Every now and then, we open up our home to strangers. But it’s all right — we meet them on the internet first.

Anton, surfer of couches, and the couch on which he surfed

I’m a member of CouchSurfing.com — a global community of people who offer and request a place to sleep while travelling. Now, not a lot of people visit Birmingham for pleasure, but occasionally we get a request for a place to sleep for the night, or just a friendly face to meet up with for a bit of local knowledge.

And it’s reciprocal. If I go and do a bit of travelling, I can always log on to the site, see who’s offering a place to stay in the city I’m heading to, meet some locals, drink their coffee and sleep on their sofa. It works well.

Anton (above) is a kiwi living in London who missed a gig by The Boredoms when they played there, so made the trek up to Brum to catch them here (apparently a great gig). He got in touch through the couch surfing site and came to stay.

Of course, we got talking and it turned out we have significant overlaps of interest.

He used to host a show on Dunedin’s Radio One (the student station there), and his partner runs an online music magazine called Big City Redneck, for which he is a contributor. He’s also a member of the Whisky Society (he recognised my tasting glass, and that took the conversation in yet another direction). We didn’t get the chance to do an impromptu tasting, as I was heading to bed, but the option’s open for next time, and I’m sure we’ll stay in touch in some capacity or other.

But the thing I find most valuable about Couch Surfing is the discovery that people are generally nice, generous and interesting. If you have a comfy sofa, are interested in meeting new and interesting people, and/or want to do a bit of travel on the cheap, it’s a great way to go.