing. Though even they, who should be aware of the Middle Eastern generosity, will warn you for their neighbors. Obviously they aren't afraid for their visitors; no xenophobia in that sense, yet they are for the strangers just over the horizon. I believe that CouchSurfing, or simply traveling, is the way to decrease this. Say 'no' to xenophobia!


=foto couch=
[http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/chiel/ Chiel]
(read more about Chiel's travels on his [http://www.manvandewereld.blogspot.com blog])


Couchsurfing EXTREME
[http://images.couchsurfing.us.s3.amazonaws.com/2F1VS00/3335724_l_d85db16f40ffdea54f3a7d0afc596f91.jpg picture]
Ever had massive numbers of people surfing your couch???
Was it ever so full you were afraid that it might break because of the sheer weight pressing on it.
The Couchsurfing Newsletter challenges you to top 5 people on one couch. Easy? Proof it!!!
Make a nice photograph of hordes of people on the same couch and tell us what happened.
The best picture will be selected for the Couchsurfing newsletter volume II.


[[File:Couch1.jpg|200px|thumb|left|5 people on one couch]]
=Exotic couches=
 
Do you have a nice hosting story? Tell us!
 
==Interview with [http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/urbian/ Urbian Fritz-James]==
 
1  How did you find out about CouchSurfing?
 
In 2005 I went to Krakow. I wanted to meet local people in Krakow so i start to google "meet local people". First I ran into to the site virtual tourist and than this guy said to me to go to couchsurfing.com and contact this lady in Krakow. So i decided to contact her. ( I really dont know her name and she is not on cs anymore) Well I contacted her but finally we didnt meet because she was busy. But I liked the idea of hosting people, so when I came back to Holland i immediately started hosting people and now I have been a member since 2005.
 
2  What makes your couch special?
 
Well lets start with me and my girlfriend. People make the difference and being our guest, we really want to make people feel like they are at home. You can drink and eat whatever we have in our home (except for the champagne). Further we have a separate bedroom with AAA quality mattresses, so a goodnight rest is guaranteed. And on top of everything we have a jacuzzi on our rooftop. Furthermore we live on a island just in the middle of Rotterdam which make it just perfect for your stay in Rotterdam.
 
 
We don't accept everyone. We have a preference for ladies and couples. I also have assignments written down in my profile so I know for sure that people have written my profile carefully instead of hitting the ctrl+c and ctrl+v button.
 
3  Tell about a special person you hosted?
 
Well we hosted a lot of special persons since 2005. But Leila Messaoudi was one of the most special persons we hosted. The first time she came to my place she planned to stay for 3 days but it ended up for 2 weeks. Spending christmas together. We also went to a cs meeting in Paris were we had a lovely time. Leila became my little sister and i adopted her. She visited our place again for 4 times.
 
4  What place near your couch would you recommend everybody to visit?
 
Go to Kinderdijk (windmills) to get some of that nostalgic feeling of Holland
 
5  What do you like to see in a good CouchSurf request?
 
I would like to see some humor in it and please amaze me with something original and wicked. And when you write me a request you should at least have the words "qwerty", "smoke" and "jacuzzi" in your request. That is because of the assignments I have in my profile.
 
6  Which sort of guests do you prefer?
 
We prefer couples and ladies. For the rest you will have to be able to speak english and dont be shy.
 
7  Which host should we interview in the next newsletter?
 
[http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=CI8LAF  Pieter Ter berg]
 
[http://images.couchsurfing.us.s3.amazonaws.com/2J65MU/22306_l_7430622ba1bc22932dc363dec4e0cb4f.jpg picture]
 
=traveltip=
 
{{IsIn|CS Organisation Netherlands}}
[[Category:Newsletters]]

Latest revision as of 18:55, 14 January 2013

Old newsletters:

CS Newsletter for the Netherlands 2010.1

CS Newsletter for the Netherlands 2010.2

Draft 3nd newsletter

Heading

CouchSurfers meeting up

Grote zomermeetings in Europa

More and more CouchSurfing communities are organising couchsurfing events this summer. Wherever you go, you can meetup with local couchsurfers.

Below is a selection of interesting events:

July 16th - July 18th: Oostende, Belgium: CS Beach Weekend

July 16th - July 18th: Champ-du-Boult, France: Normandy Summer camp

July 16th - July 21th: Brussels, Belgium: Brussels CS summer event

July 23th - July 25th: Dundee, Scotland: Dundee Calling

July 23th - July 26th: Paris, France: Paris Rendez Vous

July 28th - August 1st: Pescosolido, Italy: Italy summer camp

July 30th - August 2nd: Aberdeen, Scotland: a summer camp on the stunning balmedie beach

August 2nd - August 8th: Tokaj, Hungaria: Canoe tour

August 6th - August 8th: Spychowo, Poland: II CS International Family Weekend (IFW)

August 1st: Barcelona, Spain: Pre Gathering for the 3rd European Hitchhiking Gathering

August 6th: Sines, Portugal: 3rd European Hitchhiking Gathering

August 27th - August 29th: Karisilla, Estonia: Summer camp in Setumaa

September 2nd - September 5th: Milano, Italy: This is FO(u)R MI!

