The Art of Couch Surfing

Enjoying Orlando one cushion at a time.

Generosity (noun): Freedom of meanness or smallness of mind or character.

Friendship (noun): A state of mutual trust and support between allied individuals.

 

Well, hello there! It’s been some time since posting anything, mostly because I have been trying my best to figure out what I want to say. I wanted to make sure this was worth reading, and this past month was intensely stressful with demanding tasks at work, finalizing travel plans, basically living out of my car, and any other dramatic little quips I can’t think of at this moment… Forgive me, I am being rude. How’ve you been? How’s your week treating you? Good? I hope so! Ok, enough about you, back to me.

For this entry, I want to first talk about the power of generosity.

Of all attributes to master, generosity is pretty much the “Hoover Dam,” the “Mount Everest,” the “Iron Man…” Get my point? It’s a fucking challenge to be generous, and it’s even that more rare to find these days.

Over the course of my short life thus far, I have seen generosity within certain hearts. These are the souls I decided I would surround myself with and deem worthy of friendship. I have been blessed with some of the most beautiful friends, and I think that overarching discovery of one another, the true facet of why I am close to these people, is the fact that they have the rare power to be generous. 

I have had the privilege to see generosity in many forms. The most recent, in my life, has come to me in the form of free couches.

In order for my upcoming life plans to truly coalesce, I needed to find a sublet for my apartment, and it needed to happen quickly. Through the power of social media, I was able to discover a young man interested in the place. He came over to tour the facility, check out the room and (thank you to the mighty heavens) agreed to take it off my desperate hands. This all happened very quickly, quicker than I originally anticipated (If all else fails in life, I think I could make a killing as a salesman of some sort. My charisma must’ve been off the charts that day!). The new sublet needed to move in by May 1^st, and I still had my job until June.

You see my dilemma here? 

However, my mercurial personality overpowering any caution to be found in the moment, I gleefully agreed and signed the apartment over in a matter of days. After the initial excitement died down and the adrenaline seeped away from my veins, my conscience decided to strike up another conversation:

Conscience: "Well, Robert, you have gotten yourself into quite a pickle here, haven't you..."

Me: "I have no idea what you are talking about. This is brilliant."

Conscience: "Brilliant, eh? So will it be brilliant when you will need to break into the closest gym to shower since you will be carrying your life around solely in your automobile?"

Me: "That's not going to happen, I promise. I've got a plan."

Conscience: "This will be good. I can hardly wait to see how this comes into fruition."

Me: "Just shut up."

Conscience: "Mum's the word, Robert. Mum's the word."

 

I had no plan. None whatsoever. However, desperation must paint me in quite an agreeable color, because a select few individuals took pity on my homeless soul and harbored me during those final weeks in Orlando.  

Sleeping on couches was not something I was a stranger to, at all. In fact, I preferred it from time to time. I seemed to infuriate my college roommates my senior year by passing out on the living room cushions approximately 96.38% of the evenings. I never understood why beds needed to be so grandiose (I take this as appropriate training for my upcoming travels). So living in less than normal conditions was something I adapted very easily to. This was achieved, in most parts, from the generosity of my hosts. It takes courage and trust to allow someone, albeit yes a friend, but someone of whom you owe nothing and could easily make excuses against, into your life and home.

To my friends who hosted me, my eternal gratitude. I truly do not know how my future could've existed without your hospitality and unyielding generosity. Your souls are beautiful, and I hope you know how much I love you.

To those friends who offered, much the same gratitude. I did not anticipate so much kindness to be found around me in a time of need, and I consider you all immensely important people in my life.

 

Which leads me to the second half of this post: Friendship.

