A recent issue of Good Magazine introduced me to couchsurfing.com

The mission of CouchSurfing.com is to "Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch at a Time". But what exactly does this mean?

Anyone can go on the site, find places to stay, or list their own information so that people can stay with them. Couch Surfing represents an entirely new way to travel. Instead of staying in faceless hotels, or dirty hostels, people are actually able to connect with locals and stay with them. Accomadation is no longer a major expense when traveling to the destination of your choice, leaving you open to spend your money traveling to other exciting places. You will be staying with an expert on your destination that can point you to the really great places to go and things to see.

Additionally, Couch Surfing provides a wonderful opportunity for people from around the world to make real human connections with each other. This opportunity is hard, if not impossible, to be found in the world of package tourism, and this fact alone makes your free place to stay even that much more valuable.