by Magda D. Healey

Created on: March 30, 2010   Last Updated: January 05, 2011

Imagine arriving in a country you have never been before, where you know nobody, after a fifteen hour flight. You are at a far-out-of-town airport at four a clock in the morning and yet you find a friendly person who came to pick you up, drive you to his home, provide you with a hot drink on arrival, bed, pillows, blankets, use of a bathroom, kitchen, washing machine and all the benefits of local knowledge about places to go and things to see. Hi might even cook you a meal on the first night. All of it completely free of charge.

This is CouchSurfing in action, as experienced by the author and her family as well as countless other travelers. CouchSurfing is an Internet-based hospitality network, where people offer accommodation to travelers for free. This is the essential idea and this is - really - what CouchSurfing is about.  

The whole process is Internet-based and thus there is a website, there is a big, growing and active community around it, there is a multitude of forums and sub-groups for people to interact on, exchange travel tips, advice or just socialize, there are meets and events. But at the core of it all is the fundamental idea of opening your home to strangers that need a roof over their head, with no expectation of payment.

CouchSurfing website makes it possible, in the 21st century, to practice the old virtue of hospitality as it was practised in so called olden days, where a traveler could knock on anybody's door and expect to be put up for the night. CouchSurfing is thus essentially post-modern phenomenon, in the best sense of the word. According to the CouchSurfing website, it is "not about the furniture, not just about finding free accommodations around the world; it's about making connections worldwide. We make the world a better place by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives." And although very gushy and somehow reeking of new-age California, this is actually true.

Set up by a one-time-backpacker and a son of hippie travelers, the CouchSurfing website now boasts over 1.5 million members in over 200 countries, offering close to 900,000 "couches" and reporting over 3 million "positive experiences" (of which in a moment).

The website itself is simple enough, but very usable. It's enough to make it interesting and easy for people to participate in the CouchSurfing without becoming too heavy or turning into a social networking site.

Every member has a profile, on which they can (but don't have to) place their photo(s), a description

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