On the Road

Interview with Florian Fischer, CouchSurfing Celebrity

By Roadjunky, Posted May 11, 2010

The crystal ball tells his future... he's going to have more guests!

He’s got more friends than you do.

Florian Fischer is one of the most prolific couch surfers and hosts in the world – just check out his profile but more than that, Florian is one of the driving forces behind making the Berlin group an actual community and organises a summer camp to which anyone can come…

Florian is of course talking at a little event called the Road Junky Travel Film Festival in Berlin on Sunday the 29th.

RJ: How many couchsurfers have you hosted?

Florian: That’s a hard question. I have just counted the people I have in a list, but it’s not complete. I came up with 381 – but that’s only a number. Many of those guests have stayed with me for several times, many in several cities or countries and some of them even for several months.

RJ: What do you get out of hosting so many people? Is it fun or do you see it as more of a service?

Florian: If I have the space and the time – what should be against it? I like it to have people around me and as long as I control when I have guests and when not it’s a great thing to host people. Especially when you are new in a city and you don’t have many contacts yet.

Also having guests is a little bit like holidays are visiting you. Every guest has his stories to tell, his culture to share and sometimes more, sometimes less interesting things to say. Also I see having a guest as a chance to explore my city – if a guest wants to go somewhere I haven’t been I just join.
Somehow hosting people is nothing special for me anymore – it has just become a normal part of my life. And as I love life it can’t be a bad thing!

RJ: Have you had any negative experiences?

Florian: Negative experiences… This is a tricky one as well.

If someone else was living in my body then he or she might say so – because different people have different limits, boundaries and expectations.

I never expect a lot and that’s why most of my experiences are really good. On the other side I can stand a lot. Things other people experience as negative might not really be negative for me.

If somebody eats something out of my fridge my world is not collapsing. I tell the person and hope it won’t happen again. And normally it doesn’t. And if it does… yes also I have my boundaries – but so far I had never to kick out somebody.

To sum it up: I had people that smelled badly, I had people who ate some of my food, I had people having sex in my room, I had people hosting at my place… but I never had a negative experience.

RJ: What do you think the success of Couchsurfing tells us about humans?

Florian: In some way it is sad that parts of our well developed society need a network like Couchsurfing to find back to a kind of hospitality which is a usual thing in other much poorer parts of our world.

RJ: Where can Couchsurfing go from here? Does it have more potential?

Florian: I don’t know where Couchsurfing will go from here – probably there are many possibilities. There is only one thing is for sure: the spirit of the people and the main idea won’t change. Maybe one day Couchsurfing will not be the right platform anymore but there have been others before and there will be others afterwards.

And about potential… Yes, there definitely is – the question is only up to which point do people want to extend CS? The bigger CS becomes… maybe the less quality will be in the details.

But that is only an assumption. I would be nice to get proved wrong.

RJ: You’re obviously a ‘people person’, how do you find time for the rest of your life between hosting and partying so much?

Florian: I think I have reached a point where there are no big differences anymore. Couchsurfing has become a social network. Like Facebook it is a platform for me to communicate with my friends. Here in Berlin most of my friends are member of CS and only meeting up with them doesn’t make it a CS event.

CS is the normal world and Couchsurfers are normal people. Why do I need to differ between Couchsurfing guests and non CS friends to come over.

Of course I have to work or study but everybody has to. …and asking a non Couchsurfer how he can find time for his friends… I don’t think there is a need for this question.

RJ: What’s the Summer Camp all about?

Florian: A friend of mine once said: People try to get laid and those who don’t manage get drunk!

But seriously – there are a lot of camps all over the world organized by Couchsurfers and each one is different. They are all open to everybody though and you can meet there people from all over the world.

Some camps have high standards others are in the middle of nowhere. At some bands are playing, videos get screened, at others you go hiking for big parts of the time.

Road Junky is getting interactive!