Rural hospitality

Welcome to Rural CouchSurfing!

The following is an outline of a working model for Rural Couchsurfing. It has been created with the developedworld in mind. A draft outline of a model for the developing can be found at the following link Rural Couchsurfing in the developing world.
Please do not edit this page without discussing it first in the Rural Couchsurfing Group or contacting Taylor. This is largely because this page will be translated into other languages, which will mean making the same changes in mutltiple languages.

Languages

This wiki page should be translated into more languages. How many more? The more the merrier. Contact Taylor if you can help with translations.

• Le CouchSurfing rural en français

• Rural Couchsurfing in German

• Rural Couchsurfing in Italian

• Rural Couchsurfing in Portuguese

• Rural Couchsurfing in Spanish

Defining Rural

Rural areas (also referred to as "the country", countryside) are settled places outside towns and cities. Such areas are distinct from more intensively settled urban and suburban areas, and also from unsettled lands such as outback, American Old West, or wilderness. Inhabitants live in villages, hamlets, on farms and in other isolated houses.

See the discussion about it here: 1

Rural en France

Project's started and runs! Have a look to the french Rural Hosts page, the French CS Rural group and the French Rural Hosts map.

Rural in Australia

Discussion about what rural means seen here.

Background

People in rural areas live a very different lifestyle to their urban neighbours. For a variety of reasons they tend to be less accessible to the passing traveler. Most traveling experiences outside of cities require the traveler to overnight in impersonal accommodations due to the lack of access to locals.

It needs to be understood that a rural couchsurfing experience is unlike an urban one in that the realities of rural life are different to that of urban ones. People in rural areas are more likely to have a stronger connection with the natural world. They generally have more land and often utilize it as a means of sustaining themselves, either by using it to directly sustain themselves through food production, or to generate money in some other way.

With there being a world-wide shift in demographics away from majority rural to majority urban, it is important to acknowledge that previously all of humanity lived in a rural setting.

“Having traveled around the world and been to more cities than I can count, they all seem to blur together to me. What stands out most to me are the landscapes in the countryside’s I have traveled to.” Quote by Taylor Booth

With the urbanization of the world cultures in cities are becoming blurred so that at first appearance it can be difficult to tell whether you are in New York or London, Hong Kong or Bangkok. Unique features of cultures are being lost in the rush to the cities. Often, they are only being preserved in the rural areas, where people still lead a traditional lifestyle.

Unfortunately many people are completely unaware of this. When they travel they go from city to city to city, flying the whole way in between, missing the most unique features of a culture that they are supposedly going to see.

Rural couchsurfing seeks to fill the gap in between the cities, and to bring people together from different worlds, facilitating cultural exchange.

Purpose/Mission

The purpose behind Rural Couchsurfing is twofold.
1.) To allow travelers to experience rural areas that are often overlooked, letting them experience ways of life completely different to those found in cities.
2.) To allow rural communities to experience culture exchange they otherwise wouldn’t

What is the difference between a rural and urban couchsurfing experience?

The principal difference is the location.

Note that there can be some other differences:

• No or few internet access

• Difficulty to reach the place

• Difference of activities to do around

• Difference in lifestyle of host(s)

• In some cases, help needed or expected (1)

(1)In conventional couchsurfing (urban), the guest is not necessarily expected to do any work. There may or may not be a provision of cooking a meal, helping with chores or bringing a present etc. But with rural couchsurfing it MIGHT be expected (mostly in farms or alternative communities) that guests do contribute to the either the hosts activities (farming) or help around on the property (odds and ends, weeding, gardening etc) due to the fact that the rural experience will normally come with food provided simply because the properties are well removed the local towns (and hence grocery stores) and the host might give you a ride to bring you there and back.

This may be outside the set guidelines of CS missions and values point 3: “We have made a commitment that CouchSurfing will always be free to join and free to use.” It is our interpretation of this statement that giving your time to your host in exchange for room and board does not violate this because there is no exchange of money. The most important exchange would be the human and cultural, rather than the material exchange of food for time.

In any case, the host has to explain CLEARLY what will be expected from the guest and what will be given in order to avoid any bad surprise and frustration.

What is the difference between WWOOF/Helpx and Rural Couchsurfing?

Many people ask why bother developing and implementing Rural CS when there are already networks in place that cover the same people and area. Why re-invent the wheel? Well the basic difference is that with couchsurfing hosts want to meet the surfer, where as WWOOF hosts want WOOFERs to work for them first, and meet them second (maybe).

Obviously people, who want both, can be part of more than one organization. In fact we encourage people who sometimes just want some company and to share their way of life but sometimes require serious help to be part of both and accept people from different organizations depending on their schedule.

In WWOOF: we host people because we need help for our garden or farm and in the same time we can provide them some food and accommodation and share our lives and cultures...

In Rural Couchsurfing: we host people because we want to help them travel in new places, we want to share our lives, cultures, and at the same time we generally don't have much time and money. Being in a remote place it might be difficult for a traveler to come equipped with all their own food so we might ask them for some extra help during their stay.

See discussion of this in the following thread: 1

Expectation of Host

A rural host can expect from his guest exactly the same things as in an urban area:

• Respect of his place

• Understanding and respect of his way of life

• Sharing time, experiences, conversation, and some daily tasks (dishes, cooking…)

• A great experience in general

A rural host can also sometimes expect:

• A little more help in the garden or the house

• A little sharing of the “work” tasks (for example when food or transport are provided)(1)

(1)All this has to be clearly settled on the profile of the host and clearly explained before the guests arrive. The most important thing is COMMUNICATION! :-)

Expectation of Surfer

A rural couchsurfer at the very least is expecting to discover what is to live in a rural environment in the country they are traveling through.

