PRINTCouchsurfing
March 13, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
A blowout vacation can be hard to manage without blowing the bank, and a free place to stay is invaluable when planning a trip on a limited budget. As of March, there are more than 450,000 couches in 224 countries that offer a free place to stay during a vacation.
The CouchSurfing Project is an online community uniting explorers with owners of a spare couch. Surfers save on hotel costs, and hosts meet new people from various cultures without ever leaving their residences. Many members take on both roles, but you don’t have to own a couch in order to surf.
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The concept started when founder Casey Fenton, traveling on a budget, e-mailed more than 1,500 students in Reykjavik, Iceland. He asked if anyone had a spare couch he could occupy. Several students volunteered to show him the city as they knew it, and the idea for the project grew from there.
Anyone can sign up and start couch surfing right away by filling out a profile. As members surf or host, they leave comments about their experiences. Couch surfers increase their trustworthiness by requesting that the site verify their name and address through a credit card company.
CouchSurfing.com also has a section for organizing meetings with other members, so throw a house party and invite the other 93 surfers in Columbia. Of course, if someone really wanted to get away, there is one couch available at the South Pole.
