Right now, Philipp Haemmerle is most likely on a bike, pedaling his way to New York City. The Ketchum-based ski instructor started his journey in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 8 and is creeping across the country 60 miles at a time.

One thing he doesn't have to worry about: where he will sleep.

He didn't reserve hotels months in advance. Instead, he logged onto couchsurfing.com, a site where users offer their couches and spare beds at no cost to strangers who are traveling through their towns.

The global Couch Surfing network has users on every continent and in almost every country. It's the same premise that created cheap-lodging networks for Mennonites or Esperanto speakers: hospitality to strangers, plus the stimulation of travel and travelers.

Need a place to crash in Namur, Belgium?Ninety-five couch surfers are ready to greet you. How about Antananarivo, Madagascar?Take your pick of 28 potential hosts.New York City has 2,821, Washington, D.C., has 923, and even little Almo has one - among the 301 surfers in Idaho.

Haemmerle, an Austrian native, said his cycling trip would have been wildly different without Couch Surfing. On Monday night, for example, he stayed in Illinois with a group of people who happened to be skydiving instructors.

So on Tuesday, he took a break from biking and went skydiving for the first time in his life.

"I've been wanting to do it forever," Haemmerle said by telephone. "I thought, 'How could you leave this place and not do it?' It was just perfect."

Twin Falls couple Danielle and Jake Migler registered for the site a month ago, thinking they could take advantage of it when they visited their families in the Midwest. Within 24 hours, they got their first request.

"I really thought - no offense to Twin Falls, 'cause we just moved here - but who was going to come to Twin Falls?" Danielle Migler said.

But they welcomed their first guests, a pair of cyclists who were raising money for the American Cancer Society, into their home. Jake Migler tuned up their bikes while Danielle cooked them dinner. No money changed hands.

"They were really nice people,"she said. "They were about our age, so it was perfect."

Lyndal Mezes of Jerome has had Couch Surfers from Kuwait, Germany and all over the U.S. She signed up a year ago and used the network to find free lodging while traveling in Hungary. Even before she signed up for Couch Surfing, she would stay at the homes of strangers she met while traveling. She recently stayed with people in Jordan whom she met while sharing a hookah in a shop.

"To be able to stay with someone, you really get to feel the place a bit more," Mezes said.

Couch Surfers post profiles describing themselves and their homes. Hosts can classify their couches as definitely available, sometimes available or not available if they just want to meet travelers for coffee. Visitors to the site can search for homes based on location and criteria, including how many people they can host and what languages the hosts speak. People can leave feedback for their hosts and guests, which helps weed out any bad apples.

Those profiles helped Jeremy SasserCollins pick hosts who wouldn't mind children. The Twin Falls dad took his 5-year-old daughter, Alissa, to the Ron Paul Rally for the Republic in Minnesota in early September and stayed at two Couch Surfers' houses. One of his hosts taught him how to make pita bread and homemade pizza while his daughter played with the kids. Another host in Minneapolis had experience with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Not only did the arrangement give him insight into how other people live, SasserCollins said, but it made his trip possible financially.

"Idon't think that we could have afforded the trip had it not been for Couch Surfing,"SasserCollins said.

But the Internet can lie. What if someone seems friendly on his profile, but is rude and smelly when he arrives on your doorstep?Even worse, what if people with bad intentions lure travelers into their homes?

It didn't concern any of these Idaho surfers. Faith in people and in God reassures the Miglers that they'll be safe with strangers in their house.

"I guess what we really think is Jesus didn't play it safe,"Danielle Migler said. "He wasn't concerned about safety and we figure if we're supposed to be taking care of people, it's not something we should worry about."

SasserCollins hasn't had safety issues, either - only one inconsiderate guest. The surfer called at the last minute to change his arrival time from 8 to 10:30 p.m., then didn't show up until almost 11. While there are no written rules of etiquette on the site, the late arrival struck SasserCollins as strange. It didn't sour the CouchSurfing experience, though.

"It taught me how to be a better guest," he said.

Melissa Davlin may be reached at 208-735-3234 or melissa.davlin@lee.net.

Cheaper than a hostel The Couch Surfing Project: The king of free lodging. Users from all over the world log onto this site, launched in 2004, to offer their homes or search for places to stay. Tens of thousands of users socialize on message boards and in groups, where they share their knowledge and travel tips. The site is like a global hostel - without the weird bunkmates and dirty bathrooms. Information:couchsurfing.com. Mennonite Your Way:The original Couch Surfing project, Mennonite Your Way is a network for Mennonites and like-minded Christians to provide safe lodging for travelers, for a suggested donation of $10 per adult. Members pay for a paper directory. Information:mennoniteyourway.com. Esperanto:Another free travel program with a few more than 1,000 hosts worldwide, but more established and tight-knit than Couch Surfing. The catch?You have to speak Esperanto, a language made up in 1887 meant to be a common international tongue to encourage global communication. Information: esperanto-usa.org.