Extended World Travel

Posts Tagged ‘Renting’

As well as there is a way to travel, the actual “how to get there” part of a trip, that suites you the best, there’s probably a way of staying, the accommodation part, that fits your personality better than other. For some, this is just a minor, or even, totally unimportant, issue – “”whatever’s the easiest and cheapest”. To others, this is of major importance and something you are willing to plan your whole trip around.

The most well known way to travel is of course going somewhere and then staying in a hotel. It’s usually not the most common way to spend your nights when you’re away for an extended period though. Maybe you choose a hotel for the first nights after arriving at a destination, or check into a hotel now and then for different reasons, but most people who travel long term, have alternative ways for accommodation.

Hostels, is one example. Here you (usually) stay much cheaper than in a hotel and you also have cooking (and often washing) possibilities as well. Hostels are also a great way to meet with fellow travelers and exchange ideas and travel tips.

Homestays, is another way which is very common in many parts of the world. You rent a room in someone’s home and participate in their family life as much or as little as you wish, depending on yourself and the particular family.  A homestay is a great way to quickly get to know local people and their culture

You can of course always rent a house, an apartment, or a cottage if you want your own “home away from home”. We have rented places in different parts of the world and we do enjoy to live a “normal” family life in a totally different surrounding and culture. Very interesting!

Camping is also something we have practiced a lot. We have traveled with campervans, car and trailer (and on some occasions also with a tent). This is another way to always have a “home away from home”. You have all your well known stuff and your own bed wherever you are.

House swapping, is another alternative if you want to travel and stay mostly in one place. You swap homes with another family who goes and stays and takes care of your home while you’re away. This way, you don’t have to spend any money on your accommodation and you have all the facilities you might want.

House sitting is also great if you want to stay for free and spend a lot of time in one place. You stay in somebody’s house and look after it and perhaps also some pets while the house/pets owners are away. This also works the other way around of course. If you want to go traveling and don’t know what to do with your pets or don’t want to leave your home unattended for a longer period, you can find a house sitter to come and stay.

Finally, we want to mention a way of travel that we call Network Traveling. This is a way we have used many times to take us around the world. You use a personal or an organized network to get in touch with people and either you stay with them or they help you to find someplace.

At one occasion we traveled, the whole family, around in the USA for 3 months, and stayed, with the help of our personal contacts and their contacts, totally for free in peoples homes. At other occasions, we have traveled and used an organized network.  We have then been staying at peoples places for free in exchange for some of our time and energy by helping out with things like garden work and similar things.

So, there are many different alternatives for how to be staying during your long term trip. To read some more about the alternatives we have mentioned above, please check out How to travel – Travel and accommodation.

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So many people we meet want to travel the world with their family and so many just don’t take this desire seriously because they think it would be too costly. A few years ago, we came across this very interesting book called “Have Kids – Will Travel”. It’s written by Dale and Michelle Bartlett, the parents in a family of six who have traveled the world extensively for many years.

How can a family with four children just travel around in the world several times a year, staying in hotels, renting cars, visiting interesting sites and just have a great time without being multi millionaires, you may wonder.

Well, I guess you could say that they have used a variety of very simple and conscious ways of traveling. They have thoroughly researched ways to travel inexpensively and have then implemented these ideas and refined them through their own traveling life.

The family has (so far) mainly focused on shorter trips like days and weeks. Even so many of the ways they have used to lower, and even eliminate, travel costs are of course valid even for extended traveling.

The Bartlett’s have many examples of extremely inexpensive trips they have made. A two and a half week trip to the East coast of the USA (from Utah) for example cost as little as 700 dollar for the entire family! That included airfare, hotels, car rental, food and more!

They have visited Europe several times. Some of these trips have been with both free airfare as well as free accommodation, paying just for their food.

As Dale Bartlett says:

“I believe that with the proper planning and knowing the right travel secrets, any family could travel anywhere in the world for less than it costs to go camping, definitely much less than going to Disneyworld.”

If you’re interested in knowing more about them and to learn about how you too can travel inexpensively, visit their website: www.havekids-willtravel.com where their book also is available. They do ship worldwide.

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