how do you reciprocate for staying at a cyclist house.

A couple offered once to pay something and I told them to send Roger something for maintaining the site, when they got home.

I've only just joined this site but have hosted through hospitality club, so thought I'd like to comment. As a host I expect nothing except good company and a little conversation to learn about different people, places & lifestyles. As a guest I would feel rude if I turned up with nothing. I'm not a cyclist so the issue of luggage space is different for me. I ask all my guests to sign my guest book (the old fashioned paper type). One couple who stayed recently and introduced me to this site not only left a lovely comment but attached a small photo of themselves that they must have had with them. Now whenever I look through my guest book I remember not only what fun they were, but also what they looked like. This is a great idea and something that wouldn't take up too much valuable space.

I don't have experience yet with hosting/being hosted as a cyclist. However, I have been traveling all over the world as a backpacker and have been taken in many times by locals who took pity on me. (Or were just interested in meeting a foreigner.) I find food is a very good reciprocal gift. Especially in 3rd World Countries, I would feel bad to eat the little food people have. So, what I usually do is take the host to the (super)market, buy something special they couldn't afford and then enjoy it with them over a good conversation.
Follow-up postcards are always a good idea as well. And I always carry booklets of postcards from beautiful Switzerland to write a thank you note on and leave behind. I also tend to buy/give away books.
By the way, if you stay with us in Perth, don't worry, we don't want anything in return. ;)

As a new member and an avid cyclist, I would not want anything in return for what I have to offer. What is given is given from the heart without any desire for anything in return. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to feel obligated to me for anything.
Should any of you find yourself in Grass Valley, CA., I'd hope you'd stop in, make yourself at home... and enjoy a little comfort at the end of your day. It's an open door.

Steve.

Well, considering that I'm on a trip right now, and am staying at Carlos Ferrandis and Nara, WONDERFUL hosts, and fellow cycle adventurers, here's what I've done for them and for everyone else in my trip.

I ALWAYS buy food, and offer to cook for the hosts. I've done this all across South America, because for starters, I am vegetarian, and non alcoholic, and I don't like to buy alcohol for other people, due to conflicts of my internal principles. So, What I always do is offer to cook dinner, and it's always an exotic dish, since I have a lot of non american friends who taught me to cook. Couple of examples I've cooked are: Indian chick pea curry, polari, an indian deep fried dish, a vietnamese drink, vegetarian sushi, vietnamese vegetarian stir fry, philadelphia vegetarian cheese steak, chinese steam buns, hummus and toasted arabic bread, tempura, and yaki soba. By the way, I always buy the ingredients unless the hosts demand that they pay for it. And even then I still offer to buy the ingredients. It's my personal pleasure and joy to cook good, vegetarian, fine cuisine for other people!

Other things I've done to return the favor: Taught english and personal business development classes, time management, project planning, goal setting, and in one special case, I stayed in Maringa for 3 weeks with a guy, non warm showers related, where I trained him in how to pick up women. Yeah, I spent way too much time studying that stuff when I was a student back in 1999. He was very very very happy with his new found confidence before I left. :-D

So, I would advise that you take a personal inventory of your skills and capabilities, and things that you do for pleasure at home for your friends and family, or in your profession or trade, and offer them in exchange for the hospitality. Give it with all your heart, and appreciate the fact that in this cold world, a few people out there are able to see through the veil of false fear to open their hearts to you.

We would never ask for anything except perhaps a bottle of wine to have with dinner would be much appreciated. However, the one cyclist we have hosted gave us both a pair of cycling socks from her local group which we wear frequently - although they are bright orange! - so we remember her every time we put them on. What a great idea.

