More than 10 years ago Casey Fenton, then in his early 20s, bought a cheap ticket to Iceland for a long weekend. Instead of paying for a hotel, Fenton decided that he would email the more than 1,500 Icelandic students in Reykjavik to ask if he could crash on one of their couches. Several of the students responded and wanted to show Fenton “their” Reykjavik while he stayed with them. After what Fenton described as an “amazing, crazy weekend,” he decided he would never travel as a “tourist” again. Fenton also decided that he wanted others to have the same experience and created CouchSurfing.org.

CouchSurfing.org. connects people around the world that are looking to stay at homes while they travel or host travelers in their homes. But according to the founders, CouchSurfing isn’t just about finding a free place to stay.

“CouchSurfing is not about the furniture, not just about finding free accommodations around the world; it’s about making connections worldwide,” say the founders in their mission statement. “We make the world a better place by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives.”

CouchSurfing.org was registered as a non-profit in 1999, the site launched on Jan 1, 2003.

Wilson Sims, 21, a senior at Auburn University, drove cross-country with a friend this summer and never stayed in a hotel.

Sims saw an ad on Facebook last year for CouchSurfing and signed up.

Sims says he decided to use CouchSurfing for a few reasons.

“The practical side is equally as important as the esthetic side of it,” he says. “One side would be somewhere to sleep that’s free and presumably safe. The other side of CouchSurfing is it’s very social.”

Sims stayed with a variety of people that included a nurse and her sister in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; a cancer researcher and her roommate in Albuquerque, New Mexico; a married couple in Spokane, Wash.; a guy and his five roommates in Southern California; and a girl from Germany in Chico, Calif.

Sims says through his travels he met people who were kinder and more generous than he thought possible. Hosts showed them around town, took them to parties, filled up their gas tank and even prepared meals.

“My buddy and I didn’t have much money, so when people would make us dinner or breakfast ... when you’re eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day, that kind of thing is huge.”

Sims says CouchSurfing is better than staying in a hotel or hostel because real connections are made and he got to experience other people’s lives.

“It was really neat because we had front row seats to people’s authentic lives,” he says. “It might not be what you want to show a guest, but it was honest.”
And it seems the hosts enjoyed the experience as much as Sims.

Anna Vestling, who Sims stayed with in Albuquerque, describes Sims as interesting, relaxed and easygoing.

“He joined my friends and I at a going-away party, and really fit in,” Vestling commented on the site. “He’s a pleasure to meet, if you get the chance!!”
Bridgette Bernier, of Sioux Falls, also enjoyed hosting Sims.

“I had the enjoyable experience of hosting Wilson and his friend Brett,” she says. “While their stay was short, it turned out to be a great night of rich and vibrant conversation.”

Rocky Sanguedolce, 32, of Montgomery, Pa., has been a member of CouchSurfing.org for about eight years. He enjoyed his experiences so much that he decided to become part of the media team.

“I’ve always loved traveling and being around people who traveled,” Sanguedolce says. “Here in central Pennsylvania I wasn’t traveling, I was permanent for a while, and figured what better way to experience traveling than by hosting other people who are traveling in my area. I signed up as a host and now I basically invite absolute strangers into my house.”

Sanguedolce has hosted a range of travelers from a white/Algerian/African/French man who was in his mid 60s to a man from England who picked up a shirt at a thrift store of a local winery in Pennsylvania and decided to visit.

“He decided to fly here and check out the winery and has been involved in hosting and surfing since,” Sanguedolce says.

Sanguedolce has traveled around the world using CouchSurfing to places that include Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Seattle and Florida.

“What really got me into CouchSurfing was that I was traveling through Japan for a while and I was able to meet up with some locals there and they were able to show me things in the area that a regular tourist would never have been able to see - the things that only locals knew about,” he says. “I realized that if you’re going to travel, the best way to experience an area is to have local people who can show you the most interesting things in the area.”

One issue that most people think of when hearing this concept is safety.

“I thought about it, Sims says. “But not near as much as my Mom thought about it.”

CouchSurfing has implemented several precautionary measures for the benefit of its surfers, hosts and community.

Every user is linked to the other users in the system through a network of friend links, references and vouching. There is also a voluntary verification process that checks the member’s identity and address.

Sims says that the peer reviews are a good tool to go by when using CouchSurfing.

“If you can stay somewhere where there’s 60 reviews of a place and every one is great, you feel pretty comfortable that they’re not going to become a serial killer on their 61st guest,” Sims says.

But Sims does add that he wouldn’t feel comfortable with his sister or girlfriend CouchSurfing alone.

“I know it’s a double standard,” he says. “But guys are just built different. I would recommend intelligent CouchSurfing. I would recommend CouchSurfing to guys and perhaps girls in groups.”

The site has over a 99 percent positive experience rating. Sims and Sanguedolce did say that they’ve never felt unsafe CouchSurfing.

“The nice thing about CouchSurfing is that you know more about the people that you’re going to stay with or host than you do about the average person that you walk up to in the street,” Sanguedolce says.

Sims adds that CouchSurfing is also a way to meet new people, whether you stay together or not. There is an option of just having coffee or a drink.

“We talked to a lot of people that when they would move somewhere new the first place that they would go to meet people would be CouchSurfing.com to meet people with similar interests,” he says.

Auburn student Leslie Ann Galati, 21, has yet to participate in CouchSurfing, but signed up because of all of the stories she has heard from friends who have.

“I loved the idea of the site, to allow people to connect all over the world who all share a common love of traveling and meeting new people,” she says. “I just love the idea of connecting people and making the world a little bit smaller.”

Sims says that his CouchSurfing experiences have changed him.

“Admittedly, I had become pretty cynical, which I think is easy to do,” Sims says. “If you watch the news three nights in a row it’s pretty easy to become sure that you should lock yourself in your house. But we had a little bit of faith and we just went and this country was good to us. This network was a real community nation wide.”