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Five Ways to Travel for Free

We all love to travel, but a vacation is always a need, not a want. Going on a trip or vacation is quite expensive when we factor in travel costs, accommodation, and related expenses. But the good news is that there are several practical ways of traveling for free, or extremely cheap. I can’t say I have all the money in the world, but then, I’ve gone places for free and others, at an absolutely tight budget.

In this article, I have shared several ways through which we, hodophiles, can travel the world for free or affordably.

Become a Pilot or Flight Attendant

While it’s not the easiest way of traveling for free, becoming a pilot or flight attendant is the gate pass to traveling the entire world without being concerned about the tickets and accommodation costs.

Pilots and flight attendants go everywhere; east, west, south and north. The airline often caters to all the accommodation needs, including meals. The only problem here is that there is no time to visit places because of the tight schedule. The best time to travel is during leave days. Obviously, pilots and flight attendants have a way of bargaining their flight costs in their respective airline companies.

It’s certainly not free but, if you wanted to travel to luxury destinations in style, Jettly provides jetsetters with private jet charter services so you can trot the globe to your heart’s content.

A Job in Big Ships

Another not so easy way of traveling around the world for free is getting a job in a vessel, for example, a cruise ship, cargo ship, yacht, or oil tanker. A cruise ship is the best because it is all fun in the high seas. Today, the trip will be taking you to Florida and next to Barcelona. Cargo ships and oil tankers also offer great opportunities for traveling around the world. Before setting out on the return trip, the crew can organize short day trips to visit places of interest near the port.

There are so many careers in this field. A hodophile looking to travel for free by working in ships can choose to be a sailor, doctor, chef, engineer, bartender, IT specialist, and so on. However, it goes without saying that certifications and qualifications relevant to the position will be necessary when applying for such jobs. Having taken up an IT course to work as an IT specialist, a medical degree to work as a doctor, or having a hospitality certification along with having completed a responsible service of alcohol course to work as a bartender are a few examples.

Teaching English Abroad

We can also travel for free or affordably by teaching English or any other language in another country. Becoming an English teacher is the best deal because of the demand. In most Asian countries, there are many opportunities for teaching English as a foreign language. What is required is a certification, for example, TOEFL certification.

Teaching English gives avid travelers the chance to explore new worlds at reduced costs. What’s more? Getting a permanent job tags along with a decent salary and benefits, plus lots of free time to explore new worlds and meet new people. In the meantime, let’s polish our English, learn basic teaching skills, and get that certification.

WWOOFing

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is one of the most active agrotourism organizations. When we are traveling on a budget, WWOOFing can be a great idea as we are guaranteed accommodation and food in exchange for our labor in the organic farms. For the record, WWOOF is not just about working in the dirt; there are several other opportunities in other fields of the organization.

Besides WWOOF, there are several other opportunities where we can volunteer in exchange for accommodation, food, and even a few extra bucks to keep us going.

CouchSurfing

Let’s face it; accommodation costs take a huge chunk of our travel budget. While there are cheap hotels and Airbnb services, we still need to think of ways to cut down costs. For those of us who are open to sharing space with others, CouchSurfing is the way to go.

For starters, CouchSurfing is a platform that connects visitors to locals. So instead of paying for a hotel, we can share accommodation with locals and tip them. This is cheaper, and besides the cost issues, CouchSurfing connects us with the right people who can help us make the trip worthwhile.

The above are some of the practical ways we can travel for free or cut down costs considerably. Other options on the list include house sitting, pet sitting, or au pairing. That said, let’s not just sit back and miss out on all the fun because we are broke.