Hospitality Club hosts in LA: Adam and Eva

After the decision had been made to take this crazy trip I browsed the listing of Hospitality Club members in Los Angeles. I was happy to spot a few familiar names, most notably Adam (HC:levbarg) and Eva (HC:chungyihuah). They had written to HC in 2007 to tell us about their happiness - Adam had hosted Eva (she's from Taiwan) through HC in 2004, they fell in love and got married in 2007.

happy HC couple

While HC of course was never and is not intended to be a dating site, love does happen, and I'm always very happy to hear about HC couples, weddings and babies - in fact some of my most memorable experiences within the HC community were the times I was invited to HC weddings. When you see such happy couples, all the time spent in front of the computer becomes very real and much more worthwhile.

Adam replied to my message within minutes - yes, they were very happy to host me. And after flying halfway around the world it was a great feeling walking up to his kitchen window in LA (he was cooking) and being greeted like an old friend - one of those feelings that makes hospitality exchange so special for many of us.

breakfast table with Adam's home baked bread

Adam and mail-order veggies

Adam and Eva were wonderful hosts - since Eva had to study hard (btw, tuition in the US is even crazier than I thought, and I had no clue students have to pay an insane 6% interest on their loans), I spent most of my time with Adam. He showed me around LA a lot, we went to a free screening of "The Artist", explored the different ethnic neighborhoods of LA (having Thai, Chinese, American, Mexican and Korean food in the process), drove up into the clouds above LA and I even got him hooked onto geocaching.

Adam and Thai food

Adam and Chinese food

Adam and Mexican food

Adam and Eva, Peter, friends, and Korean food

It was great fun getting to see LA through their eyes - I couldn't have wished for a better way to be welcomed to the city. Thank you, guys!