Surfing the USA < Couch Surfing the World

I am still learning the best ways of traveling alone in a new place, and tonight I found an amazing tool: Couch Surfing, the app. While I originally thought it was just good for staying at locals' homes for free, there is a social feature in which you can meet up with people living or traveling in the area.

Recently I saw an event on the app for someone's birthday party. A couch surfing member organized an event for her birthday at a local restaurant/ old cinema and opened it to any travelers or locals interested in attending. I decided to give it a try last night, so I brought a girlfriend that I actually met through the Facebook Sarajevo Young Ex-patriots Group with me.

We found a table of 10 people from Couch Surfing that consisted of people from the following countries: Wales, Argentina, Chile, Spain, England, Turkey, Finland, America (only me), and Bosnia! What lively conversations we had. Not only did I get to check out this restaurant/ old cinema, Kino Bosna, but I also got to chat with some very well-traveled and interesting people. Firstly, I highly recommend Kino Bosna, and on Monday nights there is actually a live band playing Bosnian music which adds to the atmosphere. It used to be a movie theater but now it has been converted to a restaurant and it has a very unique but charming vibe.

Another great thing about Couch Surfing is that the people you meet up with often know cool places in town to visit that may be harder to figure out on your own. We stayed at Kino Bosna until midnight so we could toast to her birthday, then we moved to an interesting rock bar with great music and where we met more travelers - including guys from Mexico and Chile. At some point we left and the pack started moving towards another place.

We arrived at Sloga Cinemas shortly after, which is a club that also used to be a cinema, and we found out that it was Latin Night so only Latin music was playing. I love any Latin music so my friends and I danced and had a really nice time. Sloga Cinemas is my favorite place to go out thus far because there are a lot of locals there, prices are low, and there's a space to dance!

The group then moved through the city looking for some food, then found a 24hr grocery store called Konsume - this store has everything. But then we happened to bump into a Bosnian guy in the street who invited us to have a drink with him in his pub. There we met a guy from Turkey and a guy from Bosnia. We had some really interesting conversations about politics and the culture of Bosnia. It was also hilarious because for most of the night I was actually speaking Spanish so I did not feel like I was in Bosnia.

I share all of this to say that I love the community of travelers that I have met in Sarajevo. Some are digital nomads, some are working for human rights organizations, some are just exploring, but they all have such interesting stories to share. Next time you travel, download Couch Surfing.

*Note: For women I would not recommend meeting up with a random guy on Couch Surfing, I feel more comfortable bringing a girl with me or finding a hangout with a girl on the app just in case - for safety.

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