September 3rd - September 5th: Lille, France: The Braderie de Lille

September 10th - September 12th: Prague, Czech Republic: Cz3echsurfing

overzicht van regular meetings

In more and more Dutch cities CouchSurf-meetings are being held on a regular basis. If you want to know when to go where, you can check this list.

Castlefest - Festival of Light

6, 7, 8, August, Lisse, The Netherlands

People from all over the world come to visit this, I would call it... Medieval, hippy, folk, family, fantasy festival.

International world, pagan, celtic & folk music, encampment of medieval Re-enactors, a medieval & fantasy market. Art, theatre, visitors dressed up in most beautiful clothing. All sort of things to do: Balfolk, Sword fighting, painting, poi. Food is all Biological!!

It's a festival of enjoyment, relax & amazement. And I love it...would be awesome to have a CouchSurf meeting here!

Place to be: Every year there is a Wickerman burning on Saturday. A hugh wooden construction, filled with the wishes, dreams and gifts from all visitors. You can put your own dreams as an offer inside. The perfect spot to meet!

I’m working as a volunteer (coordinator backstage) on this festival ever since the beginning and I love to show you people around. The most fun part is to explore the festival your self, so I suggest we meet Friday, Saturday and Sunday 14:00 hours for a drink in front of the Wickerbeast, and share our adventures of couchsurfing! After a drink, I can take the people who are interested for a short backstage tour.

Relax & hope to see you there! Chantel

More info: http://www.castlefest.com

!!!voor Floris: ik heb op 1 juli je een paar foto's gestuurd voor bij dit bericht!!!

The best way to spend a Kruidvat train ticket: 18 hours of train travelling in NL

“Would it be possible?” “Hmm. If we start early and do some smart planning, yes, why not?” “Let’s do this!” I imagine the initiators of the idea came to the idea like this. The idea of the 24-hour train race project. The ambitious idea to visit all 12 provincial capitals of The Netherlands in just one day. Probably one of the few countries where such a thing is possible. Many CS members, armed with a special Kruidvat train ticket to be able to travel for the whole day, would accomplish this mission on the 22nd of May. First train: 6:10am from Amsterdam, on to Haarlem and The Hague. The fun started right from the beginning: the Dutch Railways (NS) decided that not our train, but the one 150 meters down the platform, would be the train that leaves. And that’s how you create a delay: we started the journey with already 10 minutes off-schedule. “Off to a good start”! Fortunately we caught up pretty quick, and, frankly, practically didn’t experience any delays for the rest of the day! Thank you, NS! There, I said it, something positive about the NS. They deserved it for once. People were encouraged to join us during the journey whenever they wanted. And boy they did! “Are you guys from the 24-hour train race?” et voila: we had once again a bigger group of train travellers on a mission. A few hardcore people made it all the way to the last stop: Lelystad. 0:18am the train arrived at the station! To make the last miles less painful we sang songs and people were already dreaming about their bed out loud... The other passengers thought we were gone nuts, I’m sure. Once on the platform, we started praising the station signs and kissed the ground in true Pope style. Relieved, proud and tired as hell, we could finally say we visited all 12 provincial capitals. Not only that, but we did it in one day!

Fotolinks:

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The Netherlands today, Europe tomorrow!

For me personally, the 24-hour train race was a learning experience as well, because I’m involved in a project that is a bit bigger than just The Netherlands. The project is called The Unity Express, and is about a journey across as many as 24 European countries in a single, privately chartered train, with stops in major cities along the way, for a period of four weeks in the summer of 2011. The train has room for more than 400 people on board simultaneously. When traveling, people literally live in the train: eating, sleeping, partying, laughing, learning, discussing... It all happens there. The main goal of this project is to create unity among as much European citizens as possible. By bringing all those people together, on the train and in cities we attend, we create a better understanding for each other, so we can live more peacefully with each other. This project will launch in mid July on CouchSurfing and with its own website. Want to help? This project cannot exist without your help! We need every profession you can think of: paramedics, chefs, security, writers, programmers, entertainers, DJ’s, organizers, thinkers, planners and many more! Go to the website or do a quick search on CouchSurfing to find the working group where you can get involved! Want more information about the project before the launch? Send an E-mail to [email protected] with your questions and I’ll be happy to answer them!

Cheers, Coen

News from CS Netherlands

New Ambassador program

Maybe you already saw profiles of CouchSurfers that have a strange yellow flag on their profile, those people appear to be ambassadors. All CouchSurfers are equal, so ambassadors are certainly no more important than any other CouchSurfer. Ambassadors are only more visible. Quite often they are the people involved in the internal organisation of CouchSurfing, welcoming new members, organising events or just answering questions about CouchSurfing. Find all about what it means to be an ambassador on the CouchSurfing website.

