Travel low budget/free anywhere in the world

The world is an amazing place to explore and we all want to do just that. Travel and enjoy this beautiful planet called Earth. You can actually get to do that. You can travel low budget or even free anywhere in the world. Keep reading to see how I do it. If I can, you can too.

A little backstory on my journey…

Like many people, I always dreamt of traveling the world, but never actually took the courage to do it. I always had different reasons, mostly financial ones. Now I finally felt that the time has come. I stopped postponing my calling and jumped fully into this new adventure.

I experienced the corporate world, but never the feeling of full time traveling. So, I have decided to gift myself this life transforming experience. Not tomorrow, not next year. But now.

And you might ask?

How do you have the money?

Well….I don’t

But I make it work….. Somehow (see below how).

And, of course, I have my fears and a million thoughts going through my mind at all times. But, regardless, I move forward through fear and uncertainty. I trust my intuition and I know that everything is going in the right direction. Being confident, positive, persistent in your journey and trusting your capabilities is a must. You must be your own supporter now and forever.

My journey started in Alicante, Spain. I decided to start a full time travel journey for a long period of time, even if I only had pocket money to survive. I was ultra focused on making it work. And I did. And still doing it. I suddenly had the idea of coming to Portugal. Is the neighboring country, with warm climate and very beautiful as I’ve heard from others.

So, here I embark on my 10h journey from Alicante to Portimao with BlaBlacar. This car sharing option was the cheapest and fastest solution for me. There is also Amovens which you can use. I had the luck to find 2 car rides, one after the other. Keep in mind that if you have a lot of luggage it might be a bit difficult to find a ride. You are traveling with 3, 4 people and all carry some kind of luggage. I had to pay two seats, one for myself and one for my luggage ? but even like that it was cheap. Only 65 euro from Alicante to Portimao, Portugal.

Slow travel

I believe that we are on this planet to experience things on a deeper level, grow spiritually, and achieve a balanced, harmonious life within us, with others and with nature. And the way that I can do that is to allow myself the time to experience a place, its people, the culture and traditions as much as I feel it’s necessary for my growth as a human being. And I get to do this with slow traveling. I decided to stop focussing on money and instead focus on myself, discover what I truly want and go get it.

You get to learn and understand much more when you give some of your time and energy in a place for longer than a few days. You will know when it’s time to change. Slow travel is so empowering and have been doing it for years without realizing it. The resources to travel low budget or even free anywhere in the world are here. You can spend close to nothing. And, yes, it is possible. This one way of doing it is what I’m going to talk about next.

Volunteering

This is an amazing way to travel low budget or even free anywhere in the world. With only 100 euro in your pocket you can start doing it. Seriously. I know it’s difficult to believe. But please, stop focusing only on what you don’t have and focus on what you have.

Of course, the ideal situation is to have a drive behind all of this. To understand why you are doing it? What do you want to gain out of this, besides saving money? You always need to have a plan B, in case you find out that this is not your thing. You can start off your journey with just 100 euro, but you need to have at least the financial support of someone to help you with some pocket money here and there. If you are a minimalist and normally don’t spend money on things that you don’t need, then you will do just fine.

The beauty of all this is that you never know what people or opportunities might come your way while volunteering. You can start off with no money and no pay and might end up discovering your passion and making a business out of it. Your life can change in a second. And this is why I find volunteering so empowering and incredibly useful. The exchange of ideas, environments is always keeping my brain active and engaged.

You can find lots of volunteering places in every country. Help with animal shelters, organic and sustainable farms, gardening, Eco building, planting trees and much more. Volunteering for 4, 5 hours a day of work in exchange for food and accommodation can help you save lots of money and in the free time you get to visit places that you never thought you could before, take amazing pictures, improve some of your skills, the list is endless.

Plus, you get to meet lots of people from all over the world to share ideas, learn and grow together. Your imagination will never know the result of a situation. You have to experience. Stop living in your imagination.

Some great resources where you can find volunteering places are through the following platforms:

• WWOOF, this site is great if you are interested in Eco farms, sustainable living, connecting with nature and meeting like minded people globally. The cost for 1 year membership is 20 euro for a person and 30 for more than one. Keep in mind that you have to pay separately for each country that you want to volunteer in. So, if you make a woofing account for Greece you can’t use the same account to find hosts in Italy. You need to pay for another account for that specific country.
• HOVOS, here you can find work such as helping in hostels, living on farms, helping practicing a language or being an au-pair. The cost for 1 year membership is only 10 euro.
• Workaway, a great way to connect on a global scale with travelers and hosts from around the world. Get immersed into the local culture and learn new skills or share your own skills. The cost for 1 year per person is 39 euro and for 2 people is 49 euro.
• Worldpackers, an amazing platform to connect globally with hosts and find the perfect experience for you. Share your skills on marketing, content creation, Eco projects or learn new ones while exploring a different culture and creating valuable experiences. The cost to get in contact with the hosts is 49$ and 99$ to have access to the academy courses + the hosts. Both valid for 1 year and 6 months.
• Facebook groups, if you don’t want to pay for any of the platforms mentioned above you can always take advantage of the benefits that Facebook has. There are tons of groups on this social site. If you know to which country you want to go, simply look for groups on volunteering, farming, marketing or anything that interests you. Before coming to Portugal, I found these groups, Permaculture Portugal, Rural Tribe, Portugal Farm Network and for sure there are many others that I don’t know of. These are groups that focus on sustainable living, organic farming.

I chose to experience alternative ways of living, gardening and sustainable living which is why I opted for these platforms.

This is how you can travel low budget or even free anywhere in the world. If you reached all the way here, thank you for reading and I hope you learned something new.

I would love now to hear from you, what stops you from starting your own adventure? What challenges did you/are you face/facing? Let me know in the comments.

To see my experience at my first volunteering farm in the South of Portugal, check out this post.

Happy and safe travels!