You guys. I am TIRED.
Don’t get me wrong! I’m good tired. I’ve been so busy lately trying to make the most of my last few weeks left here in Chicago.
But still? I. am. TIRED.
Anyway. This past weekend was Chicago’s couch crash weekend, and it was a toooonnnn of fun!
I’ve touched on my love of Couchsurfing multiple times — and even had a fun piece published in the Chicago Tribune about it — but this past weekend was the first chance I had to actually go out and meet other members of Chicago’s Couchsurfing community!
It’s so funny. Couchsurfing by nature is a very intimate experience. You welcome one or two people into your home for a few days, and share your time, stories and personal space with them.
Then, that’s it. It’s a lot of one-on-one time.
However, Couchsurfers by nature are usually very, very social and outgoing. Couchsurfing is less of a way to find free accommodations, and more of a community.
So, it makes sense that that community occasionally gets together to have so much freakin fun, you guys.
Several weeks ago, Lisa from Washington, D.C. messaged me on Couchsurfing to request my couch for the last weekend of July — Chicago’s “couch crash” weekend.
A “couch crash” weekend?
Mhm, yep. Pretty much every major city in the world with an active Couchsurfing user base hosts a couch crash weekend. It’s basically an entire weekend FULL of pre-planned activities: meet-and-greets, bar crawls, beach days, walking tours, parades, concerts, happy hours, sporting events, etc.
The activities vary based on the city, but there’s actually an entire global calendar of these couch crash weekends.
Couchsurfers come into town for the weekend and participate in as many activities as possible. Hosts join, too. It’s just a super fun way for Couchsurfers to meet each other.
So many travel-loving trustworthy adventure-craving badasses in one place, amirite?
Anyway, Chicago’s event — Chicago Beach Crash — was this past weekend and it was a blast.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to check out as many activities as I’d wanted to. I had to work part of the weekend and had some previous commitments as well — plus the nonstop rain put a serious damper on things — but the parts I did get to experience were way too much fun!
I met up with Lisa Thursday night at Green Street Smoked Meats in West Loop for the event’s meet-and-greet kick-off.
I was a little nervous, but had such a great time!
Lorena, one of the event organizers, remembered me from the interview I’d had with her when I wrote my Tribune piece. I’m so glad I finally got to meet her. She’s absolutely incredible!
It was too funny — almost everyone there from Chicago had heard of me. Not gonna lie, it was a bit intimidating! I hope they were saying good things about me. 😂
Throughout the weekend, I popped over to two events in addition to the meet-and-greet: A spontaneously-coordinated brunch at Ann Sather, and an event organizer-sanctioned beach party at 12th Street Beach.
I wish I could have gone to more events, but… work.
The event coordination was a little all over the place. Events were created on Couchsurfing itself, and coordinating WhatsApp groups were created that people could join. The one main group had about 200 participants! Side events had their own groups, and people would drop in and out of groups while planning to meet up at “official” events, or for spontaneously-planned events. Everyone shared where they were at and what they were doing, and extended open invitations to everyone. It was such an inclusive, albeit messy, way of coordinating events, but it worked out surprisingly well!
The events were incredibly fun. The beach party was definitely my favorite! Everyone brought grills, drinks, snacks and speakers. There were Latin dancing lessons, games and so many other fun things going on!
I hardly took any photos because I was so busy having fun, to be honest. So, short of the big picture of all of us at the top of this post, I don’t have any photos from the beach party!
I really, really want to try to make it to a few more couch crashes in the future, for sure! After spending years hosting international travelers, it was so weird to be in the same place as so many other Chicago hosts! It definitely brought a completely new dimension to Couchsurfing and made me see it in an entirely new light.
Happy couch crashing!
