Magdalene EnimhienomoYes, I know you’d say I’ve come again. But did you know that there are ways you can travel the world for free? They may not be the ‘conventional’ ways, but indulging in them would get the dream done.
Many people often aspire to travel anywhere in the world, but monetary constraint often holds them back. You can choose to save money for travel or simply seek opportunities to travel for free. As someone who likes exploring, there are times when I’ve had to put a planned trip on hold because of insufficient funds. After all, who wants to be stranded in a strange place?
The strong desire to travel to many places got me wondering if there are ways one can travel anywhere in the world for free. I was doubtful at first and even pushed the thought to the back of my mind. But, travel anywhere in the world for free? How? Would I walk there? Wouldn’t I have to pay for my flight? How can I find cheap flight tickets for my trip?
But my curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to research and began to see some exciting things I would share with you. The more I checked, the more excited I got as I began to see that it was feasible to travel the world for free.
How to travel the world for free
Below are some ways you can travel anywhere in the world for free. You get to enjoy free accommodation from hotel alternatives, free flights and even get paid while traveling the world.
Au Pair
One of the easiest ways to travel the world for free is via Au pair. Have you heard about the Au Pair system before? By being an Au Pair, you declare that you can provide the service of helping families take care of their children. Most countries today operate an Au Pair system where they help connect families with caretakers of their children.
When you sign up on the Au Pair website of any country, you get to fill in your details. Then, people can search through profiles of potential Au Pairs, and you may be lucky to get picked.
Typically, your host family takes care of you as an Au Pair. You get to stay with this family as you provide the Au Pair services, thus eliminating the stress of looking for accommodation or having to pay rent.
For example, let’s say you are from Germany and you register on the Netherlands Au Pair website. When you get picked up by a host family, you can travel to the Netherlands for free as your host family bears the cost.
In the Netherlands, you get to help the family take care of their children and experience the country as a tourist. Luckily, you have a host family that lets you learn the country’s routine quickly and shows you how to go about everything.
Not only do you get to visit the country for free, but you also get to enjoy yourself as you explore.
Volunteering
I’m sure you must have heard people talking about volunteering before. Interestingly, I’ve seen that being a volunteer is a way to travel the world for free.
To become a global volunteer, you must get affiliated or attached to an organization accepting international volunteers. This way, you can be sure that you can apply to become a volunteer in any part of the world that you desire.
As a volunteer in any country, you are not paid for the work that you would be doing there. After all, you are a ‘volunteer.’ The idea is that you are offering the service because you are passionate about it and you want to make an impact.
However, the body or organization you are signed under is in charge of your welfare as you are in a new place, and you do not have to spend your time. Now, you can travel anywhere in the world for free while making an impact. You can decide that you want to spend two months each in any country while you actively volunteer for a year. Therefore, you would be visiting about six countries in a year.
But, I would advise that you are passionate about volunteering before getting into it. Your sole reason for volunteering shouldn’t be because you want to be able to travel anywhere for free. Click here for volunteer jobs you can opt for. Some are paid stipends while most are free work.
Work exchange programs
Another way you can travel the world for free is through work exchange programs. The idea here is that you can offer your services to people in that country and get other offerings in return. Yes, it may seem similar to the Au Pair system. However, it is more attractive as it isn’t only limited to taking care of children.
There are many websites available to help you with work exchange programs. All you need to do is check for a suitable one, sign up for it and enlist the skills or services you can provide.
You are good at content creation, corporate communications, and branding. Someone who goes through such a website is in dire need of an individual who can provide such services for their brand and doesn’t mind covering your bills and sponsoring your trip to their physical location for you to help with their brand.
Now, you get to leave your home country, and you’re doing it for free. After the expiration of that contract, you might also get an offer from someone else. Then, when the requests keep coming in, you’d see that you’d be traveling anywhere in the world for free.
So, you need to check within yourself and identify what you can do (the services you can provide) for people.
House swaps
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that such a thing exists and that there were websites that make this happen. The idea here is for people to experience other places apart from their region for some time.
So, you’re tired of staying in Nigeria and feel like you need a change of environment. However, you do not have much money to sort out accommodation if you decide to leave the country. Well, why not try house swaps?
The idea here is to have individuals swap houses for some time. The same way you’re tired of staying in Nigeria could be the same way someone is tired of living in Ghana. Now, if both of you interact, you can decide to swap houses for some time.
So, the other individual comes to Nigeria and stays in your home for free while you also do the same in Ghana. It is a win-win situation as you do not need to pay for accommodation, and you also get to leave your immediate environment.
I may try this soon, even though I cannot say when. And you can be sure I will be back with a gist to tell you how it went.
Help someone when moving
I can’t even lie; the first time I stumbled on this idea, I laughed uncontrollably as it was such a feasible surface idea. Yet, I wondered how it had not become widespread and popular. What am I even doing with this driver’s license that I have?
I’m sure you are beginning to connect the dots as you read this…
One of the ways you can travel anywhere in the world for free is by helping someone when they are moving. For example, let’s say you’ve been in Nigeria all your life, and your close friend is moving to a West African country. You’ve never left Nigeria before, which may be a golden opportunity to visit another West African country. After all, you do not need a visa to visit these countries.
So, you can offer to help your friend drive the moving truck to the new country. As you can see, it allows you to travel the world for free. After all, you will get a free ride as your friend pays for the fuel. The only thing is that you would be the one driving for long hours. However, it’s a small price to pay to visit a new country for free.
I’m excited at this option for some reason and cannot wait to share it with everyone around me. Your driver’s license can come in handy in different practical ways.
