Daniel searching for Daniel celebrating Daniel searching for …
Some travel because they love to travel. Others to visit their friends. Some travel for professional reasons. And one, one travels for another reason: CouchSurfer Daniel Obladi wants to meet as many Daniels as possible and best in bars, restaurants and places with the name Daniel.
Daniel(a)s among Daniel(a): The Crazy Meeting of the Daniel´s in London 2011. Pic: Daniel Obladi
London, Cologne and soon Madrid and Tel Aviv – the meeting of the Daniel´s “around the globe” does not happen by accident but is well organized by Daniel Obladi, so his surname in CouchSurfing, but not in real life.
Three years ago, Daniel O.* met another Daniel in the Marseilles-group of the hospex-platform. Not the first “other” Daniel he ever saw of course, but one who changed his life: “During a CouchSurfing gathering I met my namesake and talked with him about my crazy idea: to create a group dedicated to Daniels on CouchSurfing”, says Daniel, “I confess that he was septic, he told me I was crazy! But after one week we were 50 Daniels in the Daniel´s group!” Now, thanks to another Daniel there are not only Daniels celebrating their name, but also Danielas, Dans, Dannys, Danielos, Danielles… “and their friends”, so Daniel O. At the moment, the group has 554 members, who have not been active for about a year though, so the founder, but adds: “Soon, I will start to motivate the people for our next meeting.”
The first bigger Daniel-meeting took place in London, to be precise, on the 11th of December 2009, the day of Saint Daniel. After a meeting in Cologne 2010, 2011 they met in London again: Two Danielas from London and Macedonia, five Daniels from Berlin, Turkey, Brazil and France conquered the Daniel Gooch Pub in London Camden Town – wearing black Jack Daniels T-Shirts. An idea Daniel O. wants to continue at the next meetings in Madrid and Tel Aviv 2012: This time, the French guy, who by the way not only hosts and surfs with Daniel(a)s when CouchSurfing, wants to get Jack Daniels as official sponsor of the meet ups and bring the “Crazy Meetings of the Daniel´s” to San Francisco and maybe to New York next year.
It´s quite unusual to celebrate your own name, but Daniels do. Pic: Daniel Obladi
There are plenty of ideas for the future: From the location of Daniela restaurant in Rome to the Horchateria Daniel in Valencia to the Italian village of San Daniele. And there is also plenty of Daniel(a)s for upcoming meetings, as the name is among the top 10 names in Europe and America since 2005. The only thing missing are Daniel(a)s who not only celebrate, but also participate in organizing everything with Daniel O.
So, Daniel(a): Are you ready?
The next Daniel Meetings take place July, 28th in Madrid and in September in Tel Aviv. You can participate here: http://www.couchsurfing.org/activity/view/6YHTY0/daniel-s-meeting or
If you believe now that only Daniel has crazy ideas like this, I want to recommend a book by Dave Gorman : He traveled the world searching – and finding – other Dave Gormans. A book, Daniel Obladi knows about but have not read yet….
I have, check it out:
*Please forgive the repetition of words – or rather names – in this blog. But it´s all about Daniel…
