Selective welcomes

Media Focus (see page 21) casts some doubt over Ireland's reputation as the figurative “land of a thousand welcomes”, but 2,249 welcomes are posted on the website couchsurfing.com. Members of the website agree to offer their couch to one another should they be visiting another member's country.

At the time of writing, 544,562 couch surfers had signed up, representing 41,017 cities in 200 countries and states. Members post a photo along with some terribly tired personal information – life mission, philosophies, how well travelled they are, etc. Members can search for people who definitely have a couch, who might have a couch (depending on who's asking), or who are willing to meet up for coffee or a drink.

The website links the search results with a Google map but it's a useless feature because it doesn't show the precise location of couches – how central one Dublin couch is versus another cannot be seen. Testimonials are posted to the site on the experiences visitors had with fellow members. The Irish membership is predominantly male, and one suspects they hope to attract unwitting travellers to their romantic clutches. Log on – you might even find someone you know.