Everything I've heard about Couchsurfing has been so positive. My boyfriend who has Couchsurfed a lot inspired me to sign up and experience it for myself, as he explains it, you get a true insight into a culture you're trying to visit, people let you into their homes and their lives. It's much deeper than travel, it's a sharing of human-kindness and experience. I can't wait to become part of it, to see places through the eyes of locals and to share stories!

I was hiking in Switzerland with friends, one friend who shall not be named misplaced the keys to our rented car, only realizing as we got to the car, we had to redo the five-hour hike in increasingly dark and cold conditions looking for the keys. I brought out my inner caveman and started a fire to stop us all from freezing, it goes without saying, we never found the keys, we hiked to the next village (about three hours walk) where there was no one, we spent a cold night in front of a seemingly abandoned hotel, as the sun was rising a man appeared, without a word of English we communicated the situation, after a series of very expensive taxis we unlocked the car and survived the ordeal. Not so much amazing but funny looking back on it!