Imagine waking up a stone's throw away from the Eiffel Tower, with an amazing view of Paris outside your window, and having a friendly local giving you a personalised tour of the best hotspots in town, all for free.
That is what couch-surfing is all about. A relatively new form of travelling, it is gaining popularity around the world, even with a growing community of Maltese.
All it means is that you offer your guest-room, spare bed or couch to someone travelling to your city and, in return, people from all over the world offer theirs to you.
But it's not just about free accommodation or having a familiar face to help you find your way around a new city.
According to Anthony Micallef, a 26-year-old couch-surfer from Malta, "it is about opening your eyes and meeting new people with similar interests, networking, having great conversations and sharing your culture with one another."
Is it safe?
"I've done it about 10 times and I have had nothing but great experiences," he says.
Travelling with a friend and getting to know the person who is going to put you up helps to make things safer but even if you travel alone it is a lot like staying at a hostel dormitory.
Couch-surfing started in 1999 by a non-profit organisation that set up a website to facilitate networking. Users can develop their own profiles and search through the website's database for other couch-surfers.
After selecting the destination you wish to visit, all you have to do is contact the couch-surfers in the area and choose the person you feel you can have most fun with. Factors to consider include similar interests, type of accommodation availability, language compatibility and so on.
Although reciprocation is encouraged, if you do not have your own couch or spare-bed to offer, you will be excused. There are plenty of people on the site who are happy to offer their couch with nothing in return in the spirit of good fun and meeting people.
And if you're not interested in free accommodation but you want to meet people from your destination anyway you can simply meet up for a drink and a laugh instead.
Over Christmas, about 30 couch-surfers from around Malta and abroad met up for a party in Matthew Borg Cardona's Birkirkara home.
"We were all meeting for the first time but it was as if we had known each other for ages! We really got along and had a blast," Mr Micallef said. He says the great thing about couch-surfing is that it is available anywhere in the world as long as there is an internet connection from where someone can put the couch on offer online.
He explains that, more often than not, the experience beats that of a hotel or a hostel.
"Sometimes the locations available are priceless. You can also get a great feel of the place since you are interacting with locals who can give you inside information that you can't even find in the best travel books."
He says there is no age limit for couch-surfing and in many countries it is even popular with families.
"But it's ideal for someone like me because I'm young, single and a keen traveller."
More information can be found from www.couchsurfing.com.