Sosauce Chili Travels
We love travel. We also love beer.
If you share these two loves, join us at a pre-TBEX aka #PREBEX happy hour meet up with our Travel Geek friends in New York City on Thursday, June 24th. We’ll be at the Ace Hotel starting a night of drinks, winks, and clinks at 7pm.
This is an open invite, so come one, come all! Follow the event with us on Twitter (@Sosauce) with the hashtag #PREBEX which was founded by our friend Andrew @BrooklynNomad.
See you there!
We’ve created a special Sosauce badge for everyone to show off their Travel Geek pride online (see image above). So if you’re on our blog roll, are a partner of Sosauce, or are a Sosauce user yourself, grab the code from us (email: editorial@sosauce.com) and insert the badge on your website. It’s a fun new way to share your Sosauce links with others
PS - Happy Cinco de Mayo!
This month we’re excited to have our friends at I Wish Gap Year Travel share their tips on how to successfully book and enjoy a Gap Year. From now on our Travel Tuesday series will be lead by Oliver at I Wish Gap Year, who will be answering YOUR questions. All you have to do is leave a comment on the Sosauce blog and check back each week to see what topics he tackles next.
We look forward to your travel questions!
Sosauce is back on its happy hour game! We’re teaming up with our friends, Atlas Obscura, to host a fun night out in NYC’s China Town for bar games and networking. Bring yourself and a friend and meet us on Monday, April 26th at 7:30pm at the Whiskey Tavern for a meet and greet. Later on in the night we’ll be making our way over to China Town Arcade for some antics.
More info on our happy hour and RSVP is at the Sosauce blog.
See ya there!
Next week we’ll be doing a photo essay on Cherry Blossoms in bloom from DC for the Sosauce blog. We know you DC-ers have taken plenty of photo ops with these beautiful flowers lately, so if you want some online exposure, submit those photos to us at Sosauce!
To submit your best cherry blossom photos, email editorial@sosauce.com with your hi-res photos (3 max), name, travel blog link, and short photo caption. In the subject please write: “Cherry Blossom Photos!”
Deadline is this Sunday, April 18th!
Now that the first day of April is almost over, and spring is upon us, we want to know what you are looking forward to as Travel Geeks and Sosaucers! The Sosauce team is hard at work to provide fresh new travel content, community involvement, and collaborating opportunities. So, to get your feedback we ask you the following:
What do you want to read about on the Sosauce blog?
What incentives would you look for as a contributing travel writer?
What community elements would you like to see improved on Sosauce?
Feel free to email me your thoughts directly: alisha@sosauce.com
Have a saucy weekend!
Who are your favorite tumbling travelers?
Welcome new followers and hi to our old followers. Look out for a photo essay on travel tattoos this week! Want to submit? Click here to submit a travel post, or ask us a question.
Be sure to follow F*ck Yes, Tony Bourdain - new Anthony Bourdain fan blog - on Tumblr run by our very own Sosaucer, Alisha!
Drool over food porn, quotes, news, and photos of Tony Bourdain. Be sure to recommend them for “Personalities” under the Tumblr Directory, too!
Read our fun review of these Tumblrs on the Sosauce blog.
To continue following the Sosauce Chili Travels, befriend us on Sosauce.com or go to the Sosauce blog to view more saucy travels. Thanks for a great year!
*Originally published on the Sosauce Blog: The Saucy Side of Travel
I found out about Couchsurfing a few months before I started my travels and was dying to try it out. Kind of. I loved the concept and was excited to meet locals from the places I would be visiting, but I was also a little nervous. I mean, I would be sharing a confined space with a complete stranger after all, and what if that stranger turned out to be really strange? What if things were really awkward or uncomfortable? And worst of all, what if they turned out to be some scary kidnapper or murderer? I had some doubts and worries (as did my family and friends), but decided to not let those stand in the way of what would surely be an adventure and I jumped in headfirst.
I couch surfed most of my way through Ukraine and Poland. It turned out to be a huge success and has actually changed my life. Instead of writing another “How to Use Couchsurfing” post, I thought I’d share my personal stories to give more insight into what couch surfing is all about and hopefully motivate at least one person to utilize this awesome travel resource.
L’viv, Ukraine
My very first couch surfing experience occurred in L’viv, Ukraine. This was going to be the moment of truth. I was headed there from Warsaw on an overnight bus and was due to arrive around 6:30 am. Olga, the lovely lady who accepted my request to surf her couch, offered to meet me at the station and help me back to her apartment. I told her it wasn’t necessary as it was going to be extremely early in the morning and I was sure I could figure it out. Luckily, she insisted on it and showed up bright and early as promised. I honestly don’t know where I would be right now if she hadn’t come because the bus station was not in the center of the city, nothing was open, there was an abundance of shady characters hanging around, public transportation seemed non-existent, no one spoke English, and I didn’t speak Ukrainian. So there you have it…this is how couch surfing possibly saved my life.
My decision to visit Ukraine was a last minute one and so I really didn’t have much time to research or prepare. It was after I arrived that I realized I actually had no idea what I was doing and began to panic a little. I will be forever grateful to Olga for not only introducing me to L’viv, but also to Ukraine, and helping me plan out exactly what I would be doing for an entire month. I also have to give her a lot of credit for hosting me during such a crazy time. Other Ukrainian Couchsurfers were warning me not to come and turning down my requests to surf their couch because of the Swine Flu “epidemic” that exploded just days before I got there. Olga simply laughed it off and assured me that I had nothing to worry about since it was just the politicians and media who were blowing it out of proportion.
I stayed with Olga the first few days and the last few days that I was in Ukraine. She lived on the outskirts of L’viv so I was able to see a side of the city that I would have missed had I stayed in a hostel or hotel. It wasn’t beautiful and there really is nothing to see except real life. This is where many working class families, students, and pensioners call home.
I learned a lot from Olga, not only about L’viv and Ukraine, but about life. She is one of the kindest people I have ever met and can find beauty in just about anything. Thanks to her, my faith in the Couchsurfing community was solidified and my 100% positive experience only fueled my desire for more.
