Couchsurfing

alenax

Apologies if this has already been posted but I haven't seen it so far.

Couchsurfing is exactly what it is - you visit http://www.couchsurfing.org/, find a host in a country you want to go to, ask them if you're allowed to stay with them for a few days and if they say yes, book your flights!

The things I liked about it are:
It's free - so all you need is to book your Easyjet/Ryanair flights!
It's quite a boho way to travel - you never know where you're going to end up, on literally a couch or in a spare bedroom
The host is most likely a local and they're apparently keen to show you round the city, so you get to see all the bits off the beaten tourist track


Cons:
There are some safety issues though if you read up on the info on the site, it becomes a little clearer why so many people do it
You might have to lower your hygiene standards a little
It might be hard or even impossible to arrange this if you want to travel as a family with kids


I haven't tried this yet myself because I have NO money but I am planning to at some point next year, maybe around my birthday. Has anyone else done this?

jordylass

I've been on that site for quite a while, hosted others and been hosted myself. It works very well and I really enjoy meeting other people. Our local CS group is quite active as well with get togethers of all descriptions happening at least once a week.
You do have to be safety concious, the same as with any travel and read the references carefully, but it's a blast and I've made some very good friends.

alenax

It does sound cool, I'm thinking about touring Europe that way at some point, just have to think about money mainly.