Covoiturage Lyon - Clermont Ferrand

Day #2

"If you talk to man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." - Nelson Mandela

16/08/13

The day before I went to bed at around midnight and I slept for a couple of hours, then I just couldn't. I don't know if it was the excitement of being in other country so far away from mine or just the jet lag. Anyways, I stayed up till 5am when I heard Pierre getting ready for his job. After half an hour I finally could rest!

I woke up around 10:30am, I was feeling better! Then I had breakfast with Meryem and we watched some tv programmes while we were wating for Pierre to come back and go to Clermont! -If you want to know more about car sharing, click in "covoiturage".

Pierre was from Clermont and Meryem studied there, that's how they met. So that they were going to visit Pierre's family and some friends.

The trip was nice. I took us around 2 hours to arrive to Clermont and they were kind enough to led me at my host's house. I couldn't be more grateful because I had a lot of stuff with me. I payed them what we agreed (10 euros) and I said good-bye.

Lyon - Clermont Ferrand

When I arrived, my host's roomates welcomed me and I waited for my host to arrive. Mario -who also I met by Couchsurfing - was a brazilian guy who moved to France 5 years ago and he loves being here. We spend a nice evening talking -Me not that much because really fast french is just too hard for me - and drinking with his friends.

I wanted to speak some portuguese with Mario because I don't want to forget it, but he insisted that I was in France so I had to speak french. And, yes, he was right, even if I love to speak with my friends in their own language, I was there and I had to practise my french.

DAY 2

MONEY SPEND: 10 euros

ALCOHOL: Some beer
PEOPLE I MET: 6

What's Couchsurfing?

Couchsurfing, my dear friends, is the most amazing thing that could ever happened to me!

<<Couchsurfing is a global community of 6 million people in more than 100,000 cities who share their life, their world, their journey. Couchsurfing connects travelers with a global network of people willing to share in profound and meaningful ways, making travel a truly social experience.>> Couchsurfing.org

So, in my words, is the biggest global network which conects amazing local people, willing to open the door of their houses to a complete stranger and share some days with him/her, and curious traveleres, willing to know more about a city by meeting local people and staying at a complete stranger place. That kind of TRUST from both parts is just amazing! 

Just to be clear, CS is more than just a free place to sleep. Is about making friends for a life time! So, get out of your confort zone and do something! Go around traveling and meet this awesome people who are waiting to meet you! Or if you can't, invite some travelers at your place and you'll see that it would change your life. Furthermore, if you can't host or able to travel, you can always join the CS meetings or invite travelers to hang out with you, they would appreciate it!

* Some important words:

1. Host: Is the awesome local person who will host you.

2. Surfer: Is the awesome traveler who will stay at your place.

3. Couchrequest: The way how you send a request to a local so you can stay at his/her place.

4. CS meetings: There're awesome events in almost every city that you can join and meet travelers and locals.

5. Couch: Is where the traveler is going to sleep. It can be a couch, a bed, the floor, mattress, hammock, whatever you can provide at your place.

6. CS: Short for CouchSurfing (https://www.couchsurfing.org/)
7. References: Is one of the safety features this website provides. You can see about others people experiences with one person and also you can leave a references so people can decide if trust or not trust in that person.

By the way, here is my profile if you want to check it ;) 

https://www.couchsurfing.org/people/grace.echevarria/

First day in Europe!

Day #1

"One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy.” – Richard Burton

15/08/13

Just arrived in France – Charles de Gaulle Airport in PARIS!  After a 12 hour flight, I was feeling tired, but super excited about my new life in Europe.

Lima - Paris

I said good-bye to the new friend I met on the plane and I started looking for my luggage and a way to get to the train which was supposed to take me to LYON.

After 2 boring hours in the train, I got to Lyon at the Gare Part Dieu! So, next step? Tried to get some free wi-fi. - By the way, in France "free" is a company and is not actually free.-  And lucky me, there was real free wi-fi at the station.

Paris - Lyon

I sent a message to my hosts and followed their instructions to get to their house. 

1. Take the tram T3 - Which was just outside the station, but I was too stupid to realize that, so it took me a while to get in.

2. Decendre á l'arret "Gare de Villeurbanne" - Villeurbanne is by the way, other city, but is so near to Lyon that if you cross the street you're there.

3. Wait for one of my hosts to pick me up.

While I was waiting for my host with all my big luggage, I realized I didn't pay for the tram, and then I realized I didn't see anyone paying, just one guy. I felt guilty, but then I forgot about it.

Finally I saw Meryem (my super nice host) coming. I met her on COUCHSURFING - You can check my post about it here. - and she and Pierre (her husband) offered me to go to CLERMONT-FERRAND - my final destination-  with them and share car expenses - the name of this in french is "covoiturage"-. I agreed, so they also offered to host me for one night.

Meryem and her lovely cat

Meryem was from Morocco and Pierre was french. They were such a great couple! Also they had a little beautiful cat! - I just love cats!. We shared nice talks and they invited me a  tasty dinner at their house.

Delicious dinner made by Pierre and Meryem

DAY: 1

MONEY SPEND: 0 euros.
ALCOHOL: Some wine
PEOPLE I MET: 3