TRavel for free!!

so I just came back from South America and I used all my USD (which wasn't hat much to begin with.) I am eager to continue traveling however I have no money.

I have financial aid bills coming out of my ears and I just want to escape it and travel around a couple countries for a while with little to no money.

Does anyone know a good site to find guaranteed free work or accommodation that can assist me with this? most programs cost a bundle so I am hoping to find out about some new groups or programs I have never heard of before.

Try couchsurfing for accomodation.

i don't wanna get you into any trouble and it depends on your avaluation of the risk. but i've been travelling free for a few months now. this includes doing things like couch-surfing, hitch-hiking and then offering something in trade for letting you stay at their house ie: language lessons, learning to play an instrutment, cleaning, cooking, babysitting. etc... also squatting in abandoned houses/factories, working for accommdation in hostels, guesthouses, farmstays, woofing, right now I'm housesitting for a couple i met in the city while they travel around america for a month...

carrying a small tent around with you is good too, camp in a park or even on the side of the road if you have too. and when conversing with locals about crashing at theirs, suggesting to crash on the lawn in the tent doesn't feel so atrusive. its amazing how many brilliant and hospitable characters are out there. many who have done this in the past and who now feel that their karmic balance must be restored.

i'm going to keep going to see how long i can last with this little challenge, i didn't think it could be done but as long as you put yourself out there and really intune yourself with your instincts, it really comes naturally...

do it!

that sounds courageous and ballsy. I like it. do you know much about the woofing? is it really strict? do you come across these opportunities while you are traveling or do you try to plan it in advanced?

You could try teaching english, 3 months here, 3months there. you can do it in south america.

You arrange WWOOFing in advance. Farmers offering WWOOF need to plan according to the season. When it is harvesting season in summer they might be able and willing to host 4-6 people because they have enough work and you can sleep in a tent outside in the nights. But in winter when there is almost nothing to do and its too cold to sleep in tents they might find it difficult to host one single person.

BTW, a cheap way of travelling is cycle touring. Transport and accomodation are 2 of the big expenses when travelling. Cycling is almost free (you only have to pay for the bicycle once) and with a tent and sleeping bag on your bicycle it is not too difficult to find a spot to camp wild.

Quoting kiwiklou

i don't wanna get you into any trouble and it depends on your avaluation of the risk. but i've been travelling free for a few months now. this includes doing things like couch-surfing, hitch-hiking and then offering something in trade for letting you stay at their house ie: language lessons, learning to play an instrutment, cleaning, cooking, babysitting. etc... also squatting in abandoned houses/factories, working for accommdation in hostels, guesthouses, farmstays, woofing, right now I'm housesitting for a couple i met in the city while they travel around america for a month...

carrying a small tent around with you is good too, camp in a park or even on the side of the road if you have too. and when conversing with locals about crashing at theirs, suggesting to crash on the lawn in the tent doesn't feel so atrusive. its amazing how many brilliant and hospitable characters are out there. many who have done this in the past and who now feel that their karmic balance must be restored.

i'm going to keep going to see how long i can last with this little challenge, i didn't think it could be done but as long as you put yourself out there and really intune yourself with your instincts, it really comes naturally...

do it!

That is very courageous, but i think you are putting your self in danger. Doing these kida stuff in unknown place can be dangerous.

but congrats for doing this courageous thing, only few people can do it and you are one of them.

thanks, yeah I know it seems dangerous but like i said you have to evaluate the risk. I've been travelling non-stop for almost 4 years now and its taken me almost that long to get to this point.

Doing these kida stuff in unknown place can be dangerous.

Isn't going to an unknown place the point?

Hey it def. isn't for everyone but at the end of the day all the bad news the media projects, all the terrible stories you hear about murders or whatever... its the one in a million.... what about the 500 other people that hitch-hiked that same area yet we never hear of those success stories. Your more likely to die in a plane crash getting to your destination. Or get blown up on the subway.

Come on life is short anyway.

Hey, understand the feeling....

'guaranteed' free anything is hard to promise, it sounds like you are looking for a kind of exchange program where food and board is arranged in advance for a long period of time - can't advise you on that, but when i ran out of cash -

i did a lot of hitching, some on the roadside, some on hitching websites, which seemed to work better for long distances.

i woofed a few times - conditions with woofing are largely up to the farm you work on - they can be strict/lenient/helpful/difficult depending where you go. i worked hard at my woof placements but loved it...very satisfying.

workaway.info is another database where you can find work in exchange for food and board, not limited to farming, just anything people need a hand with. Time frames vary.

also did some sailing... put up a profile on a site like findacrew.net and you can pick up some transport round the place in exchange for helping out on the voyage. this is not for everyone i guess but for me it was an awesome experience.

i still did need a bit of cash though... I was making arrangements as i went, about a week ahead. That meant that plans were pretty loose so inevitably there were gaps where you have to sleep in a park, catch a bus, pay for a hostel. Obviously i was also using a fair bit of internet to sort this out, which also costs....but the above helped keep my expenses to a minimum. It was also the most fun i've ever had.

by the way, this was for Europe/UK travel. not sure how it would fly in other parts of the world....

good luck!

This is all great!
I've just joined couchsurfing (have hosted only one couple so far) but they were great! I will continue to host until I pack up the house for travels.
Have just started looking into woofing, a lot of the non-western euro countries have independent organisations that seem more relaxed than the official woofer website, but only time will tell which is better!
I'm a little too scared to hitchhike thanks to too many horror films... but i'm totally keen for roughing it, kiwiklou is my new hero