Alternative ways to travel

Farming for vacation? Sleeping on someone's couch?

Lauren Howland
Wed Aug 3, 2011 | planetgreen.discovery.com

For those people out there who love to travel, but like sticking away from tourist hot spots and fancy hotels, try these alternative modes to see a new area.

Budget Travel:

Couch Surfing: this program allows people to lend their couches (or a spare bedroom) to anyone looking for a place to stay on their travels. It works via an easy to use website and allows people to sign up and create profiles for themselves (right now there is 3,013,856 members.) There are hundreds of positive testimonials on the site and people that have offered their homes again and again. It's free to be a member and you can offer your own couch up to someone if you live in an area that's worth visiting. Try it somewhere easy, like the next state over from where you live, for a free stay in a new place.

Work Exchange:

Woofing: Every want a chance to learn about organic farming (like in Hawaii)? Well now you have it! WWOOF (World Wide Organization for Organic Farming) works as a medium to send volunteers to organic farms all over the world. The published list of "hosts" ranges from small gardens to huge animal farms offering volunteers a wide range of different choices. In exchange for their help on the farm, volunteers are given accommodations and often are treated as family.

Work Away: Another great way of staying somewhere for free is through Workaway. This site offers a wide variety of places and people in which you can work with in exchange for room and board. This is a great way to learn about a different culture and new trade, while helping someone in need (and making great new friends).

Volunteering:

Another interesting, and often easier way of staying somewhere for a longer period of time, is to volunteer. This is a great way to appreciate that you have the ability to travel and get to see somewhere new, while often learning about a different place or culture. There are many different forms of volunteering and some are more intense than others. A good site to start your search is voluntourism, but many others exist around the web.

Homestays:

If you can muster up the courage to live with a new family, this could be a great option for you. Adventure Homestays offers places around the world to stay and also student exchange programs if you're still in school.
If none of these speak to you. Think about a bike or camping trip around your region. Both are great ways to run into places you may have never realized were on a map.

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