How To Become a Professional Couch Surfer

What does one do when they get the itch to travel, but can’t even scrape together a shoe string budget? Couch surf. No, I’m not talking about being a bum and sleeping on your best friends couch for a few weeks. I’m talking about finding fellow travelers around the world who are willing to share their hospitality with cheap foreigners.

CouchSurfing.com is a website that embodies what every vagabond loves most, a free place to stay. I always knew you could find hotels, cars, and planes while sitting in your underwear, but who knew you could find couches to sleep on across seas too? ( Do they have that on Travelocity?)

At CouchSurfing.com you can look up like minded travelers who live in or around the cities you will be wandering through. Find people who are willing to share their couches, a drink or two, and maybe even show you around. I know what you’re thinking, it sounds like a bad news story waiting to happen, “American Girl Last Seen on Strangers Couch.”

Before you get all, “that girl in Aruba” on me, hear this; CouchSurfing.com does as much as they can to make their website as safe as possible. They try to verify as much information as possible on their members. For example, one can enter credit card information in order to verify their name, or verify an address via post. Other CouchSurfing.com members can leave comments to vouch for the legitimacy of fellow surfers.

While I’m a veteran couch surfer, I haven’t taken advantage of CouchSurfing.com before, but only from lack of knowing it existed. I plan on trying it out this summer on my next trip to Costa Rica. (Hopefully you won’t be reading about me in the news.)