Friday. This was MY big day. Once again, I would guide a group of CouchSurfers over the central cemetery of Vienna (Zentralfriedhof). Last year’s tour had about 30 people attending, which was so far the biggest group I had to handle.

Carlos and Shawn left shortly after Georg who again had to be at the Base pretty early. Mitie and I took our time for breakfast, I even managed to go through some of my recent documents. The tour was planned to start at 1.15 pm at the cemetery, so we only had to leave around 12.30 pm.

When we arrived at the meeting point, there were already 15 people waiting. As last year, around 50 had registered for the meeting, so I was expecting to have a group of 30 again. How wrong I was. Not everybody who had signed up was there, of course. But for everybody who didn’t show up, somebody had decided last-minute to come. Mitie counted 52 in the beginning, and later on, 4 more girls found us at the Church.

The tour was good, people were attentive and asked nice questions, and I had some nice talks along the way. Afterwards, we stopped by a supermarket to get some stuff for the BBQ, and headed on to Donauinsel. Unfortunately, it started raining pretty heavily as we crossed the river. Most of the people who had come with me left again immediately. Some others waited with me at the subway station, hoping the rain would cease. But it didn’t. “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad equipment” I thought, took the lemonade I had brought from the supermarket, and left. It was raining really heavy now, but I had promised and wanted to go to the BBQ all day already.

At the BBQ, people were gathered under 3 big tarps. The organizers had of course checked for all eventualities and were prepared.

When the rain finally stopped, the fire was lit again (it had been taken care of during the rain, so there was not much to do) and the BBQ went on. Soon also the people who had fled before the rain came to the Base.

For Friday night, the program said “Free Night out” – hosts and surfers had the possibility to enjoy Viennese Nightlife on their own. Thanks to Caspar, I had made a reservation at Shebeen for this night – they were showing the EURO Qualification Game Austria – Germany. The reservation was for 16 people, and I had announced on the Vienna Calling Group that the table was full – but of course more people showed up and I nearly did not get a spot there. But everything – except for the game – went well, and I enjoyed the evening very much.

Thursday. The first day with BBQs, games and lying in the sun at Danube Island. As every year, there was a BBQ place reserved for us. Usually there are only up to 50 people allowed at one BBQ place – we reached this number within 3 hours after opening the Base 🙂

As Georg was an organizer he had to be at the Base (=BBQ) around 11 already. The rest of us followed and arrived at 12something. The weather was not too nice in the beginning – clouded over and pretty windy. I was working for some hours, first selling the wristbands that allow the VC attendees to get to the parties without extra cost, later selling beer to the thirsty.

The night before, I had met Shawn, a couchsurfer from San Diego. He’s currently traveling the world – for almost 2 years already. He did not manage to find a couch in Vienna, so at the party he was till looking for a host. We had a short chat, and I agreed on hosting him for the rest of the event. Somehow he managed to be at the base way too early, so nobody was there. After returning back to the city center, he called me – when I was already on my way to Danube Island 🙂 He’s of the chaotic kind, but a really nice guy!

Around 6 pm, I, Georg, Carlos and Shawn left homewards. Nearly everybody at the BBQ wanted to go to the Philharmonics Concert at Schlosspark Schönbrunn later, and we wanted to drop off our stuff before. Georg and I had plans to meet friends, relaxing with some music at the upper parts of the park, nearby Gloriette. The acoustics there are pretty bad, but the view is amazing. During the concert, Carlos and Shawn discovered other CSers not far from our spot and joined them. They would come home later, calling us so we could let them in. Mitie had left from the BBQ to the concert directly with other CSers, but her cell ran out of credit. She asked another CSer for his cell in order to call us to check where and when to meet. Of course, as Schönbrunn is a huge place and there were tons of people, we didn’t manage to find her. Georg and I were already concerned, but then I received a text from Carlos: “We found Mitie. Where shall we meet?” Hell, was I happy.

We met at the subway stop where we had to change to the bus, went home, talked, and went to bed.

Wednesday. This would be the first actual day of Vienna Calling, with the Kick Off Party at Weberknecht. I had to get up damn early, as I had an appointment with the doctor, and afterwards was working until 5 pm.

In the late afternoon, Kira, CSer number 3, and her dog Tulku, arrived at my place. After everybody was ready (not too easy – one bathroom, 4 persons!), we walked to the party. As Carlos and Mitie were hungry from all the sight seeing they had done, we stopped by to have some typical Viennese food: Kebap.

