I want to go to Europe....

Cato, devout fan of Wikikarmel, sent along this tidbit:

...A growing legion of independent young travelers [are] turning to the CouchSurfing Project to stretch their budgets and to ensure that their travel experiences go beyond just ticking off the sights. The free Internet service, founded in 2004, connects travelers with hosts around the world offering floor space, a couch or sometimes an entire bedroom, all for the grand sum of nothing.

The average age of a CouchSurfing member is 25, with more than 44 percent of the site's 173,000-plus members falling between the ages of 18 and 24. Most CouchSurfers hail from Europe, home to more than 75,000 members, with North America's nearly 60,000 members making it the second-most-active CouchSurfing continent.

Sounds kind of sketchy. Yet fun. The Great Wikikarmel isn't much of a risk taker, so I doubt I would ever do something like this (I'm conjuring up images from the movie Hostel (which I've never seen, but I can imagine (I feel like it's probably along the lines of this, which kept me sleeping with the lights on for several days, and was incidentally the last horror movie I've seen))).

Nonetheless, of course this is right up Cato's alley, as he is quite the couch sleeper. And if you live in the New York area, he'll be sleeping on a couch at 24 Joralemon in April. Hopefully this time he doesn't throw up in anyone's slippers.