I have used couchsurfing.com a couple of times to find a place to stay when traveling, so I'm always glad to be able to help out other travelers. For two nights I hosted a couple of travelers from Canada that were in the area to visit Busch Gardens and check out Tampa. They were dropped off at my place by a friend from Orlando and were waiting for me when I got home from work. So to show them around, we headed towards Ybor with a quick drive through downtown Tampa along with a stop at the University of Tampa.This historic site is one of my favorite places to bring visitors since it really still shows the old grandeur of the area. We spent a little while walking around Plant Hall, the site of the old hotel that was around in the 1920s.
We explored the front lobby area as well as some of the old photographs along the halls and even the auditorium. When heading upstairs to show them the hall of windows, I noticed the door, usually locked, to the upper area of the auditorium was open, so I jumped at the chance to take a look around and enjoyed crawling around a bit at this normally blocked area. This is something I'd been wanting to check out, so I suppose there is good karma after all when helping others.
After finishing the tour we headed to Ybor and had dinner at Jax in the Gameworks complex before walking 7th Avenue and having a couple of drinks at the Green Iguana. I dropped them off at Busch Gardens on my way to work the next day and then at the bus station before heading to work on the following day. 
I am glad to be able to pay back the community a bit since I have gotten a fair amount of benefit from it as well. It is a great way to meet new people and learn a bit more about the world, so if you have an extra bedroom, couch, or even just some floor space, then consider becoming a host to some wanderlust.
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