Couch surfing

Let's say you're traveling on a shoestring to Glasgow, Tokyo, or Dakar and discover your shoestring has snapped. You don't have enough cash for a hostel bunk, let alone a hotel room.

Enter The CouchSurfing Project, an Internet community that connects adventuresome voyagers with spare futons and inflatable mattresses around the globe--entirely for free.

The brainstorm came to cofounder Casey Fenton, 27, a Conway, N.H.-born computer programmer who once crashed with Icelandic students he'd met via e-mail. Vowing to connect with locals whenever he traveled, and to bring that experience to the masses, Fenton collaborated with business strategist and Brookline native Daniel Hoffer, also 27. The two met in 1997 when Hoffer hired Fenton to work for his software consulting firm, which was headquartered in his Harvard dorm room. They launched the nonprofit website CouchSurfing.com last year.

At last count, the website had 20,371 users from 147 countries, and claims some 6,250 friendships and 5,200 "successful surfings." The way it works is a bit like a university's student union ride board--just insert "couch" for "ride needed" and throw in a worldwide web of users. "Surfers" peruse the database of available hosts (searching by location, language, age, gender, and other criteria), e-mails are exchanged, and plans are made. Stays can be as brief as a cup of coffee or a few nights. Testimonials by past surfers and a system that allows new members to verify their name and address via a credit card payment help allay fears about safety.

Hoffer, who is attending Columbia Business School this fall, says this "beds without borders" scheme is intended to foster meaningful cultural exchange. "We are an organization of idealists," says Hoffer. "In times like these, we believe that couch-surfing is more important than ever."