Looking for advice on things like WWOOFing, helpexchange.net, and so on.
Hi everyone,
I am trying to plan a trip for my boyfriend and I with limited money. Here are (some of) my questions:
Where is the best place(region) to go to get the most value for your money? I would love to see Europe but think its out of my budget. Central America is also high on my list.
Does anyone know of any cheap or free volunteer type situations where room and board are free?
Has anyone done wwoofing or helpexchange.net?
Thanks!
Heather
Reply to this Hello heather,
After almost a year of travelling around the world with my boyfriend, South America was definintely the cheapest part of our travel and one of the most amazing! Our Spanish was very basic when we started but people there are so friendly that it was not a problem at all. Especially Bolivia is extremely cheap! At the moment we are in Costa Rica and get used to different prices... It really is expensive compared to other countries.
We did Helpexchange in New Zealand near Christchurch on a big farm with a lovely family for three weeks. A great way to explore the country with spending hardly any money.
Being from Europe myself I think it is definitely not a cheap continent but plenty of nice things to see and do.
It also depends a lot the way you travel, where you stay and where you spend your money. We found that you can save a lot of money on little things, like cooking your own meals, staying in a double with shared bathroom, travel by bus and dont take too many flights etc.
Happy travel!
Andrea
Reply to this Thanks, Andrea, I'll look into travel in South America. What country did you fly into?
Heather
Reply to this Heather,
I did a Helpexchange in Australia and thoroughly enjoyed it. I worked for four hours a day on a dairy farm helping with household chores, gardening, picking vegetables, and a little bit of manual labour, in return for bed and board. The family were terrific and ever so generous, and it was lovely getting home cooked meals! It is a wonderful way of seeing how people live and immersing yourself in local life. I would thoroughly recommend it.
In terms of saving money in other ways, I would agree that cooking your own meals is a must. Check out local markets for food rather than supermarkets. Pack a lunch if you are going out for the day including a drink. If you are both not fussy stay in dormitories in hostels rather than your own room. Good hostels will often provide a list of free things to do in the area.
Europe is definitely hugely expensive! I have travelled it on two occasions and on the second earlier this year I spent such a lot compared to the first which was two years ago! Prices are rising so fast.
Although I have not been I hear South East Asia and South America are two of the cheapest places to travel.
Wishing you well on your travels and enjoy planning your trip!
Reply to this Hi! If you're going to Europe the general rule of thumb is the further east or south you go the cheaper it is. In Central America Costa Rica and Panama are the most expensive. You can check out hospitalityclub.org or couchsurfing.com and if any of you can sail or cook you can try crewfinder.com. If you want to try South America Peru or Bolivia are cheap. I'm from the States, I don't know where you're from, but you can fly to Fort Lauderdale then Lima, Peru for cheap.
Reply to this Hi, thanks for the advice. I'm from the States too. I've checked out your blog and your trip looks incredible. Do you think its possible to travel in South America for about 6 months with less than $2000 per person? I know it probably depends, but compared to how you've been traveling, does it seem feasible?
Reply to this Hı Heather. That would be tough. I forgot to say that you can pıtch a tent anywhere ın Chıle for free. I,m tryıng to do the math, but ıf you could get round trıp tıckets for 600 to 800 that would only leave 1400 to 1200 per person. 180 days would devıde to 7.7 dollars a day for budget. If you had 2000 dollars that would devıde to 11.10 dollars a day. I,d say you need at least 15 to 30 dollars a day per person at the mınımum (ıf you,re stayıng ın hostels). I don,t want to be a dream squasher but I,d suggest savıng up more or just tryıng a month or two of travel (the calculator says 66.6 days at 30 dollars a day) . Also ıf you stay ın one place for longer that saves on transportatıon costs. Check out Kayak.com and see what kınd of plane tıckets you fınd and play wıth the calculator. I hope that helps.
Good luck
PS Sorry about the typos. I,m ın Turkey and the keyboard ıs weırd
Reply to this Hi Heather,
I am also very interested in cheap travel. Will be going to Australia, Queensland for a month. Would love to find out more information on Help Exchange and similar.. Does one need a working holiday visa in order to work for exchanging board and food?
Reply to this Thanks Ammi,
Yeah, I'm working on saving as much as possible. Staying longer in one place is also a great idea. Thanks so much for your help!
Heather
Reply to this Hey Heather,
Running into financial difficulties while at home and with a stable job has been, in my case, insanely stressful to say the very least. I'm not sure whether you'd want to be going through that sort of stress in a foreign country where you have dwindling job prospects (the economy is down the drain) and nobody that can speak your language and that knows you well is there to offer you a shoulder to cry/wail/complain/etc on.
Save more if you can! You dont want to leave with just that sum in your pockets/bank account. You can save a bit more but still aim to spend only $2000. You should always have an emergency fund because you're human and humans get sick, tired, jetlagged, get into fights with their landlords/friends/boyfriends even when they're travelling and have obligations towards others. I'm sure you can do it 😊
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