Travel blog featuring best travel sites, travel deals, travel guides, effective travel tips, daily stories with up-to-date travel information, travel pictures, travel webcams. For more, visit my travel portal, www.johnnyjet.com.

Monday, January 21, 2008

WEBSITE OF THE DAY: CouchSurfing.com

CouchSurfing.com Are you sick and tired of paying huge hotel bills? It’s especially bothersome when you’re a solo traveler and you don’t take up that much room. Well then, listen up -- CouchSurfing.com might become your favorite travel website (besides JohnnyJet.com, of course!). CouchSurfing is a non-profit organization dedicated to a global community of over 400,000 members. The site was developed so that everyone can travel the world and partake in cultural exchanges for free, by providing access to couches across the globe that you can crash on. The one thing that troubles me about the site is this fact that it states: “We have 223 unique countries represented (including Antarctica)”. Umm ... not so. The fact is, according the UN, there are only 193 countries in the world so some of their “destinations” must be insane in the membrane! All kidding aside, CouchSurfer users can pick and choose whom they want to host or meet. And they have a verification system implemented for safety. To host members, someone has to vouch for you and you can only be vouched for by someone who’s already a CouchSurfing.com member. Essentially, it’s a trust circle.