 

To say that I was busy this past month would be an intense understatement. Work was drowning me, figuring out my next steps each day was becoming aggravating, but none of that seemed to matter, for the true inception of my busyness was the amount of time I spent being with friends. I told myself after I made this decision that I would take every opportunity to enjoy my remaining time in Florida with the people that mattered, and I have to say I did a pretty damn good job of it. Rare was the day that I wasn't exploring a trendy area with a kindred spirit, or reminiscing over the past experiences with an old friend. I filled my life with positive energy, and that energy came from the people I allowed into my life. Below you will see pictures of some of the beautiful people I've been blessed to come across during my time in Orlando. (I apologize for the less-than-blog-worthy quality of some, I shall do better in the future)



 

 

 

 

This actually became a bit of a problem. I am not sure why, but I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the residual affects of leaving my friends behind and pursuing an adventure for myself. I was really only thinking about myself for a long time. I suppose this was selfish. And I didn't realize this until much later on. It wasn't until I came back from a weekend excursion in Tampa that I had time to really think about the people that I found in Orlando, and how much of a support system they became for me. I told you, I have very high standards on who is considered a true friend in my book. They must be powerful, smart, witty, and have an unbreakable energy to love, and even more importantly, accept that love in return. I just didn't know that I found so many here in Orlando. It was an overwhelming realization. And it hurt. My heart was full when I was with these people. Why would I want to leave that?

This was the moment when I experienced what I can only imagine is somewhat close to the feeling of an actual, fully loaded panic attack. I didn't want to leave! Why on EARTH was I just realizing that these people are my family? Why, dear heavens, WHY?!

Then, of course, the brooding fear of my future decided to fully weigh on me at the same moment. That was fun, let me tell you. My conversation with myself went a bit something like this:

"OH MY FUCKING GOD WHAT THE HELL DID I GET MYSELF INTO?! I quit my JOB, I am basically HOMELESS, I don't even have a place to live over there! Really, Robby? Was this REALLY the smartest decision you have made? The Aussies are going to HATE me and my feeble attempts to fit in. I have a fleeting wisp of a savings built up for this trip, and all I keep hearing from people is "oh it's so expensive over there," and "watch out, the spiders are as big as people!" What the HELL?! In three weeks they are going to find my penniless, jobless, homeless body inside the belly of a beached Great White Shark."

My favorite part of this entire experience was the fact that I was screaming these things to literally nobody. Not even my conscience was listening, I guess he was taking a coffee break at the time.

But here is the most beautiful part about this whole scenario. When I voiced these concerns to my closest friends, they laughed at me. Now, at first, I was a bit pissed off because I didn't think they were grasping the UTTER SERIOUSNESS OF THE SITUATION HERE PEOPLE!!! However, after hearing what they had to say, I quickly realized it was me who was clueless to it all.

After each conversation with every friend I ranted to (and let's face it, if you are close to me, you know that about 60% of my conversations are somewhat rant-related), the answers were all the same: "Robby, you will be just fine. We support and love you and this is going to be the most exciting adventure, and we are always here, no matter what."

It's a special thing, the power of true friendship. It grounds you. It humbles your existence and levels your emotions whenever they are going in every direction imaginable. It was in these moments that I realized that I am the luckiest man alive, to have such caring individuals in my life.

My last weeks in Orlando taught me something invaluable. Always appreciate those around you. Really spend the time getting to know a stranger, because that stranger could become your best friend. I urge you to go out there and find those soul mates. You know, the ones that will feed your peanut butter milkshake addiction and never judge. The ones that will revel in the pure bliss that is red wine and naan bread. The ones that will never miss a week of brunch, even though they had plans before, after, and most likely even during. The ones that can laugh at your most embarrassing moments just to make you smile. These qualities, among so many others, are what I strongly hope you can find within the people around you, and hopefully never let go of.  

It was one of the most difficult decisions in my life, leaving Orlando. I sometimes get very weepy about it still. But I know that it is never the place that you are connected to, it is the people. I know that as long as those souls remain connected to mine, I could find myself in the four corners of the world and still know where home would be; within the hearts of my friends.

So, with my hometown in Pittsburgh my next destination, I left Orlando with a full heart and renewed assurance of something spectacular awaiting just around the corner. We will see what's in store...

Until next time, my friends.

-Robby