Zak Evans, Couchsurfer from UTAH!

Recently a friend of mine turned me on to a site called couchsurfing.com. The basic idea here is that you register your couch or spare bedroom as a place that fellow travelers can ‘crash’ when they are in your town. You register on the site and can immediately start searching for places to surf. To increase your chances of being accepted as a traveler you need to get verified (a painless one time procedure).

I used couchsurfing.com to arrange a place to stay in Indy on a recent trip. I located a place for the two nights I was going to be there, found a person to host us in a spare bedroom and was all set. At the last minute my stepfather decided to go on the trip as well and he got a hotel room instead and we all stayed there.

Last week I received a request for someone to surf my couch on Friday and Saturday in Des Moines. It was a 21 year old guy who is traveling all 50 states. He is about 6 weeks and 17 states into it at this point. He stayed Friday and Saturday and it was a blast. I learned so much more about couchsurfing, and he had a great time partyiing in Des Moines until 4am!

My plan is to do a bunch more couchsurfing this summer. It is very affordable (read –free–). Meeting new people and seeing a city through the eyes of a local is a great way to travel.

LINK TO PICTURES FROM THIS GREAT WEEKEND

Mark