How to travel on almost nothing: Accommodation

So, I've inspired you to take off to the wild blue yonder, eh? But you don't want to spend a lot of cash on the adventure. No problem. All you need to do is fly under the radar.

My highest expenses fall into three categories: accommodation, transportation & tours - & I'm constantly looking for ways to keep those costs down.

To save on accommodation, the best thing to do is get in touch with other travelers in the area that you want to visit. Couchsurfing & Hospitality Club are great places to start looking. TravBuddy is a similar sight, but it's better for finding activity partners than for finding a place to stay. In China, there's an online community called Tour Boarding that matches hosts to guests willing to teach English to their children in exchange for a few weeks' stay. Talk about your authentic experience!

Once you start digging around in these types of online communities, you may never pay for accommodation again.

If you must pay to stay, get a bed in a hostel instead of paying for a hotel room. Hostels are clean & safe, & they're used to travelers with questions about the local sights. Plus you will meet lots of interesting people. I always get a dorm bed. It can often be $20 less than a private room, & that $20 can be put to much better use.

You can search for hostels in the area on sites like Hostels.com, but never book through these online brokers. Find the actual website of the hostel & book with them directly. You'll save a couple of bucks & the hostel won't have to pay commission.

I recommend getting a YHA or HI membership. Though they are rarely the cheapest places to stay, your membership might get you discounts on tours or transportation, the other two big-ticket items I mentioned earlier.

If you're looking to stay in one place for longer than a couple of days, try housesitting. Mind My House is a good place to start, but there are several sites dedicated to local markets as well. If you don't mind digging in the dirt, try WWOOFing. Also, ask around. You may know someone who knows someone in the place you want to visit, & it's amazing how welcoming people can be.

Couchsurfing in Wellington

I arrived in Wellington after an uneventful six-hour bus ride. My Couchsurfing hosts picked me up outside the museum. Florian is from Germany & Natalia is from Spain. They are both in Wellington working on their PhDs - Florian is researching the branding of tourism in New Zealand (e.g. the 100% Pure campaign) & Natalia is just beginning her research on the New Zealand film industry.

We walked over to the grocery store to pick up some food for an evening picnic at the water's edge. We drank wine & watched the sun set as we mused over politics, travel & the international community. Florian is particularly interested in China & global sustainability, so we had lots to talk about.

The next morning, we walked over to the farmers market & bought some fruit & baked breads for a nice breakfast in the sun before I left them to take a tour of Parliament.

Housesitting in Turangi

As I've said before, I love housesitting because it feels much more like home than any hotel would - even if it's someone else's home. Many people say they don't like to visit touristy sites when they travel, that they prefer to see how the real people live. Well, this is certainly the way to do it!

I'm currently in Turangi, New Zealand, on the southwest side of Lake Taupo. I'm staying at a small farmlet about a kilometer from the center of town. There's a decent-sized vegetable garden & a few fruit trees around the property. My companions include two dogs, two cats & five chickens, & our neighbors are two beautiful horses.

I'll be spending two weeks here taking care of the animals as I continue to teach English online. There are a lot of hiking trails around here, & there's kayaking on the river. Plus, there is a bit of thermal activity in the area, so I'll have the chance to relax in some hot springs while I'm here.

Slow travel by house sitting

I just got back from a week-long jaunt around the North Island. I saw kiwis & boiling mud & honey bees busily making honey. I had a great time!

I stayed two nights in each of three places, bussing it between hostels as I went. I got to see a lot in a little bit of time, but I felt like I was in a constant state of upheaval. I find that when I'm on the road, I don't spend as much time to relax. There are so many things to see & do, & time is limited.

That's why I much prefer the slow travel method, where I can settle into a place & not feel pressured to cram as much as I can into the time I have. Even staying a full week in one place allows me the freedom to spend an afternoon editing photos or reading a good book without feeling like I'm wasting precious time.

House sitting is a great way to do this. I can usually stay in one location for a week or more, & everything I need is already there in the house - pots & pans, cleaning products, perhaps a vegetable garden. Sometimes even dogs & cats can come with the house.

