Can I Crash on your Couch?

Here is a site for those interested in meeting the locals while traveling on a budget: Couch Surfing where almost 50,000 couches in over 180 countries are available for you to crash on. You can search by country, number of people crashing, verification levels etc. You can also see pictures of potential hosts, read other couch surfers' experiences, browse for travel ideas, chat, become part of a group or watch the informercial. You officially have no excuse for staying home.

Green | Lonely Planet Photo competition

Lonely planet has published winning photos for their December 2005 Thorn Tree Photo Competition. The theme is green and the images are off the beaten path. When a friend of mine initially emailed me about this contest, I thought surely some of the winning images would be from Ireland, also know as the emerald isle. But to my surprise, none of the final photos were taken in the 40-shades-of-green island. The closest we get to Ireland is a photo taken in Cambridge, UK. The majority of the photos have been taken in such places as Vietnam, Dubai, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Senegal and Zanzibar, where green is generally unexpected.