Does it feel like the graduate budget doesn’t offer that extra expendable income with which to travel? Well… it doesn’t in the traditional sense, but while graduate school demands that we develop skills of rigor, perseverance and creativity to push the limits of research; many of those very lessons can be applied to our personal lives to make the most of our precious free time.  I don’t have all of the answers, but I’ve discovered a gem that certainly deserves to be shared, and that is the world of Couchsurfing.com.

Couchsurfing.com is a website that brings together people willing to open up their apartments to a wandering traveler for a few days in the hopes that someone will do the same for them in the future.  It doesn’t mean that you can only stay with people planning to travel to Cambridge in the next few years.  In fact, with a roommate and a stream of Psets, right now might not be the time for you to be the greatest host.  But that’s ok.  There exist options to simply act as a tour guide for a day or just meet up for a coffee and a quick dose of local culture… So if work forces you to stay in Cambridge, a bright-eyed traveler touring campus and grabbing lunch with you might be a great way to get the starry perspective of a tourist and set up connections for the future.

I had my first experience couchsurfing three years ago while I was living in Paris, France.  My roommate and I had a long weekend and a tight budget, so we joined the network of couchsurfers, sent out tons of emails and tentatively reserved two plane tickets: one to Budapest and the other to Lisbon.  Whichever city presented a free place to stay, we decided, would be our weekend destination.  Within hours, our decision was made.  We were headed to Lisbon.  As an added bonus, our host even offered to pick us up at the airport upon arrival.  Giddy and excited a few days later, we packed up our belongings, picked up a guidebook and headed to the airport for our flight.

And then we landed… and the realization stuck us.  What had we gotten ourselves into? Two women traveling alone to a city whose language we were only vaguely familiar with, staying with a complete stranger?  As we skimmed the faces surrounding us at the airport, we decided that we wouldn’t hesitate to deny our identities and scrape together money for a hostel.  We were in a nervous fit of giggles when a smile walked up to us, introduced himself and welcomed us to his beautiful city.  Before we knew it, the tour began.

Miguel, our host, had proudly welcomed over 56 guests to Portugal’s capital city already.  He was a writer of Portuguese sitcoms and while work kept him busy in Lisbon, he loved nothing more than to share his city with adventurous travelers.  He brought us to his home where a small room was set up for us, gave us an extra set of keys, a map of the city and a bus pass to get started.  He had to run off to work, but told us of a local restaurant where he would be meeting friends later.  We were free to join or to discover the city at our leisure.

What followed was an amazing weekend visiting the Castelo de Sao Jorge, a hilltop fortress that used to welcome Vasco de Gama after his long nagivations, the Belém Tower, one of three fortresses built to defend Lisbon in the early sixteenth century, the 25 April Bridge (a near spitting image of San Francisco’s Golden Gate) and a day trip to the national park of Sintra and the beach town of Cascais.  Our wanderings to the touristy sights of Lisbon were sprinkled with outings and dinners with locals.  They taught us where to get the best port wine, picked out the freshest bacalhau (cod), pointed us to local bike rentals and introduced us to the famous pasteis de nata, creamy cinnamon tarts.  We were able to discover in a weekend what many travelers would experience in a week, thanks the experienced guidance of locals who shared the same spirit of traveling that we did.

I have stayed in touch with Miguel and was able to host travelers of my own in my tiny Paris apartment.  Sometimes we would simply meet travelers out for dinner or invite them to a local play.  I found that it was a wonderful way to continue traveling despite the spans of time separating those precious long weekends.

Couchsurfing is based on the idea of a network with ongoing and shifting connections.  One that gives to you in certain times and one to which you’ll contribute when you’re ready.  It’s based on trust and a string of reviews that help guide you towards a city’s best host.  It does require a leap of faith and a sense of adventure, but if we weren’t willing to take chances, I don’t think that any of us would be here at MIT.

(In addition to Couchsurfing.com, there is a group called hospitality club, (www.hospitalityclub.org), based on the same principle of opening arms and couches to travelers.  In certain cities, this group organizes dinners to bring together hosts and travelers and create an even broader network.)