Take a look at these photos. Is there any connection with the title? Justify your ideas and discuss them with your partner.
Have you ever come across the term ‘couchsurfing’? Search the Internet and find explanations. What is its basic concept? Use the prompts below to support your ideas.
Click the items in the list that go along with couchsurfing. Justify.
| luxurious hotels | tight budget |
| adventure seeker | on-line information |
| travel agency | expensive guided tours |
| expensive lodgings | hosts |
| free accommodation | package holidays |
In your notebook, make notes about the basic concept and procedures of couchsurfing. Also add your own opinion on this kind of tourism.
Now, read quickly through the article that follows and complete the sentence below. Exchange your ideas with your partner.
This article is about . . . .
A GREAT WAY TO GAIN LIFELONG EXPERIENCE
Picture an adventure seeker - let’s call him Luke. He decides to escape the tedious everyday work routine to enjoy a stress-free life for a while but. . . (yeah, there’s always a ‘but’) Luke has a tight budget and he’s thinking about where he can cut costs. Transport and accommodation are going to gobble up most of his travel budget, and he’s looking for alternatives.
On his way home from work, he overhears two people on a bus talking about a social travel network that provides accommodation free-of- charge all over the globe. It sounds too good to be true but just in case it isn’t, he decides to check this online. He Googles ‘free accommodation for travelers’ on his smartphone, and ‘CouchSurfing’ is amongst the top five hits. So what do a couch and surfing have in common? Not a lot, except they make up ‘CouchSurfing’ that is now widely used by daring travelers who need to travel on a budget.
CouchSurfing.org is a website that links up travelers who wish to see more of the world from a local perspective. If you sign in and become a member of this global community of travelers, you can find hosts that offer a place to crash for a few days. Some of them might even take the time to show you around their town or involve you in their daily routine. This is an amazing way to get a close-up of the people and country you wish to experience. However, if you don’t have the time or money to go on a trip, yet you still want to make friends with people from around the world, you can sign in as a host and travelers may well show up on your doorstep.