The term couch surfing (and related forms couch surf, couch surfer, etc) first appeared in 2004 with the launch of website www.CouchSurfing.org, the brainchild of American web consultant, Casey Fenton. Fenton’s inspiration for couch surfing came from the experience of finding a cheap flight from Boston to Iceland, and then randomly emailing about 1,500 Reykjavik students to ask if they’d put him up on their sofas. The result was more than 50 offers of accommodation.

The term couch surfing (and related forms couch surf, couch surfer, etc) first appeared in 2004 with the launch of website www.CouchSurfing.org, the brainchild of American web consultant, Casey Fenton. Fenton’s inspiration for couch surfing came from the experience of finding a cheap flight from Boston to Iceland, and then randomly emailing about 1,500 Reykjavik students to ask if they’d put him up on their sofas. The result was more than 50 offers of accommodation.