Thursday, December 9, 2010

Love me some newbie surfers

Once upon a time, hard to believe I know. I was a newbie. A kind couple Cynthia & Randy from Dawson Creek BC were awesome enough to take me & my ex in under their wing without any references! I’d pre-pared little gifts for my hosts with chocolates and things from Australia. They were probably two of the most generous people I have ever met, well except when I moved on to the next host haha.

Anyway you need to start somewhere and like I said I love newbies, I like to think I’m pretty experienced and will give advice. Plus my house seems perfect for first timers. Firstly we don’t do everything for my surfers. Its my opinion that a surfer should be self-sufficient. And not only that the surfer should help out the host. The host is giving you a FREE place to sleep, something as simple as cleaning up the dishes is great but I my all time favourite is the ones who cook. You are saving $25 a night for accommodation , use that money to cook a nice meal for your host! Or if you can’t cook buy a 6-pack or something. Everyone in my house is super friendly and if your new and not sure about integrating into someone’s life then its good to be made welcome. I know some hosts can make a person feel very awkward. Its always best if your new to surf with a host with lots of experience.

Every newbie I’ve taken in has often surpassed some of my most experienced surfers. Hell I had one surfer and she turned on the air-conditioner whilst I was away and left it on all day with the windows open! And didn’t even ask me, air-con is expensive!! And she had a lot of surfing experience.

Thomas , Flavia, Greg, Jack, Jeremy, Mark & Mel, Holly & Wayne, Jessica, Silke – some of my newbies who went above and beyond.

If a newbie fills out the profile, puts up some pictures and gives me a good message about why I should host them then they deserve a chance because honestly.. we were all there once.

No comments: