Focus: FUN!! - How To Travel For (Almost) FREE!
I want it all and I want it FREE!
Options for travel that are practically free
OK. We’re finally going to talk about free travel! But, you may want to read the fine print. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so peruse these links accordingly.
The fine print
Most of these options are accommodations only. You still have to get there. We talked last time about using points for airlines. That’s a good option, but realize that, for many of the free accommodations options, the dates are not fully yours to set so you might not be able to be as flexible with your flight plans. You also still have to get around when you get there. We’ll talk about options that include transportation, but not all do so you may have the expense of renting a car or finding a taxi or Uber or taking public transportation. And, of course, you have to pay for food, fun and the like.
For all of these options, the most efficient way to find them is through a service. There is a fee to use these services. It’s usually nominal (less than $200/year) but you need to realize that will be an expense.
Most of these options also come with some sweat equity. Whether it’s taking care of a dog (or a horse) or upkeep on an RV or even just making your profile stand out so you’ll be popular on the various platforms, these aren’t just “plan it and go” type of vacations.
The reason this type of travel has “blossomed” in the last several years is because platforms have become so ubiquitous. These electronic platforms marry supply and demand beautifully. But you have to realize that the “company” you are dealing with is usually just supplying the technology for you to find the person that has the accommodations supply to your demand (or vice versa). Sometimes they offer things like background checks and insurance, but not always. You need to do your homework before you enter into contracts or agreements with the party on the other side.
Now the good stuff
We’re going to talk about three different options (and a subset of one of them) that you may find interesting to get free accommodations. We’ll cover housesitting, house swapping (with the subset of vacation home swaps) and RV renting. There are literally hundreds of thousands of listings all over the world for every type of home you can think of. There are options close to home and in far flung corners of the world. You can stay on a farm in New Guinea or in a beach house in the Florida Keys. You’ll live your way, whether you prefer rustic redwoods or downtown Tokyo. And, when you get there, you get to live like a local, in real neighborhoods with real people who call that place home. Let’s explore our options!
House Swaps
House swaps are just what they sound like. You stay in someone else’s house and they stay in yours. There are tons of options for sites that help people find each other to swap houses. In some cases, you have to find someone that wants to travel at the same time you do and in the place that you want to go who wants to come to where you live, and you literally swap houses for that time period. That’s the most straightforward swap. Some sites, however, offer “points.” You earn those “points” when someone stays in your house and you use those “points” to stay in someone else’s house. The beauty here is that you don’t have to swap with the person that is staying in your house. You can use your points to stay in someone’s house in Ecuador, for instance, while someone from Poughkeepsie spends their points to stay in yours. That opens a whole, wide world of options.
You have to understand that you are staying in someone else’s main abode. They live the way they live. You can’t rearrange the furniture and alphabetize the spice rack, unless you return everything to the way it was (or better) before you leave. You may get there and there are spider webs in the corners and clutter in the closets. It may not be as well maintained, even, as your average Airbnb. You can ask for pictures, but you may have to be willing to be flexible.
There may even be some expectations of you, like watering plants or bringing in packages. Most people don’t have expectations of taking care of pets or maintaining pools, or that kind of thing, but make sure you ask up front! Don’t be surprised when you get there. That goes for everything with a swap. Here’s an agreement form for an example, but just make sure expectations are well discussed.
You, also, need to be clear what you are comfortable with. You can make places in your house off limits, but it still might be best to get a lock. (You know there are people that look in your medicine cabinet when they visit your home, right? Just because something seems like it should be off limits, and you TELL people it’s off limits, get a lock.) You need to be reasonable. You can’t lock every room and cabinet in your house and expect someone to only live in the garage and the third bedroom. Know what is, and isn’t OK in your house and WRITE IT ALL DOWN AND DISCUSS IT UP FRONT.
Finally, you are living in someone else’s home. Be respectful, as you expect them to be. Enough said.
If you don’t like the idea of living in someone else’s stuff, and you have a second home or mother-in-law apartment, there is an active market in vacation rental swaps. You can expect a different level of cleanliness and customer service in these homes. Often, these are Airbnb homes that the owner wants to use to swap for free accommodations elsewhere. The dates are often more flexible and the accommodations are usually less restrictive.
Here’s a phenomenal article on all of the platforms that you can use to list your house for a swap. It goes over all of the different types of platforms that are out there, from local to international and from 2500 listings to over 300,000 listings. The author has a handy dandy little spreadsheet that compares lots of aspects of lots of platforms in an easy to sort and filter format. Best Home Exchange Networks.