A couchsurfer in a rural area can expect:

• A place to stay (bed, couch, place on the floor, place for a tent…)

• Understanding and respect of his way of life

• Sharing time, experiences, conversation, and some daily tasks (dishes, cooking etc.)

• A great experience in general

Additional things that can be expected:

• Discovering a bit of the daily life if on a farm or an alternative community for example.

• Participating a little to the daily tasks (and then maybe learn and experience new things) (1)

(1)The guest has to make sure that he/she understands what is going to happen during the stay and that he/she is going to be able to give the little help that might be expected.

Marketing

Couchsurfing members who are interested promoting couchsurfing in a rural setting are encouraged to start discussions in their local groups about Rural Couchsurfing. They are also encouraged to actively seek out rural hosts in their area and ask them to join their relevant Rural CS country group.

After things become established, it could be possible for Rural Couchsurfing to be advocated more directly in the media. Possibly through CS Newsletters like in Australia 1or through some official media channel of Couchsurfing.com

If possible, at some stage down the road, permanent notices could be placed on the website promoting/describing Rural Couchsurfing.

Technical requirements

A first draft of a network of Rural CouchSurfing Maps has now been created. The global map now has links to six seperate continent maps. From there, the maps are again divided into individual country maps. Currently only Canada, USA, France and Australia currently have maps created to be populated. Adding additional countries is a relatively simple process.

The France map is now active as seen here. Discussions under way about how to add people on a global level.

The creation of rural groups for different countries seems to be a good way to bring people together - from there country maps can be added to the global maps as differnt country groups are created and become active.

Icon

Rural hosts may want to add an icon to their profile as well as a link to this wiki page explaining that they are rural hosts.

Possible ideas for an icon are:

To add an icon for Rural CouchSurfing to your couch description, just copy paste the code below:

<a href="http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/en/Rural_CouchSurfing"><img src="http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/public/images/8/82/RCSIcon2.gif"></a>

Note: the last two images appear the same but the second has a white background and the third has a transparent background. The code to put an icon in your couch description is for the third image. You can change the image by substituting the url from one of the other images for it.

More ideas are MOST welcome! There is no reason to only have one icon, the greater the variety the better. More discussion about icons here.

Administration

Taylor generally manages the wiki but see what is happening in the group and maybe someone there can help you.

As different country groups are created and become active, access to add people to the map will be given to different rural country group moderators once there has been some sort of discussion as to what rural means for that country/area.

Examples

Listed below are some examples of Rural Couchsurfing hosts all over the world:

In Australia

In France

In Ireland

In Mexico Located here

In Morocco

In Norway

In Portugal

Rural Couchsurfing – guidelines for hosts

The guidelines in a rural Couchsurfing experience remain the same as in a urban Couchsurfing experience.

Check the "How to be a good host" page

If you wish to ask your surfers for a little help at home:

1/ Inform

Make sure that you explain properly to the surfer what you're expecting before the surfer comes, to avoid any bad surprise. And again, fill in your profile as much as possible so that the people can know what to expect even before contacting you. Let them know any special warm clothing they need to bring, or if they need to bring a headlamp if there is no electricty.

2/ Don't ask too much

Don't ask your surfers too much, they might not be professional farmers and might mostly want to visit the area and rest. 2-3 hours of help a day should be enough.

3/ Adapt the task to the person

Remember that if a surfer comes to your place to help you it's also to discover a bit of your life, so please be kind and offer a wide range of activities, weeding for 3 hours a day might not be very exciting for a guest.

4/ Feed your guests

If they help you, then it seems logical that they get the meals in exchange.

5/ Help your surfers

Maybe you live in a remote place, and if you have the possibility, you could give your surfers a lift to your place and to the nearest public transport when they leave.

6/ Be patient

It's possible that your surfers will not know anything about rural areas: be patient, fully explain your way of life and your expectations and everything should be fine.

Rural Couchsurfing – guidelines for guests

The guidelines in a rural Couchsurfing experience remain the same as in a urban Couchsurfing experience.

Check the "How to be a good guest" page

If a host is asking for few hours of help a day and if you wish to help:

1/ Be informed

Make sure that you know what will be expected from you to avoid any bad surprises. Don't be afraid to ask a potential host exactly what type of help is you will be doing. Your experience depends upon it!

2/ Be ready to help

If you tell your host that you're going to help 3 hours a day, after one hour do not say that you don't want to help anymore and that you're going for a walk... Respect what has been agreed upon.

3/ Respect your limits

Never accept a task that you are not comfortable doing. Be sure to know what you're going to do in advance and that you'll be able to do it. If a host ask you for something that you can't handle, then refuse kindly and propose your help for something else.

4/ Don't believe that your help is paying a hotel service

• Working in the garden for 2 hours doesn't prevent you to help with cooking or washing dishes.

• Helping 3 hours a day for 5 days doesn't make you unable to clean the floor, set the table or give any extra help needed.

• In general, as in any Couchsurfing experience, be ready to give a little hand for the daily tasks.

5/ Bring appropriate clothing and equipment

Example: If you know that you'll be helping in the garden, don't bring only your brand new skirt or your favourite pants. Adapt yourself to the situation. Example: In some locations without electricity it is very difficult to function without a headlamp.

6/ Be curious but respectful

Don't expect your hosts to entertain you with rural experience the whole day long. They might have to work and might not always have the time to explain what they are doing. Be curious and willing to help and learn within the limit of your hosts’ hospitality.