ME and Ophelia

COUCH SURFING
Social networking

Couch Surfing. Catchy name. Wish I'd have thought of it for this blog.

What is Couch Surfing? CouchSurfing.com helps you make connections worldwide. You can use the network to meet people and then go and surf other members couches! When you surf a couch, you are a guest at someone's house. They will provide you with some sort of accommodation, a penthouse apartment, or maybe a back yard to pitch your tent in. Stays can be as short as a cup of coffee, a night or two, or even a few months or more. When you offer your couch, you have complete control of who visits. The possibilities are endless and completely up to you. Find out more ...
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FUN IN THE AIR
Social airline

BackpackersXpress will be the world’s first low-cost, long-haul budget airline.

The flights will offer backpackers a fun flight, with a pub instead of a 1st class department, karaoke, dance-offs, beer and pizza: targeted towards the backpacker’s culture and experience.

In-flight staff will be trained in stimulating interaction between passengers, and young Aboriginal people will brief inbound travellers on indigenous culture.

The first flights of BackpackersXpress (from the UK to Australia) for the summer of 2004 seem to be nearly fully booked.

The company is aiming at the half-million predominantly young budget travellers who flock to Australia from the northern hemisphere every year. Backpackers-Xpress will offer open-ended return tickets from Manchester to Melbourne for $1290 starting in June 2004.

Backpacking generates $2.5 billion every year and is forecast to grow at 40 per cent a year, according to the Millen, the brain behind all this.

Federal Tourism Minister Joe Hockey has compared the economic benefits of one backpacker to 17 tonnes of exported wheat or 77 tonnes of exported coal.

[Source courtesy House of Innovation via Dave Winer]