Housesitting
In this scenario, you don’t need to be comfortable with someone living in your house while you are away. Heck, you don’t even need a house! You’ll be living in, and taking care of, someone else’s house. You also, very likely, will need to be willing and able to take care of someone else’s animals. A recent survey showed that 98% of international housesits involved taking care of an animal. If Fluffy needs her shot at 5:00, you’ll have to be willing to be home every day at 5:00 and be willing to give that cat (or bunny or iguana) its shot at 5:00. You have to, first and foremost, be a house and animal sitter and then, when there is time, you can be a tourist. Don’t expect to be able to run off for a weekend, unless you have agreed upfront with the owner that the house or animal can be left unattended.
But OH the places you’ll go! People who feel the need to have someone watch their homes and pets often live in unique and amazing places and situations that you can immerse yourself in. If you treat it as an adventure, you’ll find lots of wonderful options.
Housesitting can be competitive. You’ll probably want to sign up for a couple of platforms and may need to be flexible until you have established yourself as a 5-star sitter. There are ways you can make yourself more desirable, though, even if you don’t have a ton of experience. Do you have skills, like taking care of a swimming pool or gardening? Do you have relevant experiences like volunteering at the SPCA? Do you have testimonials like Airbnb reviews that call out your cleanliness? Some owners prefer couples so that, if something goes wrong at home one of the couple can go take care of that while the other stays at the housesitting site. All of these things can put you above someone else that doesn’t have your background, even if they have housesat before.
With housesitting, there will be expectations over and above taking good care of the property, like taking care of animals and doing routine maintenance and even, in some cases, shoveling snow or manure (but you’ll know that up front). But there can also be perks. Sometimes people will leave their car in your trust, for example, so you won’t need a rental. You may also be able to harvest fruit from the trees on the farm, or use herbs from the garden while you are there. And utilities and wifi are almost always included, unless you agree otherwise (or the house is off the grid).
As in house swaps, housesitting is all about the expectations. Agree on everything up front, BEFORE you buy your airline tickets. Don’t let the excitement of getting the perfect house in the perfect location on the perfect dates distract you from solidifying all of the details before you sign. And, speaking of signing, do you need a contract or written agreement? Sometimes yes; maybe sometimes no.
On a personal note, I think most people think of housesitting as a way to go to exotic places. My friend did a housesit where she agreed with the owners that she could have a small brunch on their deck while they were away. It was on a lake that is only about 2 hours from my house, but in a gated community that I’d never seen. The deck overlooked the lake and the herons (I think they were herons) were everywhere. The HOA doesn’t allow Aribnbs, so I’m thinking of signing up for a housesit there to really try it out to see if I’d like to move there.
If housesitting seems like something you’d like to try, I highly recommend this series of six articles. They go over everything from the platforms, to the likely responsibilities, to the expectations that sometimes go wrong. The authors don’t have a home. They housesit their way around the world (even through COVID) so they have a very good understanding of how it all works.
RV Renting
I’m not talking about you renting an RV. That is, most definitely, not free. I’m talking about you owning an RV, or travel trailer or pop-up, that you also rent out. There is one very highly recommended platform for this that is gaining popularity. The good news is that COVID (well.. to the extent that there could be any good news with COVID) made RV’ing very popular. People could get away without getting in each others’ spaces. The platform is still growing, but there is very good infrastructure and they are starting to get more robust service offerings like insurance and lister support. If testimonials are to be believed (and the literature and articles I can find support this) you can rent out your RV fairly regularly and cover the costs of ownership, including the purchase price, in a few years - even if you use your RV for several weeks during the year. If you love the open road and would love to have your own home on wheels to check out all that America has to offer, this might be a good cheap/free option for you. I’ve never done this, though, and I don’t know anyone who has. Obviously, you would be taking all of the risk by buying the asset up front and hoping there is a return, but it looks promising. Please do your homework, before you go out and buy your dream Winnebago. And let us know if you know anyone who has done this, or if you try it let us know how it goes!
So, there you have it. Three (and a half) ways to find free accommodations. For me, these options are really more about unique adventures you can’t find anywhere else than they are about how much it costs. But for some, the allure of free travel to a jungle in Central America holds a charm all its own. Wherever you go and however you get there, I hope you find your perfect adventure in your Third Act!
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