If your anything like me I love to travel. I have done a bit in the past few years and if I could see the world with little or no cost that would be even better. I love seeing new places, meeting the people and also seeing how others live.

Well the latest trend may make that possible for me and for anyone else who does not mind sleeping on someone else couch.

Couch surfing has been around for along time, but recently seems to be taking off and becoming more and more popular. What is couch surfing you ask, well it is traveling to what ever state or country and sleeping on someones couch. They open their home up for you the traveler and voila free travel across the globe. Plane fare is the only expense and if you try hard enough you can get some pretty good deals on that.

The couch surfing project has more than a million members in 232 different countries. The website makes the world even smaller by first becoming a member and finding that special couch and country you want to visit. It makes it possible to pick your host and also to chat with them before you go. I guess in reality its a new friends connection with benefits.

You might be thinking this is quite easy, but there is an extensive profile to build and also a very extensive interview process before you or your couch is accepted. You are screened for security reasons of course and then maybe you will be accepted. You not only can go spend your free time on someone else couch but you can also offer your own to others on the site.

The couch surfing project was created by Casey Fenton back is 2000 and became a public website in 2004. Fenton came up with the idea after finding a really cheap flight from Boston to Iceland. He asked students of a University there is they would give him accommodations for his trip and received over 50 offers. On his trip home from Iceland Couch surfing was born.

In June 2006 there were many problems with the computer and a lot of the data was lost. He emailed his followers telling them that couch surfing as they had known it was no longer in existence. There was something in the works in Montreal and members vowed to resurrect the site so in July 2006 Couch Surfing was back better than ever.

Couch surfing International is a non profit organization located in the United States of America in the state of New Hampshire. It is also a for charity organization.

Couch surfing goes way beyond finding free places to stay and has nothing to do with the type of furniture you are about to sleep on, but rather it is an organization for everyone to see and learn about the cultures of others. To open your hearts arms and your minds to others. It is also a way to make a difference in the world today allowing you and others from around the world to see the globe in a different light. No it is not for bums bu no means even though for some this is there mentality.

Couch Surfing also holds conferences or so called collectives to gather members from around the globe and talk about ways to make things better for everyone. Their last collective was held in Alaska in 2008.

If your interested in volunteering for this cause you can become an Ambassador on the site, doing administration work and becoming the greeter of new members. You can also join the site and become a member yourself.  I personally have learned a lot about this new trend and plan myself on joining and becoming one of the newest members on the Couch Surfing site. Who knows where this new adventure might take me but one thing is for sure if things work out the way I hope they do I will be traveling the world one piece at a time and spending many hours on someone else furniture learning about them and their culture.

More of mine:

Welcome to The Hotel Hacienda

Under the Falls

Visiting Mount Washington