Hannah from Caravan of One started blogging around the same time as I did. She’s one brave girl whose solo journey around the world has just begun. In this guest post Hannah recounts her experiences couchsurfing her way through the Middle East. Taking a bed for the night in a strangers house may be a foreign concept to some but others wouldn’t travel the world any other way. Couchsurfing gives you an instant connection with a local individual or family which allows you to delve deeper into a community and culture than the average tourist. Read on and find out more about couchsurfing in the Middle East.
“Middle East? CouchSurfing? Alone?!”
This is the typical reaction I get when I tell anyone about my 3-month trip through the Middle East. Most of my friends, family, and random acquaintances can’t fathom how anyone in their right mind would travel to a region that usually finds itself splashed across the evening news along with the words bomb, terrorism, protests, extremists, or some combination thereof. If my decision to travel to the Middle East doesn’t get a reaction from people, then the fact that I CouchSurfed alone for the majority of the trip usually does.
The Safety Issue
The question on everyone’s mind when it comes to travel in the Middle East is safety. So most people are surprised to learn that I actually have felt just as safe or even safer traveling and CouchSurfing in the Middle East than in anywhere in Europe.
Of course, there are dangerous places everywhere, and the Middle East does have its share of them. But with a little bit of research, one can easily find out which places are truly unsafe and avoid them. Likewise, CouchSurfing isn’t guaranteed to be 100 % safe wherever in the world one is traveling. Then again, stepping outside the door in one’s hometown in the morning isn’t guaranteed to be 100 % safe either. Stick to common sense and intuition, and everything will most likely be fine.
For me, safety and enjoyment of a trip all comes down to the people involved. I can be in the most beautiful country in the world, but if I don’t feel welcome, I won’t enjoy myself and I might even feel unsafe. That being said, Middle Eastern people are probably the most friendly and welcoming people I’ve met in all my world travels. CouchSurfing in the Middle East gave me the opportunity to meet loads of amazing human beings and is, thus, one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.
Enjoying food and interesting company with CouchSurfers in Hebron, Palestine
Experiencing Middle Eastern Hospitality
CouchSurfing in the Middle East exposed me to a new level of hospitality and generosity. People offered me whatever accommodation they could give. In Syria, I slept on the floor in a room with four other people and awoke to a rooster crowing and a cockroach crawling across my foot. In Amman, Jordan, I slept in the same bed with a snoring granny. These experiences just made me feel more humbled and grateful than ever. And the hospitality didn’t stop with a single host. In turn, relatives and friends of my host would visit and insist that I too come to eat dinner and stay with them.
Outside of Nablus, Palestine, my host milked her goats every morning which she later used to make cheese and yoghurt
Indeed, there is a common tradition in Middle Eastern culture that you are obligated to lodge and feed travelers for three days without even asking them about their business. But more than an obligation, I felt a sense of passion and pride on the part of my hosts to show me their country.
It’s All About Food
For those of you who aren’t familiar with CouchSurfing, there is one important point you should know. CouchSurfing rules only stipulate that the host provide their guest a safe place to sleep for the night. Providing food or transportation is optional. However, in contrast to many of my experiences CouchSurfing in Europe, CouchSurfing in the Middle East inevitably involved food. And lots of it.
I had to check myself out in the mirror several times to see if my appearance wasn’t in fact that of a small giant, as I was continuously served meals of gargantuan proportions. My hosts would serve me piles of fragrant rice, chicken, fish, falafel, and cakes. They would go out of their way to make sure I was full and comfortable. One of my hosts in Istanbul even owned a chain of restaurants and insisted that I could eat there for free whenever I wanted.
Food became more than a means of sustenance; it also enhanced my travel experience. Food helped me understand a different and simpler way of life. In a small town near Nablus, Palestine, I CouchSurfed with a family who lived on a farm and produced most of their own food. Every morning, we ate homemade goat’s milk cheese and freshly baked bread dipped in homemade olive oil for breakfast. In Aleppo, Syria I gathered with the women one lazy afternoon as they rolled grape leaves into dolma and talked about life. At the time, I felt so far removed from the fast pace of Western society.
