Travelling is a great experience, especially for life curious Psychologies readers. It broadens your mind, introduces you to exciting cultures and gives you the chance to meet new people, but it is also expensive. Once you’ve paid for a place to stay, food, drink and that real llama wool trinket you have to buy, there’s often little money left to have an adventure.
That’s where Couchsurfing comes in handy. It works like this – open minded people from all around the world sign up, offering a place to stay to cash-strapped travellers. It gives them the chance to meet new people, and provides travellers with a free place to stay, with their very own travel guide. Using this site, I stayed just a few minutes from the beach in Rio in the middle of carnival and was shown all the good spots around the city.
Staying with interesting people from other cultures is an exhilarating experience, and beats grotty hostels. You can also just meet people for a drink, join local community groups, or attend the Couchsurfing gatherings. I’ve now set up my account so I can host people from all over the world to stay in Peckham Rye. International party, anyone?
By Jana Stefanovska
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