I agree with previous post. I figure I have offered up help, it seems cheezy to then turn around and ask them for money. On the other hand, I was thinking of something my Dad told me when as a young guy I was hitchhiking around the country. Dad suggested that when staying at someone's home, you step out and take a walk up to the nearest grocery store and buy a few groceries that you know everyone likes, does not have to be much, any effort speaks volumes. I took his advice and just bought a few simple things I knew all would enjoy, some oranges or fruit, bottle of milk or juice, or if host had told me what was for dinner, something that might compliment the meal. I think of this as being similar to the types of things you might bring when going to a friends for dinner, maybe a bottle of wine or bread. In my experience the hosts always seemed to appreciate any small effort along those lines.

We love to host other cyclists, and certainly would never expect them to give us anything, monetary or otherwise. Being one big world-wide family is a great feeling! Of course if you sense that your visit is a financial hardship, by all means try to ease that by offering to buy food (or whatever).

When we stay with others on the WSL, we make a point of always sending a postcard (yes, an old-fashioned postcard) later in the trip to reiterate our thanks. One or more follow-up emails or sharing trip journals or photos is also something we try to do. Many of our hosts have maintained a special place in our hearts, and still get the occasional card or letter years later. We love staying in touch with them and hearing back, and hoping they will visit us someday and let us reciprocate their hospitality.

I am always extremely disappointed when we host someone (and we generally try to go all out), and then never hear from them again. How hard is it to drop an email later in the trip or after getting home, so we know you got home safely? This seems to us to be a simple courtesy that many cyclists forget after they leave and get busy with other things. I would say about 1/3 of the visitors ride down the driveway and we never hear from them again...so sad.

Evaluate the host's situation and use common sense! Ask what you can do to thank them, and if nothing is suggested, send a thank you note with a picture of yourself on the road.

I find a little garden work is the best "thank you" : it doesn't go stale, it's not alcoholic or fattening, it's always appreciated and it's easy to do. Plus ,it's a good counter-exercise after sitting on your bike for days !

Of course, I am assuming you ASK the host what they would like done BEFORE you start work.

As host I expect nothing in return, just good guest manners and a THANK YOU.

As a touring cyclist I offer to pay and let the host decide then I follow up with a thank you picture, postcard or e-mail.

Well, the answer that I've read to this post are tipical of people from rich countries, where have food is not a big deal and it is far from being a chalenge. But I have to desagree with the idea that leave money is a kind of insult especially in some houses that we had been hosted in South America where the food that this people ate in the day of our arrival was the food that we provided them. I remember that in may of 2004 we pintch our tent in the garden of a very poor family in Puerto Iguazu - Argentina, they did have bath neither electricity to offer, and my wife and me planed to have a bath with our ortlieb sac after the sun set when everything was in the dark. After that I cook as I was used to do, and when I served the meal my wife started to cry because our hosts were hid inside the poor house. I asked Nara, why are you crying, because they don't have anything was the answer.
So I think that especially in poor areas we have to be smart and figure out how could we help. There is no formula for this question.

un abrazo

Carlos Ferrandis almost in the road again.

As more often a guest than a host, I often have in my panniers a few, fun little toys (such as those balsa wood or styrofoam planes) if my host has children. Monetary compensation surely is not part of the spirit of WSL. Being part of one big family is.

Josh Pfiester

It's not saying that we should be stingy or ungrateful, but I think leaving money would be like an insult to the host, since hospitality is the idea of WSL, nor do I think one should expect the guest(s) would pay them or bring something alone. But it's not saying that the guest(s) shouldn't bring anything.

Bring *yourself*. You, your adventures and your stories are plenty of reward for some hospitality. I like to take visitors out for pizza when they come by, just so we can have some time to visit and hear about life on tour. For some of us who host, traveling is more of a dream than a reality; I may not presently have the time to hit the road myself, but I can share the experience through the stories of visitors.

MGF

We have had several long distance cyclists come and stay with us. In all cases, we didn't expect nor would we accept any type of reciporcation. My family simply enjoys talking with, eating dinner with, and listening to the stories of fellow travelers on two wheels.

We usually try to bring some food or a beer or something. It does seem like you should do something. But as hosts we don't care - we're just happy to meet a new friend. -Randy