I received an e-mail from couchsurfing.com on Sunday night while I was watching the Wolverine movie with my brothers at AMC. I waited til I got home to view the persons profile to see what they were like before I would accept.
The arrival time was set for the following night, Monday night, and since everything (references, friends, personality, age) all seemed to work out and so I accepted. She, Stephanie, did mention, that she would not be able to arrive until late...9ish. I replied telling her that I was playing tennis from 8:30-10 and because I wouldn't be home and showered unyil 10:45 I told her I would be unavailable until 10:45 and she agreed and said she would just go grab something to eat until I returned...
The next morning I received an e-mail from her telling me that her plans of staying in Cali for the summer just got canceled because of a living situation that ended up not being available.She also said that she still might go in a few days depending on if she can find alternative housing. Bummer. I said no problem and if she needs to come through in a few days let me know.
2 hours later...I get an e-mail telling me that she found extra housing and that if I was still willing that she would still like to stay here that night but because she left a few hours later than planned her arrival time would be more like midnight. (oh the stresses of traveling never stop...and I know that as well as most.) "Sure thing, see you tonight."
The next day it rained like crazy and was merely impossible to do anything during the day/lunch hour so she just stayed at my apt working on some internship forms for the summer while I was at work. She had mentioned to me the night before about her plan on staying in OKC that night and the next day driving to Amarillo for a day then to Albuquerque (she had 5 days to get to Cali). I told her Amarillo would be boring. So, when I got home from work (Cinco de Mayo) I told her of plans I had to go out with my friends and how bummed I was that she never got to really see any of OKC. She, very shyly, asked if she could stay another night.
"Of course you can. Now let's go to Bricktown."
Walking all around Bricktown and "pitching" OKC as the wonderful place that it is I get a text form my friends that they are now headed over to Iguana Grill, perfect timing as we were ending our walk around Bricktown. So, at 9:15 p.m. we show up to meet about 10 of my friends and had food and drinks til midnight. Then walked over to the Memorial where we all walked around sharing stories and enjoying company.
After lunch the next day she packed up and left for Albuquerque. Have a safe rest of the trip, Stephanie, and we'll see you in August when you head back home to Tennessee.
Her facebook status: "in love with oklahoma city and is sad to leave. SOOOO very thankful for how the nights in oklahoma city turned out... i had a blast with casey and his friends :0)"
Stay classy Oklahoma City.
Casey - thanks for the recount. I joined couchsurf after a tweet from you a couple weeks back and am still considering if/when I should have my first stay or host experience.
ReplyDeleteStephanie certainly lucked out on her host. Great apt location, great knowledge of the city, and definitely someone that can promote all that the city has going for it. Given your experience, it seems like this could be used for a bottom-up way to promote Oklahoma City with a large crew of couchsurf ambassadors. Think about it, Oklahoma City could become a must-stay hub for couchsurfers everywhere. It might go a long way towards getting people to shed their misconceptions about OKC and see all of the great things we have going on!
Anyway, until we get a crew of couchsurf hosts, you will have to carry the banner for us - so keep up the good work!