Couchsurfing

Beside connecting and staying with friends and friends of friends throughout the trip, I became a member of Couchsurfing.com, a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit. Couchsurfing is a community of over 700,000 people around the world who have voluntarily offerred up their "couch" for the night (or multiple nights) for others in the community to stay (for free).

It is a pretty awesome idea, epitomizing the very idea of hospitality, particularly to strangers. The hope is to internationally network people and places, to create educational exchanges and facilitate cultural understanding. After signing up on the website, you simply create a profile, make your "couch" available (you can also say that you are interested in just grabbing coffee) and email other members to ask if you can stay on their "couch" when you travel. Think Facebook/Myspace meets the travel industry.

Thanks so much to those of you who have emailed me with names/emails of people you know around the world. Always looking for more. It is exciting to connect with your friends and get to know them. Head out one week from today.