Travel House in Tbilisi, more visited than ever before, has successfully ended. Before we dive into finances and statistics, a word or two about what we did on the last days.
Eight travellers organised a hitchhiking race to David Gareji monastery, located in the middle of the desert, to which there's no traffic whatsoever, unless you pay for a taxi. One day race stretched to two days, since the last team arrived to the monastery in the evening, and that everyone had to walk 8 km through the desert. Since there was absolutely nothing in its surrounding, they asked monks if they could sleepover, which they approved, under the condition that girls sleep outside. And to watch out for the wolves. Since splitting was not an option, one of the monks mentioned that there is a semi-abandoned seismological station nearby, where they all spent the night finally. In the morning they walked again 8 km and by evening everyone was back to the house, only starving.
Everyone who was going towards Russia came back to the house temporarily, since there was a landslide on the road to the only border crossing between Russia and Georgia. Three people died, and the road and the border closed for at least a month. After a few days of planning, one part left via Azerbaijan, the other went to search for a ferry from Turkey, and the third decided to travel around, while waiting for the border reopening.
In the centre of Tbilisi, hidden behind sulphur baths, we found a small canyon with a waterfall. We recorded there Georgian polyphonic singing.
House statistics
Unlike the previous years, this time we didn't depend on Couchsurfing. Most visitors came via our website, which they found either using the word of the mouth or by seeing a link on pages like hitchwiki.org.
This year we lacked house staff, so we were looking for travellers weary of the road or stuck, and then we made a deal with them that they can stay longer, under the condition they help with maintaining the house order. Mateusz stayed with us about one month, until he snuck out of the place, leaving a goodbye note. James, cyclist from the UK who lost his credit card and had to wait for it, helped us for about ten days.
Number of visitors: 341
Number of countries: 38
Duration of the project: 2 months
The youngest visitor: 10 months
The oldest visitors: 64 years
Finances:
Donations, after commission deduction:
Indiegogo: 1.112 €
Our website: 1.005 €
In the house: 721 €
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Total collected: 2.838 €
Direct expense of the project:
Rent: 1.065 €
Agency commission: 50 €
Internet: 55 €
Gas bill: 25 €
Power bill: 117 €
Water bill: 21 €
Communal expenses (setting up the apartment, cooking oil, toilet paper, shampoo etc): 190 €
Damage to the apartment (torn sofa, missing keys...): 30 €
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Total direct expense: 1.553 €
Other expense:
Fridge magnets: 111 €
Badges: 46
Patches: 64 €
Postage for sending the gifts: 25 €
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Total other expense: 226 €
Total cost of the project: 1.779 €
On the last day the landlord didn't show up. She wanted to, but had to travel out of Tbilisi. We still owed money for the utilities for whole August, and the sofa was in a poor condition. We agreed about everything on the phone, with the help of Temur. We checked the electricity and gas counters, bargained for the sofa and left the money to Temur.
Where will be the next Travel House?
We've been asked that a lot, but we still don't have an answer. At the beginning of the next year, after we solve some organisational issues (above all lack of staff), we'll have more information.
