Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Has Anyone Here Used the Pasporta Servo?

 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto Post Reply
17 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
brian91
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5203 days ago

335 posts - 437 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 1 of 17
04 July 2010 at 9:50pm | IP Logged 
From wisebread.com:

''Travel presents the classic conundrum: If you have the money you don't have the time, and if you have the time
you don't have the money.

''You can travel on the cheap if you have friends or relatives that you can stay with. But even if you have some,
they probably aren't all over the world, so your options are limited. Suppose, in addition to them, you had
another twelve or thirteen hundred friends willing to give you a place to sleep? And suppose they lived in close to
100 different countries? Well, you very nearly do: The Passport Service.

''The Passport Service is a book with names and addresses of well over a thousand people (the number varies
from year to year) willing to host international guests in their home for free. All you can count on is a place to
sleep, but you're reasonably likely to also get a home cooked meal, some tips on places to see and things to do,
and very possibly a local guide.

''There's a catch, though: the service is provided in Esperanto, and only Esperanto speakers are invited.
Fortunately, Esperanto is really easy to learn. Anyone willing to study 30 or 40 minutes a day for a month or two
can learn Esperanto well enough to use the Passport Service, even if they've never learned a second language
before. It's not a spur-of-the-moment thing, but as I said at the start, this is an idea for people who find
themselves in the "time but no money" category.

''How it works
The key item that you need is the Passport Service (Pasporta Servo in Esperanto) book. In it you'll find names and
address with contact information for people willing to host Esperanto speakers for free. You can buy the book
for about $25. Alternatively, you can get the book for free if you agree to list your own home in it.

''Hosts are allowed to set pretty much any conditions for guests that they want. A lot of hosts say no smokers.
Many hosts only have room for one or two guests. Some hosts don't accept guests during certain months of the
year. Many only allow guests to stay for one or a few nights. But many others open their homes with few or no
restrictions--except that the guests speak Esperanto.

"Once you have the book, look through it for people who live in the places you want to visit. Use the contact
information to inquire with the details of your planned trip. Some places may be unavailable, but most will be
glad to have you. Repeat for as many places as you want to visit. Show up and get free places to sleep.

''A free place to sleep is all that's promised, but in fact, you get a lot more. The people who list their homes are
people who want to make a connection with foreign travelers. They'll want to spend some time talking with you
about your home and your trip. They'll also want to tell you about themselves and the place you're visiting. You
might imagine that it would be difficult to have such a conversation in a language you've only been studying for
a few weeks, but if you give it a try, you'll be surprised and pleased. Esperanto really is that easy to learn.''

So has anyone here used this service? It would certainly inspire me to learn Esperanto. :D

brian1991




Edited by brian91 on 04 July 2010 at 9:50pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



brian91
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5203 days ago

335 posts - 437 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 2 of 17
04 July 2010 at 9:55pm | IP Logged 
For that matter, has anyone here used couchsurfing.org?
1 person has voted this message useful





jeff_lindqvist
Diglot
Moderator
SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6668 days ago

4250 posts - 5710 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 3 of 17
05 July 2010 at 1:12am | IP Logged 
Benny Lewis (Irishpolyglot here on the forum) is a couchsurfer, and has written about it on his blog.
2 persons have voted this message useful



fielle
Diglot
Groupie
Japan
maliora.com
Joined 5029 days ago

53 posts - 69 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: German

 
 Message 4 of 17
05 July 2010 at 3:06am | IP Logged 
I have done couchsurfing once, and it worked out pretty well for me. I personally have not used the passport service, but a friend of mine did use some sort of Esperanto staying-with-others-service, so I assume that this is likely what he did.

He seems to have had largely good experiences from what I've heard.
1 person has voted this message useful



Sprachprofi
Nonaglot
Senior Member
Germany
learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6229 days ago

2608 posts - 4866 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese

 
 Message 5 of 17
05 July 2010 at 8:26am | IP Logged 
I stayed with Pasporta Servo hosts in Stockholm and Montreal; it was a great experience. You should really ask my boyfriend though (e-mail through chucksmith.de), he's an American who travelled all over Europe and Brazil with Pasporta Servo.

2 persons have voted this message useful



ericspinelli
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 5542 days ago

249 posts - 493 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: Korean, Italian

 
 Message 6 of 17
05 July 2010 at 10:10am | IP Logged 
brian91 wrote:
For that matter, has anyone here used couchsurfing.org?

I participate in CouchSurfing regularly as a host, guest, and local community member. I find it worthwhile and enlightening. As I don't speak Esperanto I will never be able to join Pasporta Servo, but I'm sure each community has its share of unique pros and cons.

Even though I haven't gotten any language lessons per se, as someone studying Korean I definitely enjoy talking with the two Koreans staying with me currently.
1 person has voted this message useful



doviende
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
languagefixatio
Joined 5745 days ago

533 posts - 1245 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Hindi, Swedish, Portuguese

 
 Message 7 of 17
05 July 2010 at 11:37am | IP Logged 
I've hosted many people from couchsurfing, and also from something related called "the warm showers list", which is specifically aimed at bicycle tourists. I've hosted lots of interesting people who passed through my home town of Vancouver, Canada. What sorts of people you get will depend on where you live, naturally. Vancouver gets quite a variety of travelers from all over, so I've met a variety of people.

I haven't yet used couchsurfing while traveling, but I'm currently attempting to use it to find accommodations in Berlin next week, and I'll try to use it in Sweden also. I haven't yet used Pasporta Servo because I didn't feel that my Esperanto was good enough, but after my current week of Esperanto class in Slovakia I'll probably start using that too.

Edited by doviende on 05 July 2010 at 11:38am

1 person has voted this message useful



brian91
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5203 days ago

335 posts - 437 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 8 of 17
05 July 2010 at 11:41am | IP Logged 
Thanks for the replies. Last night I ordered an old Teach Yourself Esperanto book for about £10 on amazon, and I'm
hoping that Esperanto will be the easiest language I've ever had he privilege of learning. :D


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 17 messages over 3 pages: 2 3  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.5000 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.