Hi °C | Lo °C DO...
• Bring a small gift for your host – ideally something from home. My hosts received Butlers chocolates and small bottles of Jameson.
• Offer to cook a meal or help around the house and make sure you tidy up after yourself.
• Read your host's full profile and send them a unique – rather than generic – couch request. This will give you a much better chance of a reply.
• Be respectful of your host and their space. You may be on holiday, but they will often be tired or stressed after a hard day at work.
• Leave positive or negative feedback on your host's profile so their next guest has an idea of what to expect.
DON'T...
• Treat your host's house as a hotel. You might be given a key, but you will often have to work around their schedule.
• Stay with a couch surfer who has no positive feedback on their profile. Everyone has to start somewhere, but it's best to stay with people who have been vouched for.
• Overstay your welcome. Agree in advance how long you will be staying and don't stay longer, unless your host offers.
• Stay anywhere without telling a friend or family member where you are. Give someone your host's name, address and phone number so they can be contacted.
• Sleep in the same bed as your host, even if they tell you that their two doctor friends are in town to perform emergency surgery.
Irish Independent