The last few months the CouchSurfing headquarter in San Francisco has been busy on improving the ambassador program. This ment there have been no new ambassadors added for over half a year. We cannot give any details yet, but soon it will be possible again for people to apply for the new ambassador system. The Dutch CouchSurfing organisation is looking forward to welcome new people, so if you like CouchSurfing and want to do more with it don't hesitate! You don't need any superpowers to become an ambassador.

Are you interested? Contact Jasper for more info!

Nomadic adventures

Do you have a nice travelstory? Tell us!

Dodging bullets in Syria

Somewhere on the edge of Europe lies an invisible line. Many people on the European side are afraid to go across this line. But those adventurers who do dare to risk their lives by passing this invisible line will be rewarded with their own weight in gold. Beyond this line, most media based presumptions which try to tie you up in your own state, turn out to be foolish. One of the random people I told about my upcoming visit to Syria and Jordan answered with a serious tone, that he preferred to visit places where less bullets were flying around. That was before I told him I would go there hitch-hiking.

Xenophobia; I stumble upon it a lot, during my travels as well as at home. Mostly the xenophobia is directed at the neighboring country. Sometimes even on fellow inhabitants of ones' own country. In Turkey, on my way from the Netherlands to Syria, I was soaked with warnings about how often I would get killed once I would reach Eastern Turkey. They almost scared me, but assuming it would still be human beings living there, I went nonetheless. Now, two months later, I can tell you that the Eastern-Turkish people are just as hospitable as the people who warn you for them. I've got too many examples to offer, like this man who spontaneously took me home in the middle of the night, sparing me a long night in my tent at the outskirts of Antakya. Next day, wandering through the dark streets of an unknown village in Northern Syria, the first man I say 'good evening' to, interrupts his walk to the mosque and let's his son take care of me. The whole evening they've been treating me with tea, food, stories and Internet, inviting me the next day to come back any time I like. I didn't even get a chance to return to them the next evening; on my way to their village a man on a motorcycle persuades me to stay at his place instead.

Syrians compete for their guests, doing everything to prevent you from visiting someone else. That's what I call hospitality. They're just amazing. Though even they, who should be aware of the Middle Eastern generosity, will warn you for their neighbors. Obviously they aren't afraid for their visitors; no xenophobia in that sense, yet they are for the strangers just over the horizon. I believe that CouchSurfing, or simply traveling, is the way to decrease this. Say 'no' to xenophobia!

Chiel (read more about Chiel's travels on his blog)

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Exotic couches

Do you have a nice hosting story? Tell us!

Interview with Urbian Fritz-James

1 How did you find out about CouchSurfing?

In 2005 I went to Krakow. I wanted to meet local people in Krakow so i start to google "meet local people". First I ran into to the site virtual tourist and than this guy said to me to go to couchsurfing.com and contact this lady in Krakow. So i decided to contact her. ( I really dont know her name and she is not on cs anymore) Well I contacted her but finally we didnt meet because she was busy. But I liked the idea of hosting people, so when I came back to Holland i immediately started hosting people and now I have been a member since 2005.

2 What makes your couch special?

Well lets start with me and my girlfriend. People make the difference and being our guest, we really want to make people feel like they are at home. You can drink and eat whatever we have in our home (except for the champagne). Further we have a separate bedroom with AAA quality mattresses, so a goodnight rest is guaranteed. And on top of everything we have a jacuzzi on our rooftop. Furthermore we live on a island just in the middle of Rotterdam which make it just perfect for your stay in Rotterdam.


We don't accept everyone. We have a preference for ladies and couples. I also have assignments written down in my profile so I know for sure that people have written my profile carefully instead of hitting the ctrl+c and ctrl+v button.

3 Tell about a special person you hosted?

Well we hosted a lot of special persons since 2005. But Leila Messaoudi was one of the most special persons we hosted. The first time she came to my place she planned to stay for 3 days but it ended up for 2 weeks. Spending christmas together. We also went to a cs meeting in Paris were we had a lovely time. Leila became my little sister and i adopted her. She visited our place again for 4 times.

4 What place near your couch would you recommend everybody to visit?

Go to Kinderdijk (windmills) to get some of that nostalgic feeling of Holland

5 What do you like to see in a good CouchSurf request?

I would like to see some humor in it and please amaze me with something original and wicked. And when you write me a request you should at least have the words "qwerty", "smoke" and "jacuzzi" in your request. That is because of the assignments I have in my profile.

6 Which sort of guests do you prefer?

We prefer couples and ladies. For the rest you will have to be able to speak english and dont be shy.

7 Which host should we interview in the next newsletter?

Pieter Ter berg

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traveltip