Evelina & Rick

I have two couch surfers arriving any minute: Evelina Chen from Indonesia and her travel companion, an American named Rick. They were scheduled to arrive tomorrow night but I got an e-mail message asking me at the last minute if they could arrive tonight instead.

Evelina has had a series of courageous and widespread adventures in various parts of North America, including many of the parks in the American SW and looks like an interesting person to meet, but all of a sudden several red flags are coming up.

If finding a hotel might cost them hundreds of dollars in the peak season, why wouldn't they invest in a couple dollars to call me to confirm it would be OK, and who would be so inconsiderate to ask for such a last minute change without even apologizing for the inconvenience that might cause their host, especially since they'd be arriving in the later evening.

They didn't get my prompt reply to say it would be OK, so they send me a phone message when they knew I'd be at work today asking me to text them at Rick's work phone, which they failed to check. Finally they called me at home an hour or so ago from Burnaby, about half an hour away, but they had to drop someone off. Evelina asked if I go to bed early. I foolishly said by 11:30 or so, instead of 10, so they might not bother to show up until then. I obviously won't have much time to talk to them before bed, before trusting them with the keys to my place. Tomorrow night may be the only chance I get to spend time with them, if they make themselves available.

Hmmm. I hope I won't regret offering accommodation to them. The last couch surfer, an older gay American named Alan Hatch, stood me up without bothering to call or e-mail. I didn't give him a negative reference because, frankly, I was glad he didn't show up. I wasn't in the mood and perhaps the Universe was giving me the space I needed.