1. Free housing with the Worldpacker program
To be honest, don’t be happy right away: yes, you won’t have to pay money for housing, but you will have to spend your time. Indeed, it is a great platform where you can find volunteer activities in as many as 140 countries around the world. Everything is very simple: you go to the page and register. True, registration is paid. The one-time fee depends on which plan you choose: the cheapest costs 49 euros and is valid for a year, the most expensive costs 129 euros for a year. When you register, you choose the country and program in which you want to volunteer. The offers are very diverse: agriculture, hotel business, educational activities, construction assistance, holistic activities, etc. The duration of volunteer work is also very diverse: some offers indicate the minimum desired period, which is sometimes as long as a month, in others you can volunteer for as little as one week . The description also includes the conditions under which the volunteer will live: they will be given a room in a hotel or a place in a campsite, it is indicated what food is provided, how many hours will be required to work. Most of the time, the hours are really not like a regular job: you can find where as little as 16 hours a week is required.
So if you have a limited budget for your trip, you might find an acceptable option here.
2. Couch Travelers or Couchsurfing
This is another way to stay in a foreign country for free. You won’t have to work this time. It is true that registration is paid: 2.89 euros per month or 14.50 euros per year. The app used to be free, but during the pandemic, its developers decided to charge for membership. How does it work? You register, choose the country where you are looking for housing and contact the owner. It’s true, you shouldn’t expect super luxurious accommodation here, it’s called sofa travelers for nothing, so you have to be prepared to sleep on the sofa, but if you’re not going to stay for a week, one or two nights on the sofa might not be so bad.
Another question that is undoubtedly on many minds is is it safe? Although you can read reviews, nothing can guarantee 100 percent safety, so it’s better to let your loved ones know where you’re going and where you’re staying. There are many stories on the Internet where such stays did not end quite as expected. Here’s a guy online sharing his story of staying with a… nudist in Paris. Another person shared his story of taking in a girl who turned out not to be a tourist but just running away from her crazy lover.
However, as many say, this way of staying is not to save money (you can always offer a certain amount to your host), but to get to know the local culture.
3. Pet care for housing
Another way to spend nothing (or almost nothing) is to agree to take care of animals in exchange for housing. This idea works like this: the owners go on vacation but have a pet. He has no one to leave him, so he offers housing in exchange for taking care of the animal. True, this method requires a bit more mutual trust, so the traveler will need to register on reliable platforms, because no one wants to entrust their pet to a complete stranger. Trusted house sitters is one such platform. You will have to pay for registration there. Membership costs from 10 to 20 euros per month, depending on which plan1 you choose. After examining the page, there are really great options: Spain, Miami, Holland, England. True, entering Lithuania in the search box did not throw up anything. It seems that Lithuanians do not yet dare to trust their pets to strangers.
This method is somewhat different from the sofa traveler, because you are changing accommodation, that is, someone comes to you, and you go to someone else at the time. The most popular platform for finding such housing is Home Exchange. Registration here already costs a lot of money: 220 dollars per year. If you look at the page for some accommodations, you can find a “price” per night, but don’t panic, because the “currency” used here is guest points that you get when you host someone, then you can use those points to stay yourself. This method was invented if you take someone to your place, but you don’t want to stay with those people (maybe the place, date or something else is not suitable), so you get “guest points” from them. After registering on the website, you immediately receive 500 guest points. Granted, that’s not a lot, since most ads ask for around 200 points per night, so apparently you’ll have to host someone first to pay nothing for housing.
What is it? Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms – international opportunities in organic farms. If farming is close to your heart, why not give it a try? You choose a country and travel to the owner, you will help him in his daily farm work, and in return you will get free housing. Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Brazil… travel wherever you want. It is true that three offers in Lithuania can be found on this website. Unlike other websites, registration on this one is free.
Tags: Incredible Ways Travel Paying Penny Accommodation Beachfront Villas Exotic Countries
