Couch network

Hospitality-exchanges may not be a new idea but until recently they were not popular among travellers and tourists.

Enter CouchSurfing (CS) - the latest internet networking phenomenon - and one that, unlike Facebook and other similar applications, actually brings people into each other's living rooms. With more than 1 million members across the globe, countless hosts have been offering couches, airbeds, or just floor space - basically a place for travellers to spend a night at no cost.

Its members say that, apart from saving on hotel costs, CouchSurfing provides an authentic cultural-exchange experience and the chance to participate in the daily life of locals - something not even the best guidebook can provide.

As the CS mission statement puts it: 'CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance, and facilitate cultural understanding.'

Says CouchSurfer Angela Lee: 'In a hotel room, you can't get a sense of what is going on in a country. But ... [if you stay in somebody's] home, you can meet the locals and feel the culture.'

She adds that her busy life as an architecture student doesn't keep her from being part of the community. Even if she cannot host fellow surfers, she tries to meet them and show them around the city.