Chapel Hill a popular couch surfing destination

College students who want to get away during upcoming breaks often think about crashing on a friend’s couch to keep from breaking the bank.

Thanks to the Internet, they can crash on a stranger’s couch, too. Travel website CouchSurfing.org, which has garnered 2,259,314 members since its public launching in 2004, is a network that connects frugal travelers with new friends and old couches across the world.

Some of these couches are right here in Chapel Hill.

UNC graduate student and couch surfer Adam Kelleher said the Chapel Hill area has become a popular destination for travelers due to the school’s international appeal, popular athletics and the area’s thriving music scene.

“I have hosted a couple of bands coming through the area, so I always go out to their shows when they’re in town,” Kelleher said. “I also hosted a couple of girls who were in town for a hoop-dancing event.”

Kelleher said bands are attracted to the area’s reputable music scene and prospective students often come through to preview UNC before studying here.

Kelleher worked at a hostel in his hometown of Charleston, S.C., where he frequently showed tourists around, before he moved to England. There, he couch surfed until he found his own residence.

Senior Arthur Gribensk couch surfed through France and Ireland and is hosting a guest from Goldsboro next week.

“The people were so welcoming,” Gribensk said. “One family took me to a cookout with their close friends. A lot of people cooked for me and showed me around their towns.”

Chapel Hill residents Kathy and Mike Narotsky have hosted two different visitors this year, a mother-daughter pair from England and a couple from Minnesota.

“It has been great,” Kathy Narotsky said. “We are a family, my husband and two kids, so we are careful about who we take.”

Narotsky said she is surprisingly satisfied with the protective measures of the couch surfing program.

“We got a request recently that we turned down because the person didn’t have any references and we didn’t feel comfortable; there are signs that people are who they say they are,” Narotsky said.

CouchSurfing.org requires an identity and location verification process and allows surfers and hosts to see who is verified.

“There (are) extensive security features and screening, plus you can read individual profiles and the reviews given to them by other surfers,” Kelleher said.

Gribensk’s positive experience couch surfing through Europe led him to return the favor.

He said that if he had a daughter, he would feel comfortable allowing her to couch surf after seeing the safety measures involved.

“I now understand the position people are in when they are traveling, so I felt I should open my house up because I have been on the other end of that when I needed a place to stay,” Gribensk said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.