If you thought Facebook was the be-all-end-all of networking, you haven’t couch-surfed yet. I recently met Sam, a graduate student at Tufts University, who introduced me to CouchSurfing, an international non-profit network that connects globe trotters with locals in over 230 countries around the world. If you couch-surf – rather than plain old travel – you get to not worry about finding cheap hotel rooms while meeting some very interesting people. Sam, for example, has been all over Western Europe, including Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands, and thanks to CouchSurfing, he’s picked up many friends along the way. And now, Sam has found a particularly unusual couch to crash on in Lahore.

Much like Facebook, CouchSurfing also employs online profiles. Except in this case, the profiles are exclusively of people who are willing to host international travelers or of adventurous free spirits looking for a couch to crash on in distant lands.

During his travels, Sam found places to stay through CouchSurfing and says 98 per cent of his experiences were great. The network is so well organised – rules need to be followed, profiles are based on references – that you really can’t go wrong. Each profile has positive or negative references based on travelers’ experiences; these help couch-surfers decide whether a couch is worth squatting on and, vice versa, if a traveler is worth hosting.

‘You shouldn’t choose a coucher in a hurry, you need to take time out to read the references properly before deciding,’ advises Sam. ‘The only time I had a bad experience was when I looked a person up in a hurry. Later, he was found with two profiles on the website, which is against the rules, so he was effectively kicked off.’ These kinds of experiences are however far and few between, Sam insists.

‘The way to go about ‘couching’ is by doing a few standard things: be clean, don’t have a mess around the place, bring something for the host from time to time, and take a shower at least once a day,’ says Sam, laughing. At least, that’s what his Pakistani host stated on his CouchSurfing profile – ‘I would like it if you took a shower every day, and if you don’t, I’ll make a suggestion to you to do so.’

Jokes aside, Sam’s experience getting comfy on a couch in Lahore exemplifies the value of a network such as CouchSurfing, which ultimately seeks to foster ‘cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experiences.’ Without hesitation, he describes his experience in Lahore as ‘amazing.’ ‘I had a room which wasn’t anything short of a four star hotel,’ he gushes.

Sam also has nothing but praise for his host’s hospitality and the kind of value-added experience he enjoyed through interactions that could only come about while staying as a guest at a Pakistani family’s home. ‘I played cricket with my host’s kids and cooked a meal for them too,’ says Sam. Instead of reading about Pakistanis or observing them at weddings and other events, Sam believes this was the best way to integrate into Pakistani society.

While it hasn’t caught on locally yet, CouchSurfing seems like a perfect fit for Pakistan’s super hospitable people. The network offers a creative way for people to bond without needing to be formally introduced. And it’s sure to make Pakistan a top destination for globe trotters – after all, an aunty will never actually let you sleep on the couch, she’ll make sure you’re treated like royalty!