Games Gadgets n Technology

Read this if you’re planning a holiday and don’t mind sleeping on couches that are on offer for ‘free’...

NEW YORK: Jim Stone, a 29-year-old US citizen, has been travelling non-stop since March of 2004.
He’s travelled in a pickup truck and – at other times – on a motorcycle. He’s trekked through much of the US, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, but he’s slept in a hotel just one night over that stretch of nearly 1,000 days.
That’s because Stone is part of a growing online network of people who’ve gone a step beyond hotels and hostels in their travel planning: They sleep on each others’ couches.
A number of Web sites have sprung up to match travellers with hosts who have a spare couch to offer.
Sites like hospitalityclub.org, couchsurfing.com, globalfreeloaders.com and place2stay.net are often free, serving only as middlemen and offering tips on how to find successful matches.
The sites aren’t money-makers. They’re largely the creations of 20-somethings bitten by wanderlust – and they often depend on volunteers to help manage the Web operations.

THE IDEA

One of the biggest is hospitalityclub.org – a site founded in 2000 by Veit Kuehne, who was then a 22-year-old business student.
Kuehne wanted to use the Internet’s reach to help encourage cultural exchanges through travel. The result was the site that grew from 1,300 members in 2002 to two lakhs by September 2006.
From his home in Germany, Kuehne said hospitalityclub.org funds itself through online ads. “We’re not really soliciting donations yet,” he said.
Kuehne doesn’t get a salary from the site and was living off savings till recently. He plans to spend the winter in India working on the site and benefiting from lower living costs.
Stone however, uses another site, couchsurfing.com, which has over 1,28,700 members – from across the globe.
Couchsurfing.com – launched officially in January 2004 – got its indirect start, when US-native, Casey Fenton, found a cheap airplane ticket to Iceland.
When looking for a place to stay, Fenton chanced upon the student directory of the University of Iceland.
He sent e-mails to about 1,500 students, asking for a place to crash and within a day received dozens of responses. Through staying with a local, Fenton said he was able to see “their” Iceland rather than the tourist’s view.

BUT, IS IT SAFE?

Sites do offer some safeguards to help members: Members can vouch for each other and leave references for someone they’ve stayed with or hosted.
But Web sites warn that they are not liable for any possible dangers that could arise between host and traveller.
“We can’t guarantee what will happen,” couchsurfing.com’s Fenton said. “We’ll do as much as we can to provide data (about the person), but beyond that, there’s not much we can do.”
Lesage, a photographer and a volunteer administrator for couchsurfing.com, said the best way to stay safe is to read closely the information available on members’ profiles. He also sets a general three-day limit for how long people can crash on his couch.
As for Jim Stone, he hasn’t had a permanent address since 2004.
“I haven’t found another lifestyle that I enjoy this much,” he said. AP