When I was first introduced to Couchsurfing, I found the idea absolutely fascinating. It gives you so much more in comparison to staying at impersonal hotels and taking a sightseeing tour round the town. Couchsurfing allows you to dive into the culture headfirst. It is an exchange: you meet people, they share their stories, you share your story in return.

BOOKS: Fiction: The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy, Animal Farm, 1984, Brave New World, Das Parfum, Cien años de soledad, One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lolita, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, The Master and Margarita, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Stranger, Ulysses, etc., etc. Non-fiction: The Selfish Gene, Freakonomics, The Geography of Bliss, The Flow, The God Delusion, Trick or Treatment, Eating Animals, A Beautiful Mind, Moab is my Washpot, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Chaos, Information, The Paradox of Choice, Language Instinct, Don't Think of an Elephant, Metaphors We Live By. MOVIES: The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, Pulp Fiction, A Clockwork Orange, Fight Club, Inception, 99 Francs, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Number 23, Trainspotting.