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Ask HN: Place to sleep in Mountain View
I sold all my possessions except for what fits in my backpack and I've been in the bay area for 5 or 6 days now. I've been sleeping on friends' couches, but I worry that I may soon warm out my welcome.
I've seen hacker spaces, but other than that, are there any super cheap options to get a night's sleep in the area?
- endlessvoid94 16y agoCorrection: I've seen that hacker spaces frown upon hackers sleeping there at night (which is fine). Am I wrong? Or is this correct? Any experience?
- dannyr 16y agoWith HackerDojo, it's not really allowed. You can take naps though.
- carbocation 16y agoHave you considered hostels? I just Googled and it looks like there are some: http://www.google.com/search?q=mountain+view+ca+hostel http://www.google.com/search?q=mountain+view+ca+hostel
- K3G 16y agoThe hostel up near Hidden Villa is pretty nice, and you can often times pick up a ride with some of the volunteers who work there. That and there's some awesome kittens running around right about now.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- seltzered 16y agoI'm bumping up for hostelling. I did it for a few days in Portland this year. As much as I love the couchsurfing concept, if I'm in a town to do work I'd rather pay for a service to let me sleep for cheap than feel compelled to entertain a couchsurfer host. People usually recommended a Hostelling Internatonal hostel as you can usually expect them to be pretty clean and organized, although I haven't tried a non-HI hostel yet to justify this claim. I'm considering working remotely soon, my plan is to hostel somewhere for a week or two at my destination, then hopefully find a good place to stay at for a few months.
- benologist 16y agoI've stayed in loads of hostels in the US and other countries during my travels. The HI ones are generally better in my experience.
- phreeza 16y agoI recommend http://www.couchsurfing.org/ http://www.couchsurfing.org/, a great way to sleep for free and meet people at the same time. Edit: did a quick search and found at least 12 people with a couch to offer. Give it a shot, I travelled eastern europe with this, it was great.
- herdrick 16y agoI think they only accept people who are touring, not those who want to work and settle.
- guinness 16y agoCouchsurfing doesn't really set any guidelines for this, I've had people sleep on my couch who were moving, etc. It is really up to your host so make sure you mention this in the e-mail you send them. You might want to try couch surfing but shouldn't stay at someone's for more than 2-3 days.
- endlessvoid94 16y agoYeah, I've felt pretty guilty about asking friends to host me for more than a night. It gets old for them pretty fast, I guess.
- phreeza 16y agoYea i did just that when I moved to switzerland, surfed several peoples couches while searching for a permanent place to stay.
- samratjp 16y agoThere's a good chance you might find something on http://www.airbnb.com http://www.airbnb.com
- endlessvoid94 16y agogood idea, i've found a bunch of places already. thanks :-)
- samratjp 16y agoI'm glad to help. Just a random tidbit of advice if it helps: do something for your host that they value so much that they won't mind you staying there. One things that comes to mind is cooking. You could easily whip up something decent enough to thank your host when they get home or wake up or whatever. For inspiration and ideas, http://www.startcooking.com http://www.startcooking.com . Besides, I'm sure you could use some good food yourself.
- endlessvoid94 16y agoGood tip. mostly with friends i've been buying them beer, but i guess that's too college-y...
- iamwil 16y agowe've got a place on airbnb, if you're looking for a place in mountain view. http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/11835 http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/11835 That's a stock photo of the living room though. It's just a couch and a coffee table, but a mighty comfy couch.
- endlessvoid94 16y agoCool, thanks. I might take you up on that. I've met Jared a few times actually, we went to the same school. I shall be in touch :-)
- JMiao 16y agohow many nights do you need?
- endlessvoid94 16y agoi'm here for the forseeable future. trying to get a startup off the ground with some other misc. income sources. not yet enough cash flow to afford an apartment :-)
- snissn 16y agogood luck finding a good co-founder with a good enough couch!
- grandalf 16y agoHave you checked Craiglist for "room for rent" ads? Maybe you could find one and negotiate a deal for the short time you'll be around. You might offer to clean the room and take a bunch of good pics of it and post a better CL add when you leave to help them find someone for a longer term.
- wicknicks 16y agoI stayed in Palo Alto Motel 6 when I went to the Bay Area. Pretty decent price and you are right next to Mountain View (2-3 Miles). I think I paid around $50 per night. http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.aspx?num=0041&NOA=&aYr=&aMo=&aDa=&dYr=&dMo=&dDa=&CP=&TA= http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.aspx?num=004...
- zackattack 16y agoCongrats for selling all your possessions. Since I really spend 95% of the time using 5% of my stuff, I think I should do the same.
- dannyr 16y agoIf you need to network, check out HackerDojo. They are at 140 S Whisman. Hit me up when you go, I can introduce you to the regulars there.
- endlessvoid94 16y agothanks alot, i was going to check that out on monday probably.
- rradu 16y agoKnock on Google's door.
- jasonlbaptiste 16y agoHey there, I'm planning on moving back to the bay area soon. If you're looking for a roommate sometime soon, let me know. J@jasonlbaptiste.com
- blahpro 16y agoThere’s a Hacker News group on AirBnB, through which I found a couple of very welcoming hosts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Check out http://www.airbnb.com/groups/hackernews/ http://www.airbnb.com/groups/hackernews/. I also met a lot of really friendly people at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View: http://hackerdojo.pbworks.com/ http://hackerdojo.pbworks.com/. I’d recommend asking them for some advice — everyone I met there was helpful and welcoming. Good luck!
- endlessvoid94 16y agoThanks for all your tips. I'm gonna be heading back to the city until the 17th and then I'll most likely be back down in this area. We COULD have a big meetup...
- mkramlich 16y agoIs this part of some grand plan or did you have a family/financial catastrophe? If it was part of a grand plan, I'd advise you to rethink it, consider other options.
- endlessvoid94 16y agoWell I have no "grand plan", but it has nothing to do with a disaster either. It was simply a decision I made. What makes you say I should consider other options?
- peteforde 16y agoI mean you zero ill-will, sir... but if I read this and saw you walking up my driveway I would sit quietly until I was confident you were long gone. This post has "socially awkward dude that doesn't pick up on increasingly less-subtle hints" written all over it. I'm sure you're a great guy, but you would be well advised to "start with why" on a post like this. What's your story? Why should people care that you need to invade their space?
- endlessvoid94 16y agoPlease understand, I wasn't asking for folks to host me here. I was merely asking if anyone had similar experiences and if they had any advice. I'm doing fine, I'm simply trying to plan out where I'm staying. Thanks for your feedback, though, I guess.
- myprasanna 16y agoI've listed a place on craigslist. Let me know if you are interested: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/sub/1791983605.html http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/sub/1791983605.html (myprasanna at gmail)