How to Travel (Almost) For Free – Adventure Catcher

People often ask me, how do you afford to travel for that long?

Who sponsors your travels? Did you win a lottery? Neither of those my friends. I am not rich, nor I come from a wealthy family. And the only thing I have ever won is one of those happy teddy bears that every kid wants to get in a theme park. Yeah…

There are many reasons that stop people from traveling the World. However, the most common issue is money, so let’s focus on that aspect. Many friends of mine repeat over and over again that they would love to travel, but they don’t have enough money.

First of all, ask yourself how important is traveling for you, seriously! Nothing is going to happen from just talking and dreaming. You have to take action. If you will set up travelling as a priority, you can make your dreams come true, no matter how broke you are.

With the right mindset, you are ready for the second step.

Differentiate between stuff you want and stuff you need at that given moment. If you dream about traveling, but always spend most of your money on new clothes or gadgets, you will have a problem to make your dream come true. Unless you have enough for both 🙂

After 4 years of constant travel, I learnt how to be a smartass on the way and how to travel cheaper and longer. Remember that there are plenty of free travel opportunities, which help you to travel the world with no money. And I will tell you about them below.

I would like to share with you a list of my 7 best ways to travel for free.

1. Get cheaper flights

The cost of flight tickets is often the most expensive part of traveling, but also the expense that you can easily reduce. To be honest with you, I love to search and hunt the best deals and the cheapest flights around the World. And I think I am pretty good at that 😉

While traveling, we have plenty of expenses on the way, so we should, if we only can, save money on flights!

Connect flights by your own / stopover

Direct flights are more convenient, but if you want to save some money, you can search for connecting flights or if you are flexible, you can stay at the airport for few hours longer. By doing this, you can save up to 80% on tickets. For example, I am choosing a random place to go:

1. I want to fly from Poland (my country) to Australia in 2 months. I am checking flights from Warsaw to Sydney on 21th of April on Orbitz.

2. I am doing additional research on momondo.com and I am choosing two connecting flights Warsaw -> Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur -> Sydney. Now you probably wonder, why Kuala Lumpur? Where did you get this idea from? Good deal, but how? Basically I did some work-research. Momondo is a great inspiration. It will suggest you plenty of flights with stopovers. I checked one by one and chose the cheapest option for my current destination. It is quite time consuming, but as you can see it is worth the effort.

3. Between the gap, I like to work or take a train to discover the city. After sightseeing, I am ready to take a direct flight to Sydney. I am saving $215.

I would like to emphasize that this is my way of searching and traveling. And it doesn’t have to be always like that, but I want to encourage you to do additional research.

Follow cheap flight deals

You can save up to 80% on flights around the world! My favorite websites:

• Secret Flying

• The flight deal

• Momondo

Remember to:

• compare Airfares

• sign up for email alerts to get hot flights offers

• book your flight as soon as possible

• best time to buy your ticket is late Monday or early Tuesday, these days many airlines reduce ticket prices

• biggest airports always offer cheaper flights

2. Do what locals do

I always use this phrase, as my travel mantra. Remember that tourist attractions and restaurants are always overpriced. If you want to try traditional, tasty and cheap food follow locals! Do you want to see the real side of the country? Be a traveler, not a tourist – follow locals! If you want to cut half of your expenses on food and entertainment, follow locals!

3. Join awesome communities

There are plenty of awesome communities, which provide free travel opportunities!

Couchsurfing – be a couchsurfer and visit couchsurfers around the World! This amazing app gives you the opportunity to stay with locals and sleep for free while traveling. The community counts over 14 million people in more that 200 000 cities. This is all about culture, exchange and friendship. Remember to chat a little bit with your future host before you arrive to be sure that this is the right person.

There are no strangers here. Only friends you haven’t yet met.

Blablacar – the largest short and long distance ride sharing community. Many travelers save up to around 70% on their trips.

Flixbus – best app to discover 5 cities in Europe for 99 euros. You can choose from 900 cities in 20 countries.

Airbnb – a global community of hosts offering accommodation and rare local experiences and travelers looking for a place to stay.

Homestay – a community of hosts and travelers in over 150 countries. If you want to learn about others cultures and experience something truly local, this is an app for you!

4. Hitchhiking

How to travel for free? Hitchhike!

Another free way to get from one city to another, make lots of friends and spend time with locals! Remember to choose good hitchhiking spots to be able to find fast rides and most importantly, to be safe! My best apps for gathering information and maps are hitchwiki.org and maps.me (both work offline).

5. Do backpacking

For me, backpacking means freedom and adventure. If you are a nature lover and hiking enthusiast, take your holiday to the next level! Sleep under the stars, cook your meal around the bonfire and take a bath in the lake! If you are a big city person, you can sleep on a budget in dorm rooms, attend free walking tours and eat in local restaurants. I have been backpacking solo around Asia, Europe, Australia, Central and South America and I often stayed in backpacker hostels. I managed to save up to 70% of my money on accommodation.

6. Work while travelling

There are plenty of jobs, you can do while traveling. If you are a long-term traveler, you should read more about work abroad programs like Work and Holiday/Working Holiday or Au Pair, which gives you an opportunity to travel for free and earn money as well.

Are you broke on the road? Need some extra cash to cover your expenses? Communicate with locals and suggest some help in exchange for extra money. The most common jobs are:

• Waiter/Waitress

• Bartender

• English teacher

• Chef

• Helper at backpackers hostel

• Sports instructor

• Housekeeping

Become a freelancer and make money on your laptop wherever you are. Freelancers provide different type of services:

• Marketing – social media marketing and publicity

• Technological support – programming and web/graphic design

• Financial support – accounting

• Writing – blog posts and articles

• Freelance Translator

• Blogging

Still not sure, where to start? Check out The Best Websites to Find a Job While Traveling!

7. Work for accommodation and help people

Another great way to travel for free and discover the most beautiful landscapes around the World is working for accommodation. You can exchange few hours work per day for food and free stay. Imagine living and working abroad on the tropical island, beach town or mountainous jungle! And at the same time, share your life with other like-minded people. My favorite organisations:

• WWOOFing

• Work away

• Hovos

• Helpx

Each of these subsections could have a post of its own, as there are endless free travel opportunities and ideas for travelers on a budget. I have shared some of the most important things, but would love to hear about your experiences!

We are here to help each other, to find and share best information to discover the most of our beautiful World! How to travel the World with no money? Any ideas? Leave a comment below.

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