Liquid Library

In the age of the Internet, people bumming a night on your couch are no longer considered deadbeats, but rather active travelers and honored guests.

There is a movement called Couch Surfing, which is largely supported by the Web site www.couchsurfing.com. People worldwide are making connections with complete strangers and loaning them the living room sofa.

Whether they come from Ecuador, Italy, Belgium, Canada, Alabama or San Diego, there seems to be a common trend: All couch surfers and hosts have a passion for traveling.

“People want to open up their homes to you and open up their heart,” said Crystal Murphy, 24, a media correspondent for the non-profit organization. She got involved when a friend of a friend needed a place to sleep.

“I had this amazing time, so I joined the site,” Murphy said. “A gentleman stayed with me; (he) said, ‘Watch out, it’s addictive.'”

For Murphy it was. The University of Alabama at Birmingham public relations major began attending local events and then hosting her own.

Eventually, people from the Web site asked her if she wanted to be a CouchSurfing Ambassador. The organization claims to make all its money from donations, which is why it relies on volunteers such as Murphy.

She still enjoys the local potlucks, but she’s also surfed in other states, including New York City, as well as Canada, and she’s now looking into traveling overseas.

“Our biggest thing is that it’s more than a free couch to sleep on,” Murphy said. “It’s a global experience. How many people do you know that live in Thailand? I know 20 people that live in Thailand.”

San Diego State nursing senior Andrea Humphrey also enjoys the site for the global experience. Humphrey is already a veteran traveler, but she’s using the site to enhance her experience. She heard about it from a Canadian girl while traveling.

“I went home that night and made a profile,” Humphrey said. “And I didn’t use it for, like, six months. No one had requested for anyone to come to my house because I didn’t have any references.”

But when the nursing major was in Ecuador at a medical conference, she began to use her profile. Humphrey met other travelers who told her about Maricio Quito. Quito lives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and had about 15 people staying at his house every week.

These new references helped her meet new people. When she got back to the United States, she wanted to be a host.

“In Europe, people just took me into their houses and it was pseudo-couchsurfing,” Humphrey said. “I need to give back somehow for people who were taking care of me in their country. These women in Columbia took me around for three days and housed me and gave me food and told me where to go.”

Now that she’s back in San Diego, she does the same thing.

“When I came back, I started taking couchsurfers because then I had references and people started asking to come here,” she said. “The first one was a girl from Florida who was road-tripping. Next was the Italians, then the Belgians.”

As Humphrey answered questions, Quito was staying on her couch.

“I try to show them the highlights,” she said. “If they’re only here for a couple days, it’s so much better to have a host to tell you what to do,” she said.

Humphrey generally meets her hosts or guests in a public place before bringing them to her apartment.

Murphy and Humphrey said there is no pressure to open your house to anyone, especially if the meeting is uncomfortable. Of the various verification systems that are described on the site, looking at references seems to be the best way of finding out about a potential problem.

Humphrey once read a bad reference about a man who had requested her couch. She simply told him she was busy that weekend.

Both Murphy and Humphrey said they have only had positive experiences.

Humphrey showed off a photo of her, her sister and a Canadian man smiling with their arms over each other’s shoulders.

“What this guy said that was really interesting, is that (the system) is especially important in North America because everyone is afraid of each other,” she said. “But we just need to open up our doors to other people.”