"What is ww.couchsurfing.com?!"

On this week's edition of WIB ("When in Budapest" for the casual readers) I will take you on an inside look at the buzz surrounding this underground social treasure. It all started one cold winter day... scratch that, I think it started on a sweaty summer day, when I curled up on my couch (o the irony) with my cat, Anastasia. The point of the story is, I read the book: "The 4-hour Workweek"- one of my top 10 life-changing books. One of the things I took away from the book was when he used couchsurfing.com to prove his point that you don't always need money to achieve your dreams... or at least go on vacation! Basically, this is just another social networking site except, it's not just another social networking site... users have to do the usual sign up, self-proclaimed legend speech, interests, favs as well as denote thier personal philosophy and say exactly what it is you bring to the couchsurfing project. The site is built around creating trust and a true sense of community, "CouchSurfing is not about the furniture, not just about finding free accommodations around the world; it's about making connections worldwide. We make the world a better place by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!" Users are encouraged to get "Verfified" as well as give public feedback and references to other Csers (thats what we call ourselves in the community). The site focuses building connections and comfort - if you want to add a friend, you must answer questions like, how did you meet this person?, how long have you known them?, how well do you know them?, and so forth. Once this information has been included, the application will be sent to the potential friend candidate who will have to approve and accept the above information before you are officially "Cs Friends".

Now after that brief introduction you might still be asking why?! so what! why not facebook, or for the more emo crowd, Myspace? The couchsurfing project was designed to go above and beyond what facebook has created. This site gives you access to a network with tremendous global pull. Once you have built rapport and trust in the community, the people are eager to open their hearts, their minds and their homes. I was able to couchsurf on New Years Eve in Sydney, OZ, when every hotel, hostel, and park bench was booked solid. I have never experienced hospitality like this before. In Sydney I also met up with 40+ Csers for some frisby in the park at one of the regular local meetings, as well as having another Cser in constant phone contact whenever I was lost, hungry or just looking for someone to listen to my lame jokes. Now that I am in Budapest, the boys and I had the night to end all nights at Club Studio (See Mike's earlier post line 4,658 Par:36) I also have another wonderful lady waiting to show us some of her favorite hangouts and eateries.

Next week it is our turn to start giving back to this community, as we have an American Soldier back from Afghanistan on his way to come with us to Prague this weekend, and when we return, 3 lovely ladies from Austria will be calling our living room home. We are stoked to be able to show off our amazing cooking skillz and teach them the three Hungarian phrases that we have mastered. When you step off the beaten path, you sometimes see a new path, and sometimes that new path will have amazing people waiting to share their stories, drinking songs and opinions about who's going to win the stanley cup.

"Do you live for the sake of living, or do you live for the stories"