The party was good, though I was really tired because of getting up so early. There were lots of people I got to know during the last years, at Vienna Calling, or the Wintercamps in Budapest and Targu Mures. And of course there were new people to connect with 🙂

I was really looking forward to Vienna Calling. And I was RIGHT!

It was great. Lots of hanging around with friends, enjoying sun, being caught by rain, having drinks and dinner. But let’s start at the beginning.

Mitie arrived first. It was Tuesday around noon, and Georg and I met for lunch at my place to receive our first guest. She had nearly no problems in finding the spot – whew! After some food, we talked a bit about Vienna, about Vienna Calling, and what she could do during the afternoon, as we were both busy. She decided to go to Belvedere to see the Klimt collection.

Carlos arrived in the evening, coming by bus. We cooked Wiener Schnitzel with Potatoe Salad and Rice, had a nice dinner, and afterwards went for some ice cream in the surrounding. For the next day, Georg offered to take the two for a city walk.

Day 1 – a relaxed, nice way to start the craziness of Vienna Calling.

Thanks to one of my flatmates, Stefan, who spends most of his time not in Vienna, but back home in Upper Austria, my CouchSurfers will have their own room, including a real bed. Isn’t that great?!

And I’m already excited, as Mitie will be arriving in only a few hours. Carlos will take a bus from Budapest to arrive in the early evening. And Kira – well, we’ll see about Kira, I don’t know about her exact plans yet.

Vienna Calling: the insanity starts in 24 hours and something!

It’s towel day. I brought mine. Did you bring yours?

Actually, I was the only one on the subway carrying a towel. And I was the only one in my office. What a pity.

Sounds crazy. But it’s great!

Couchsurfing doesn’t stop when you found a host, arrived there and slept on the couch/mattress/whatever.

It goes further. Even further than going out to restaurants/bars/pubs with your host.

Couchsurfing even gives locals the chance to find others sharing their ideas, interests and hobbies. One great example is the Vienna Taekwondo Group. You might encounter problems when trying to read this article. The CS tech team is working on it. However, this is an alternative link, the article is on page 5.

Another nice group is the Vienna Kickball Team. I went to one of the games yesterday, and we spent 4 hours (!) playing kickball. It was amazing! So much fun! And the weather was just perfect 🙂

So, whenever you come to a city, be it traveling or moving there, also if you don’t need a couch – check the local Couchsurfing community. It might have something to offer to you.

I decided to take the chance and host some people during Vienna Calling. There won’t be much sleeping taking place anyways 😉

The first to send me a reqeust was Silvio from Poland. I checked his profile and got pretty excited, as he seems to be a pretty active member of Wroclaw CS Community. Unfortunately, he cancelled again, as he found a friend of his living in Vienna who can host him.

Second was Carlos from Portugal, who seems to be much like me, considering his style of life. Working person, likes cats, lives in a shared flat … I think, we’ll be getting along pretty good. I’m really excited now I sent him a positive reply, too.

Also, Georg told me that Kira and her dog Tulku were looking for a host. I already hosted them for a Vienna Stammtisch, and we spent some time together before, and it was great 🙂

Only yesterday I received the last request, from Mitie, Brasil. I think I got nice mixture of people, and consider my couch/flat being full now. Of course, last minute requests may also be answered positively 😉

For example, if I may again have the honors of hosting Imre, I would be glad to do so 😉

CouchSurfing is more than having a free place to sleep in a foreign city, that should be clear. It’s also a possibility of meeting awesome people and having a good time with them.

CS Vienna offers different regular events in order to give travelers, newbies and regulars the chance of meeting up:

The weekly meeting was introduced about one month ago. It takes place every Thursday, 8 pm, at “The Flying Pig” in Vienna’s 7th district.

The monthly meeting, called “Stammtisch”, is taking place on a fixed date once every month. It started 4 years ago and has attracted several thousand people already (according to meeting pages). In 2011, it takes place on the 11th of every month. 2012, it will be 12th, and so on.

And then there’s Vienna Calling. It was introduced 2 years ago, as part of the world wide festivities to celebrate CouchSurfing’s 10th birthday. It was such a success that it was repeated the year after. And immediately after arriving back home, people asked to repeat it again in 2011. You can find further information on the website, which also links to all meeting pages (yes, there is more than one meeting/event during Vienna Calling!).

I’ll be doing the Central Cemetery Tour (again). Feel free to join! Newbies, travelers and locals – everybody’s welcome!