Everybody knows that the most expensive items on a travel budget are food, displacements, and accommodation. You cannot Travel for free, but in this series of articles, I will suggest some ways you can follow to save on housing expenses, and share with you some first-hand experiences while trying them out during my travel journey around the World. Furthermore, I will try to include some funny Anecdotes to entertain you.
The methods I have experienced so far in finding free housing (or nearly) while traveling are:
- Couchsurfing (which I’ll discuss in a later article)
- Wwoofing
- Work in exchange for accommodation.
In addition, other forms of “bartering“ in exchange for accommodation that I haven’t directly tried are:
- Housesitting
- House Exchange
- Working Au pair at a local family place (this one for younger people).
Go Visit Your Friends!
In addition to the methods above, another fun way of traveling low cost is simply to visit your friends living around the world. Being hosted and led around by a local will give you a more authentic experience about the place you are visiting. In addition to saving on accommodation, thanks to your host, you will often end up visiting places which are more difficult to find, and therefore often hidden from the plain sight of mass tourism. It will also be easier to get to know other locals and understanding the culture of the place. I’ve traveled like this for years and I feel it’s the best advice I can give you. Pick up the phone and call that friend you met while traveling, who lived for a period in your city or moved abroad and organize your trip! With a low-cost flight, even just a weekend could be a very cheap investment, so, why stay at home? Also, be ready to reciprocate the favor. 😉
If you don’t have friends abroad to visit, or if you have already visited them all, the most similar experience to what I just described is definitely Couchsurfing.
Ok, are you ready? Click on the links to read related articles or to visit websites for the quoted organizations. Enjoy Your Travels!
Credits: Cover from Tonny Tran
