5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students

5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students

5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students 1000 667 Justin Laurens

Are you a young, adventurous student – keen to travel the world but worried about financial constraints? Well, stress no further. Now you can visit the places you’ve always dreamed of without having to worry about the limited sum of disposable cash in your bank account, with these

5 Cheap Ways to Travel the World for Poor Students

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#1: Volunteer to Become a Porter 

Volunteer as a Porter in Machu Picchu - 5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students - The Alternative Ways

Photo Courtesy of user Dany13 on Flickr Creative Commons

 

Want to visit Machu Picchu in Peru, but can’t afford to spend money on that 5-day hike? Then why not become a porter and carry people’s belongings up a mountain, and better yet, why not do it – for free?

 

There are literally hundreds of hiking agencies all around the world, whether it be the Himalayas, the Andes, the Alps or even Mount Kilimanjaro in Eastern Africa, who consider people like YOU to be a reliable resource for tourists and would welcome you to work, for free!

 

What you need:

  • Top-notch physical strength
  • Dedication and commitment to the job

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#2: Teach English Abroad 

Teach English Abroad - 5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students - Teach English Abroad - The Alternative Ways

Photo Courtesy of Rex Pe on Flickr Creative Commons.

Better yet, why not make money whilst travelling? One way to do that is to teach English abroad. Tired of listening to your Economics lecturer give endless talks on diminishing marginal returns – then why not switch roles and see what lecturing is all about?

 

You can make a lot of money teaching and you could surely replenish your travel costs in the process – many companies will even pay for your flight! The world is yearning for teachers and this is a job in high demand, especially in South East Asia – so what are you waiting for?

 

What you need:

  • The ability to speak English fluently
  • Maybe a TEFL degree, dependent on the country

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#3: Couch Surf

Couchsurfing.org screenshot. 5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students - Teach English Abroad - The Alternative Ways

Screenshot from Couchsurfing.org.

 

Tired of sketchy hostels – then why not give Couch Surfing a try? This service connects travellers with locals who are willing to let them stay at their humble abode, free of charge!

          Plan your travels carefully in advance using this online service and you will never have to pay for accommodation again.

 

It is not rare to hear stories of travellers utilizing this service for months, even years at a time, sounds crazy right? After checking out their website and seeing how easy it is to access this revolutionary service, you’d be crazy not to do it. This is definitely one of the best cheap ways to travel the world.

          Sometimes you get a room, sometimes you get a couch, sometimes an air mattress, but what you CAN be sure to be getting is a free stay abroad!

 Not convinced? Then check out this info-graphic displaying 5 reasons to consider couch surfing:

5 Reasons to Consider Couch Surfing

    What you need:

  • Sign up and fully complete your Couch Surfing profile
  • Explore and surf the world in over 100,000 cities around the world!

 

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#4: House Sit or Rent Out Your Apartment

House Sit or Rent Out Your Apartment - 5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students - The Alternative Ways

Photo Courtesy of Mark Moz on Flickr Creative Commons

STILL tired of sketchy hostels? Well there is yet another solution: watch someone else’s house while they, themselves, go on their holiday.

          There are a number of websites that serve as a platform where generous people post opportunities for students like you to sit and watch their home for a specified period of time – in exchange for nothing, yes, that’s right – I’m talking about free accommodation!

 

What you need:

  • Sign up and fully complete a profile with either one of these sites:

–       House Carers

–       Mind My House

–       The Caretaker Gazette

 

Another way to circumvent your limited finances is to recover your holiday spending by renting out/sub-letting your apartment whilst you’re away. Be sure to check the listings to make sure you are being competitive with your sub-let rental fee.

What you need:

  • Check out 28 different platforms offering such services
  • A Craigslist account (which you can create for free)
  • Create a Craiglist posting
  • Some decent photos of your apartment to attach to the posting

 

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#5: WWOOFING


Now, I’m sure most of you are asking yourselves, what in the Worldwide-Opportunities-on-Organic-Farms is WWOOFING? Well, just that! 

          This initiative refers to a loose network of national organizations that facilitate placement volunteers (or in this case – broke students, AKA, you!) on organic farms. Did you know that there are WWOOF hosts in over 99 countries around the world!

 

Working on one of these farms will get you free food, accommodation and an opportunity to discover something new, all in exchange for assistance with farming or gardening activities.

          As an added bonus, WWOOFing aims to provide volunteers with first-hand experience in organic and ecologically sound growing methods, to help the organic movement – so you will get the chance to learn something, too – textbook-free!

What you need: 

  • Check out this Post about WWOOFing
  • Choose your WWOOF destination
  • Access the respective WWOOF destination’s web page on the main WWOOF website
  • Begin registration!

 

So there is is, 5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students. You can expect many more posts on alternative ways to travel in the next w

If you enjoyed this article, check us out at The Alternative Ways!!

 

5 Cheap Ways to Travel The World for Broke Students

Headline Photo Courtesy of Jhong DizonPhoto can be found at Flickr Creative Commons.

Justin Laurens

Justin is on a quest to wisdom & enlightenment. Being passionate about life, technology, art and human interactions, he plays an integral role in the Montreal community. You can reach out to him on Facebook or LinkedIn.

All stories by : Justin Laurens
13 Comments
  • 914490 566273i was just browsing along and came upon your internet site. just wantd to say wonderful job and this post genuinely helped me. 291193

    • Appreciate the feedback, thank you! I’m glad you were able to find this post useful. Expect much more in the coming month. We have many more fantastic/unique ideas that we will be writing about – stay tuned!

  • Great Article!

  • Sunny @ PNR Enquiry September 10, 2014 at 10:00 pm

    All the advice you gave are true. As one of your regular readers, this is a fantastic resource for someone to have all your basic tips together in one place.

  • Hi, i read your blog from time to time and i own a
    similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of
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    • Hi, Yes from time to time we get Spam Comments. The best way to deal with it is to mark them as spam on the back-end. Whenever the same spammer comes along it will automatically block it.
      Hope this helps!

  • These are some great ideas! I know teaching English abroad certainly has allowed me to travel, and I used to never go anywhere without couchsurfing! I have yet to try WWOOFing but that’s next on my list!

  • I wish I knew about all of this stuff when I was in college. I defintintely want to try and teach english someday. What countries do you think people should start off at?? I know Korea pays pretty well but they want you to sign a full year contract so if you hate it you can’t quit. If I was still 12-21 I would have loved to do couch surfing but now that I live with someone it’d probably be weird haha

  • Most countries require ESL teachers to have a Bachelors degree and be from a native English speaking country. Not always, but more often than not. I thought in Aourh Korea and know that’s the case for most Asian countries.

  • Oh man, couch surfing makes me so nervous!!! Be careful, people. Haha I’m such a mom now that I’m 29 😛

  • I could never be a porter, I struggle to carry my day pack on hikes!!! I have my TEFL and one day I would like to give teaching a go. Coach surfing I am still unsure of as I have heard mixed reviews but I think I would have a go at house sitting, I could manage that!!

  • While I am no longer a broke student I can remember by backpacking days! Some great tips here. Teaching English sounds like a fabulous experience but I’m not sure I would go for coach surfing!

  • I am so glad that you mentioned Couch Surfing. I am a massive fan and have had so many amazing experiences all over the world and had some great people staying with me. I also had not thought about being a porter!! Although they probably wouldn’t accept me as I am not strong enough but you could always offer to cook, clean etc.
    Thanks for a great post.

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