Four years ago, if you were visiting another country and hoped to stay in someone’s home for a more authentic cultural experience, you either needed to be in an exchange program, visiting family/friends, or extremely outgoing and personable (and being attractive wouldn’t hurt). As a result, independent travelers routinely stuck to their guidebook recommendations for hostels, pensions, and other assorted cheap lodgings. Travelers were more likely to experience a new city with other travelers from the tourist viewpoint, while interactions with locals were all too easily limited to those in the service industry.

And then CouchSurfing was launched in January 2004, and everything changed. The CouchSurfing Project is a social network unlike any other. Imagine a network of 227,000 people around the world (currently representing 218 countries) willing to open up and share their homes with fellow travelers for free. Now imagine no more, as this network is a reality, and ready for you to join today.

The Philosophy

The grandiose mission of CouchSurfing is to “participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time.” While free accommodations in exotic locales entice new surfers, the relationships and friendships which form as a result are where the true value lies. CouchSurfing capitalizes on people’s almost universal pride in their own culture. Hosting allows people to be tour guides in their own backyard. Eventually the host travels, and has the opportunity to benefit from others in the same way.

Independent travelers often see the best in people, a prerequisite if you are going to open your home to a stranger. And while giving a complete stranger the key (literally) to your kingdom may sound outrageous, to couchsurfers, it represents a bohemian ideal alive and well in our modern world.

Signing Up

Getting started with CouchSurfing is as simple as taking ten minutes to fill out a profile similar to those found on networking and dating sites, except for one unique question, “Do you have a couch available?” The term “couch” is used liberally, as some people have entire spare bedrooms available, while others can only offer a humble space on the floor (your author included). Besides yes and no responses, you also have the option to indicate you’re available for coffee or a drink. If you’re curious about CouchSurfing, though not ready to commit as a host, this option may net visitors (local or foreign) with whom you can meet up casually. Once the basic questions about yourself are answered, write a mission statement, map out your past and future travel destinations, upload a few photos, and you’re done!

The key feature of the web site is the CouchSearch, with which you search for people willing to host you. The interface is easy to use, and allows for progressively narrowing down the geographic area of interest. As to be expected, larger metropolitan areas such as Paris and New York City have a higher density of couches available than more rural locations. Luckily, it’s the big cities where you will save the most money when it comes to accommodations. Once you find someone of interest, you can e-mail them through the web site to begin a dialog.

Web Site Features

Aside from searching for your next place to stay, the CouchSurfing web site has a plethora of information to educate you on the scope and inner workings of the project. The Info page is filled with information about the founders, organization (including an org chart), FAQ, and project statistics. The United States has the highest number of surfers (26%, or 58,387) in a single country, while by region, Europe weighs in at a hefty 45% of the world’s surfers (102,548).

The Community page highlights the large number of people involved in running the project, from translators to tech geeks. Message boards and chat rooms help to facilitate online interaction, while volunteering to become an ambassador or signing up for a work (to advance the project) collective allow for real world meetings to further build the social network.

The Donate page touches on the non-profit nature of the organization (100% donation supported). As you explore the site, you will quickly notice it is completely free of advertising, a factor which greatly improves the user experience.

Regarding safety, the network is self-monitoring. Surfers and hosts have the ability to leave positive or negative references on one and others’ profiles. The more positive references a person accumulates, the more likely others will want to stay with him/her, or allow him/her to stay with them. There is a vouching process which allows more experienced and certifiably trusted users to vouch for less experienced surfers. Lastly, there is an optional 3-tier name and address verification process.

Final Words

Take a break from the hostel scene, and stay with the locals. You may find it hard to travel any other way!

Tomorrow I will share my first experience hosting a couchsurfer.

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Looking to travel in Europe?  Check out great Barcelona hotels while you’re in Spain, or awesome hotels in Rome when you visit the Colosseum.  Don’t forget that if you need a place to stay in Amsterdam there are affordable Amsterdam hotels available.