I have a friend with whom I like to go travelling on a bicycle. We usually go for a couple of weeks, and we’ve been doing it regularly over the past five years. We’ve cycled in France and England so far. Both countries have many affordable campsites, and there’s always a decent hotel/Airbnb not too far for when it’s raining.

But this year we travelled through Switzerland, which is prohibitively expensive, and somewhat lacking in terms of places to camp. We were aware of Warmshowers and decided to give it a try. It was fantastic, and opened our eyes on what travelling and connecting with people can be like. I don’t think we’ll ever travel like we used to anymore.

We stayed at seven different places over a span of twelve days. The answer rate was above 50%. We even had a choice between several options on some days. Everyone was kind and generous to a fault. Each host offered a room inside their home, apart from once where we put our mattresses down in a carport.

Our hosts obviously all enjoyed bike touring, which immediately creates a bond and topics of conversation. Additionally, they all leaned towards the left politically, cared about sustainability, were open to the world, that sort of thing. It felt like we were meeting the coolest people in the places we visited. There is a certain comfort in meeting like-minded individuals when you travel. Which isn’t to say there weren’t any differences to learn from. We met people with various backgrounds: there was a primary school teacher, a software engineer, an economist turned coffee trader, a ski instructor, an environmental policy expert, a bicycle mechanic who moonlighted as a firefighter.

I highly recommend giving Warmshowers a try. It’s refreshing. In fact, we kept saying to each other that it gave us back some faith in humanity. The relationships we formed felt genuine. Our hosts treated us as equals, and not customers. They didn’t owe us anything. They hosted us because they wanted to. That made all the difference.

The host we met in the Massif de la Chartreuse was an epitomous example. Within a couple of hours of meeting and having lunch together – our host cooked, we brought bread and wine – she left us the keys to her cottage while she spent the night with a friend in a mountain pasture. We had a beautiful home all to ourselves with the sound of the river flowing within earshot.

I know for a fact it’s Airbnb’s aim to comoditize this idea of connecting with people while traveling — my significant other works there. Long story short, it doesn’t work. When you’re paying someone for a bedroom or a cooking class, a commercial relationship is instantly created, and someone owes something to someone else. That is not the right premise to connect with someone. But when there is no money involved, the person with whom you’re interacting doesn’t owe you diddly squat. The social rule becomes that of politeness and kindness. That’s when real human connections happen.

I stumbled on a concept during the trip that appeared relevant. It’s the idea of resonance proposed by Hartmut Rosa. In our modern world, we tend to package things and experiences that make us feel good, so as to reproduce them on demand. This inevitably turns into watered down stuff. Resonance, on the other hand, is about living in the present, treating each event as unique, opening our senses to what is happening in front us. Resonance can be transformive and truly feels like an experience. I’ll stop there because I’m starting to sound cheesy.

By definition resonance can’t be comoditized, marketed, or sold on demand. Great experiences, truly memorable ones, are bound to happen organically. You can’t “book” them. That being said, a fertile ground to foster resonant experiences can be put in place. That’s what Warmshowers did for us. It’s an app where I can meet people who are different, but with whom I share some values. The people I connected with never felt like total strangers, and the relationship was never transactional. It’s as if there was a silent agreement that we see the world through a common lens, that we could trust each other, and help each other out.

I’ll finish this post by linking this article about Komoot being sold to private equity: When We Get Komooted. I think the reason why Warmshowers is a platform that can provide resonant experiences is that it prioritizes genuine human connection over profit making. For most companies like Airbnb – and now Komoot – the top priority is to make money. And I just don’t think money can be involved if you to want to create truly resonant experiences between people.