Have you ever wondered how people can travel the world with next to no money? I’m here to provide you with some answers to this question. Anybody can implement these methods and they don’t require you to be a travel blogger or have a following on social media. This series is about how anybody can travel the world for free.
Over these last 3 weeks I have been looking at the 3 main costs of travelling; food, accommodation and transport. I am providing you with the information you need to start travelling the world for free.
Check out the previous 2 articles PART 1 – FOOD & PART 2 – ACCOMMODATION.
This week we are looking at transport. Not one of our basic human needs but you can’t travel without using some form of transportation. Transport is essential when travelling and here are some ways of getting it for free!
CYCLE
Cycling is a fantastic way to cut out the costs of transport and at the same time, it gives you so much freedom to explore wherever and whenever you want. Cycle touring really interests me and I’m sure in the future I will do a cycling adventure. Combine this with camping in last weeks article on Accommodation and you have yourself a very affordable adventure.
I’ve met a handful of long-distance cycle tourists from Finland, England and the US. All were very inspirational and interesting individuals. Check out my friend Jim’s cycle touring blog greensaddle.blogspot.com
WALK
Bet you never considered walking as a way to see the world. I certainly hadn’t until recently. Well, some people do. One of these people, Mario Rigby, has just completed a 2-year walk from South Africa to Egypt! Yes, he walked the length of Africa on foot! Can you imagine the insane experiences he had? The human kindness he encountered?
Take a listen to what he has to say about it below.
HITCHHIKE
Now here’s one I have done. Hitchhiking is simple. Stick your thumb out and hope that some normal person picks you up. Right? In theory yes that’s all there is to it but there are many different ways of approaching hitchhiking. I’ll let the expert, that is Tomislav Perko, give you some of his tips.
My experiences of hitchhiking were all in Macedonia. Each time I was with a girl. This seems to be a good way to hitch a ride. For some unfathomable reason, when the girl is standing with her thumb out she gets more attention than if a guy does. Any ideas as to why???
I was so nervous hitchhiking the first time but like most things, once I got over the nerves and just did it I had a great experience and was less nervous the next time. Hitchhiking works and is a great way to travel for free.
FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT
There are some places where you can find free public transport. Tallinn, Estonia is one of those places. Estonians voted for free public transport in 2013. Find some more cities with free transport in 30 countries worldwide here https://freepublictransport.info/city/
DRIVE SOMEONE ELSE’S CAR/RV
This seems like a great option. Rental companies need to keep their stock on site so that means that the cars that leave with renters and are returned to other locations will sometimes need to be returned. This is where you come in. Depending on which company you use you might get a car for a number of days for free to transfer from one location to the other.
Most of these companies are based in the US, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Here are a few sites that do this. Auto Driveaway Transfer Car Imoova. Find out more about RV companies offering this here https://thriftynomads.com/rv-relocation-deals/
SHUTTLE BUSES
Now, this is gold! Ever noticed that hotels sometimes have minibuses parked outside the airport or train stations? These are free! Pretend you’re a guest and you could book yourself a free ride to the city centre.
If you get questioned and can’t prodcue a reservation just say there must have been a mixup blah blah blah or else that you’re going to make a reservation at the hotel blah blah blah. Be nice and respectful and you’ll be fine.
USE YOUR NETWORK
This might be an obvious one but people seem to forget that they have a network of people who are willing to help them out. I rarely see posts on social media of people asking their network for help when travelling. A simple post on Facebook or Instagram can land you a free ride from a friend of a friend.
Also, you probably don’t know where every single one of your Facebook friends or Instagram followers are in this world. One might be where you are and going to the same place you’re going. Use your network!
SKILL EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES
There are so many skill exchange programmes out there now. In October I took part in an English language course called Angloville. This entailed spending 5 nights at a hotel in the Polish countryside spending each day chatting to Polish business people in English. In return for just chatting, we got 3 free meals a day, free accommodation and return transport from the city to the hotel.
There are also other volunteering programmes which can provide some sort of transportation plan for you in return for some daily/weekly hours of work. Find a Crew is one which links boat owners with people looking to spend time on a boat.
ASK PEOPLE/COMPANIES
Again, this is back to the basics. ASK! Similar to hitchhiking, just approach people on the street. Tell your story or be a charmer. You never know unless you ASK. Someone might be going your way.
Same goes for companies. Go to rental car companies, bus companies, train companies any other transport companies you can think of. Build rapport with people working in the company. Show them that you’re a nice human being. Sell your story. You can do this. Seduce the free transport.
Those are some of my tips for finding transport and saving cash whilst travelling.
That’s been a fun series. I’ve learnt about new techniques and methods of travelling for free. I can’t wait to try some of these out. I hope you got some value from this series too!
Let me know what other types of articles/series’ you’d like to see next.
In case you missed the other articles you can find them here:
TRAVEL THE WORLD FOR FREE! PART 1 – FOOD
TRAVEL THE WORLD FOR FREE! PART 2 – ACCOMMODATION
Keep striving!
Oisín
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