A new luxury travel craze has been trending around the world, taking the luxury travel world by storm, and its called “glouchsurfing.” This is an update to the previous craze of “glamping,” a portmanteau of the words “glamour” and “camping,” where people would camp in luxury homes. But “glouchsurfing,” i.e. “glamor,” “couchsurfing,” is a new awesome, and more legal way to get your kicks in style!
Couchsurfing has been around for some time, with sites like AirBnB and the Couchsurfing website. Couchsurfing comprises a community of like-minded individuals who open their homes to one another, sometimes swapping, or offering up a bed or couch for a few nights for the traveler on a budget. Typically staying in these accommodations can be random, but basic at best, most times. But the “glouchsurfing” trend hopes to change couchsurfing for the better.
A new community of super-wealthy homeowners is opening up their grand mansions, luxury penthouse apartments, historic chateaux and other pieces of prime real estate around the world — for couchsurfing!
Now if staying in the homes of the rich and famous for free sounds too good to be true, you might be wrong. Billionaire heiress Avril Le Fou opened the door of her opulent Parisian palace on the outskirts of Paris to a blogger just so he could see what glouchsurfing was all about. And talk about amenities! Servants, chauffeurs in Phantom Rolls Royces, a 17th century masquerade, and the most excellent champagne on tap. Can it get any better than that?
So why would a rich person open their home to a stranger and allow them to “glouchsurf” at their property? Often times, loneliness may be a factor. The estates of some of these locations are so grand they can become quite lonely. Another reason is that some owners want to keep bustling staff working while they are away so their skills don’t dull.
So far there is no portal to allow for glouchsurfing for the would-be traveler seeking to stay in opulence at the cost of nothing. Perhaps in the future this trend will catch on further (much like glamping) and bring even higher levels of enthusiasts of the super elite as well as those travelers seeking to dine on the finest wine, live in style for a while, and have a piece of the primed good stuff!