During my trip, I also found that food served to bridge language barriers. One morning in Konya, Turkey, I awoke to find that my host’s elderly father had cooked me breakfast. He didn’t speak a word of English, but as he happily placed the platter of food in front of me we both smiled at each other. His eyes were welcoming and said, “Please be my guest!”
An afternoon spent rolling dolma in Aleppo, Syria
So, in conclusion, here’s what I’d say to anyone contemplating a trip to the Middle East:
CouchSurfing in the Middle East gave me the chance to meet some incredibly friendly and amazing people. The experience has only made me more eager to return and continue exploring the region. Precautions do need to be taken, much like anywhere else in the world. However, with a bit of common sense and preparation, CouchSurfing in the Middle East can be very rewarding. Maybe, like me, you will find the Middle East even more welcoming and safe than most European countries!
About the Author
Hannah is a self-professed travel addict who left her life in Texas behind to travel solo around the world. She has no plans of going back, as she pursues her quest to get off the beaten path and visit some of the most uncommon places on earth. You can visit her travel blog, Caravan of One, or follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
What do you think about couchsurfing? Do you do it? Would you? Is there anywhere you wouldn’t feel comfortable couchsurfing? Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.
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Interesting! I’m hoping a Middle East trip will be in my near future, and I don’t think I would’ve ever thought about CouchSurfing there. May have to change that, though!
I’d say it’s definitely something to consider. As always, just make sure to check people’s references. As a rule, I usually check that a host has 5-10 or more positive references (some from women, some from men). Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions!
I’m getting ready to head out to the Mid East (I’m going to name it that and see if it sticks-I grew up in the Midwest in the States and if you know anything about that, you’ll see the glaring contrast) in a few weeks. Tickets are bought, passport is expiring on July 2017 (not expired like I had sworn it was?!) and I am just now getting as much as I can in order in this house of chaos before I leave. I intend to come back (I live in Portland, OR now) perhaps after the summer, but for now it is simply a one-way ticket to Tel Aviv. I have a fabulous house sitting opportunity that is the biggest win-win I could have imagined. In hopes that these comments still get responses after two years, I have a few question about general travel over there, in the couchsurfing sense as opposed to simply American tourist. I personally love three religions that exist out there, all of which are hated by some, and I hoenstly don’t even want to understand the dramatics of it. I do want to be respectful. Would a Qur’an get feathers ruffled at customs? Is it just not worth the hassle? I’m not scared any more that I have ever been traveling (which is pretty much never minus a few known kidnapping/drug cartel type areas, which still were imminently harmless to me, and kind of funny). I’d love to talk shop with another blonde girl who has been there. I want to dress modestly but not appear Muslim. All of this is out of respect, and a deep, deep personal love for the people that I know in the States that have ties to these three religions. Can you give me a briefing on Israel specifically, if you were there, or just general “wish I would have brought/known” type things?
Thank you!
I love couch surfing and I have both surfed and hosted with great results. I am currently in morocco and I have toyed with the idea of surfing here but the massive quantity of creepy messages I have gotten from Moroccan guys turned me off and there are very few women. Maybe I will try again when I get to Jordan or Israel.
Please reconsider your newsletter popup. Closing it doesn’t work on a tablet which means I has about an inch of screen space in which to read the post. It also means I won’t be reading any more as it is too inconvenient.
I do have to admit there are some (or a lot) of creepy guys out there using CouchSurfing to meet girls. I seem to get these messages everywhere, but there are a good amount of them in the Middle East.
They are pretty easy to identify though – most times they have 0 references, their profile isn’t very filled out, they contact YOU (instead of the other way around). I try to ignore them & not let them put me off of contacting people who are actually using CouchSurfing for what it’s really meant for.
Also, the fact that there are few women who have profiles on CouchSurfing in the Middle East is a cultural thing. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t meet Middle Eastern women through CouchSurfing. I found that most guys who have profiles on CouchSurfing actually live with their families (very few young people in the Middle East live on their own). So, I usually ended up staying with & getting to know the CSer’s entire family. And that meant meeting and spending a lot of time with women – which was awesome!
Again, I’d say just be conscious about who you are requesting to stay with & make sure to thoroughly read their references.