Couch Surfing Goes Mainstream

It’s long been said that when you travel, the best way to get to know a new place is to meet the people who live there. And, while it’s not always possible, perhaps the best way to know the locals is to live among them, maybe spend a night or two on their couch. That’s the idea, at least, behind CouchSurfing.org, where you stay in someone’s home free of charge. It’s not the first website to tout the idea, but it is perhaps the most successful site that caters to the burgeoning couch surfing subculture. Patricia Marx  wrote about couch surfing for The New Yorker. Valerie  is a couch surfer from Chicago.