I've been house sitting in Hamilton for the past six weeks, & it's been wonderful. I've had enough time to figure out the bus system & which grocery store has the lowest prices. I even planted my own vegetable garden with greens for a salad. It's just like home, but I can leave whenever I want. It's a nice happy-medium, & for me, that's the best way to travel.

I prefer to use friends & family to find a house to sit, but I also use Mind My House to find places to stay around the world. There are several other sites to choose from as well. Most of them charge a small membership fee to weed out the riff raff - which in my mind is a good thing.

What about you? Do you have experience house sitting? How do you find places to stay?

My New Zealand house sit

Not bad, eh?

They were selling vegetable plants at the grocery store, so I got a few & planted them in pots on the side of the house.

Hamilton is a quiet town of about 200,000 people. You can hear birds chirping in the morning & everyone is super friendly. It's a nice change from the big city.

10 Things to give a traveler

During the holidays, we like to remember our friends & family with cards & gifts. But what do you do when there is a traveler in your life? They might not stay in one place long enough to receive anything you could send through the mail. It might seem hopeless to include them on your holiday card mailing list.

But there is still a way - the internet is a wonderful thing. There are so many digital gifts & e-cards out there. Besides, your traveler probably doesn't need any more stuff. Here are ten things you can give a traveler without weighing down their luggage.

1. Credit at Amazon.com for Kindle e-books, digital music & more
2. Virtual language lessons - a couple of my favorites: ChinesePod, Lo Más TV
3. Online exercise classes - MyYogaOnline.com
4. Netflix membership - the streaming only option
5. A membership at Hostelling International
6. A donation to their favorite charity - I like Kiva.org 
7. Your unused frequent flyer miles
8. A tour in or around their current location
9. A visit - meet them somewhere!
10. A phone call - Skype.com

Wishing you a happy holiday season & a new year filled with adventure.

The Clink

I tend to go for the unusual - it's what makes life interesting. I'll go to a place where the temperature is 30 below just to see some snow sculptures. I'll opt to spend a weekend at a quiet monastery instead of at a luxury hotel. I'll even seek out fake train platforms - why not. So when I heard about this hostel in London, I had to stay there.

Clink78 was originally a courthouse, with a few holding cells in the basement. They've converted it into a hostel & you can still stay in the holding cells if you really want to. I chose to stay in one of the dorms instead, which cost me 85 pounds for four nights (about US $140). The word "clink" apparently comes from the original jailhouse in London located on Clink Street, where it is now a museum. 

The hostel still maintains some of the features of the original building, including the original layout of the courtroom, complete with plaques denoting the witness stand & the prosecutor's table. If you're feeling authoritative, you can sit in the judge's chair to check your email.

All the major tourist attractions are within walking distance of Clink78, & the hostel is just a five minute walk to Kings Cross station, where you can pick up the London Underground or a train to destinations beyond. There's even a travel shop in the hostel where you can book bike tours of the city or a day trip to Stonehenge.

One of the days I was there, I hooked up with one of my dorm mates & we walked all around the city being tourists together. It was really nice to have a travel buddy for the day, which I would have missed out on had I stayed in a hotel.

Clink78

Reception

Internet cafe

Dorm room

Breakfast

Beijing: Happy Dragon Hostel

While in Beijing, we stayed at the Happy Dragon Hostel. It's a cute little place tucked down an alleyway surrounded by local shops & karaoke bars.

The taxi driver from the airport wasn't familiar with the hostel, so we had a tough time finding it at first. After that, we decided it would have been easier to use the subway from the airport, & then follow the map from the Happy Dragon website.

We paid 228 RMB (about US $32) per night for a small but clean private room with bath, complete with towels & shampoo. The staff at the hostel was friendly & took care of everything from laundry to booking a plane ticket with a gracious smile.

The hostel had its own restaurant serving a combination of Western and Chinese food where people staying at the hostel could hang out & use the wi-fi or chat with other travelers. Those that didn't bring their laptops could use the desktop computers in the lobby for 4 RMB (= about US 60 cents) an hour.

They offered several reasonably priced tourist activities at the hostel, including day trips to the Great Wall & an evening at a Beijing Opera. They also had bikes for us to rent, which we used almost every day to ride around the city.

The Happy Dragon Hostel turned out to be a great choice. It had everything that I like about staying in hostels. The next time I go to Beijing, I'll definitely stay there again.