FAQ

FAQ – Why, where, who, when? What is travel for free?

How do you travel for free?

Life usually costs money, everywhere. But if you can afford to live at home, pay rent, buy your food and clothes, you can also live in many other places, sometimes even for way less money than in your home country. By using budget friendly means of transport you go practically anywhere you want. To travel for free does not mean holidays for free. But if you want to see the world, there is always a way, you just have to find the one, that works for you.

The basic strategy of the nomad lifestyle is simple. Sublet or exchange your home, fly cheap but not too often or travel by bus or train if you can. Stay at one place for longer period of times, rent from locals, eat like the locals. Avoid tourist traps, travel agencies, expensive activities. Stretch your budget by working or volunteering.

There are more than 56K of people in our Facebook travel group that do just that. Feel free to join to share your knowledge or learn from others or find new travel buddies.

Why travel while on a budget?

Traveling is freedom. Budget traveling allows you to visit places you have never seen before. You meet like minded people from all around the world. Ultimately, you learn new skills, a lot of useful things about the world and most importantly, about yourself. That’s why traveling should not be a privilege for those who can afford it, but everybody should be able to see different places.

Especially if you are young, open minded and eager to learn, traveling is the best way to find out what kind of life you want to live and how you want to spend your time. That is why you should travel, regardless of your budget. On this blog we try to offer you a compass to budget travel, based on our first hand experiences we have collected during the last 10 years of traveling on a budget.

Who is writing this blog?

This blog started as a facebook group of friends who traveled around Europe in 2014. Our goal is to share budget and free travel ideas, travel hacks. It looks like budget traveling is a hot topic, since our community have quickly grown into a group of several thousand of travelers from all around the world. As of 2019, Dora and Paul are our main authors and we try to invite guest writers whenever we can.

The biggest inspiration of course, is the input we receive from all the lovely people that share their ideas in our facebook group or here. If you also know about a great travel secret, that you want to write about, please get in touch.

Where can I go?

This is one of our hardest topics and one that will keep us busy for a long time to come. Unfortunately we are living in a time where nations and borders are still a thing. The result is, that people from different places might only be able to discover certain parts of the world. However, if you really want it and work towards your goal, almost everything is possible. And we hope there is a future in where everybody can go anywhere without restriction in whatever way. Until then, we try to help you to explore every part of the globe, that your passport can bring you to.

While a visa for certain countries can be almost impossible to get, there is always another place that is almost just as good or even better. If you are open minded and flexible you will have a great time, no matter where you are, even within the borders of your own country. And with every new place you visit, you will be one step closer to your goal of discovering the world around you.

When and how can I start?

This is entirely up to you! But from our experience it’s almost easier to leave without too many restrictions on yourself. Financial safety is a nice thing, but if you want to life a location independent lifestyle you have to move out of your comfort zone. Preparing everything down to the last detail will only keep you stuck in your old habits. That’s called doing holidays, not traveling.

Get prepared, but at times you are going to have to let destiny drive your way. A more relaxed approach to traveling would safe you tons of time and even money. Traveling and discovering the unknown will make you learn everything you have need to know in no time. Don’t spend months with trying to figure out everything beforehand. Just make sure that you won’t be a liability to others. Stay healthy, be careful with strangers, beware of scammers but develop some trust towards people.

What is the purpose of this blog?

We want to support you to take the first steps in becoming a life long traveler and show you options on how to get around the world and have a great time while spending little or no money. Our main concept is to gather ideas on how to sustain yourself, while you are on the road. We want to help our readers “travel for free”, we find all kinds of ways to achieve a location independent and sustainable lifestyle.

You can either find remote work online, but you don’t have to be a digital nomad by default. There is plenty of opportunities to volunteer abroad or connect with people and projects that need your service at their location. Either way, you will need transportation, accommodation, food and friends, and we hope that we can guide you for a little while.

Useful links for your journey

Shared cars:
www.blablacar.com
www.roadsharing.com
www.carpoolworld.com
www.oszkar.com (HUN)
www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de (GER)
www.fahrgemeinschaft.de (GER)
www.hiphopride.com (AUS)
www.compartir.org (ESP)

Trains:
www.fromatob.com
www.bahn.de

Taxi:
www.taxifarefinder.com
www.uber.com

Accomodation:
www.couchsurfing.com
www.trustroots.org
www.airbnb.com
www.vrbo.com
www.hotwire.com
www.nestpick.com

Housesitting:
www.mindmyhouse.com
www.caretaker.org
www.housesitworld.com
www.trustedhousesitters.com
www.luxuryhousesitting.com
www.housecarers.com
www.gti-home-exchange.com

Work:
www.wwoofinternational.org
www.workaway.info
www.upwork.com
www.worldpackers.com
www.hosteljobs.net
www.farmtraveljobs.com
www.yourtraveljobs.com
www.volunteersbase.com
www.helpx.net (AU & NZ)

Boats:
www.crewseekers.net
www.crewbay.com
www.fairtransport.eu

Be a courier:
www.trackprecious.com/flightclub
www.grabr.io

Travel deals:
www.holidaypirates.com
www.Urlaubspiraten.de

Sue your airline:
www.flightright.com

Proof of onward travel:
www.flyonward.com

Meet other travellers:
www.travel-buddies.com

Airport WiFi passwords:
goo.gl/8voqy9