Couchsurfing: A cushion for free

Attention all backpackers and thrifty, thin-walleted travelers out there!  If you're planning on making a trek in the future, there is an online network you need to join: Couchsurfing.  It's a free online forum where members from all over the world offer to let you sleep on their couch--so long as you return the favor when you return to your maison.  

Natalie--a superstar member--hosted people all last semester in San Diego.  We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of German guests, where we made both American and German foods...as well as some iffy instant mashed potatoes from a box.... 

My point is, Couchsurfing is bringing people from all over the world together, all across the globe.  What a beautiful thing.  And what an intimate and simple way to meet interesting people from interesting places.  

Natalie and I stayed with couchsurfers while in Paris, saving us hundreds of dollars on hotel expenses.  Plus, we met Julien, one of the best people ever.  His Parisian sarcasm was on a whole other level from anything I've ever heard, and was bitingly refreshing.  Would we have met an amazing local like Julien had we stayed in a hotel?  Je ne pense pas.