Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Travel&Dining > Budget Travel
Reload this Page >

Travelling for free! Possible?

Travelling for free! Possible?

Old Oct 19, 2010, 3:33 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 5
Travelling for free! Possible?

Hey all!

Let's start it straight away - has anyone thought of travelling for free or atleast with a very less budget?
Owen Fry is offline  
Old Oct 19, 2010, 9:05 am
  #2  
In Memoriam
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: dallas texas usa
Programs: aa plt 4.9MM LTAC
Posts: 14,828
easy....hitchhike & panhandle....takes some time, but at 0$/hr, quite cheap....have fun...
clacko is offline  
Old Oct 19, 2010, 10:10 am
  #3  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,703
Originally Posted by Owen Fry
Let's start it straight away - has anyone thought of travelling for free or at least with a very less budget?
How do you propose to travel for free?
BearX220 is offline  
Old Oct 19, 2010, 10:16 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Wenatchee, WA
Programs: Lifetime AA Gold-1MM
Posts: 4,909
Where are you leaving from and going to? Seems like you're going to run into some serious issues as soon as you hit an ocean you want to cross. You should check out the Budget Travel Forum here, there are many good tips for traveling for less (although not for free.) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/budget-travel-597/
BLI-Flyer is offline  
Old Oct 19, 2010, 10:48 am
  #5  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Massachusetts, USA; AA Plat, DL GM and Flying Colonel; Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 24,209
Originally Posted by Owen Fry
...has anyone thought of travelling for free or atleast with a very less budget?
Yes.
Efrem is offline  
Old Oct 19, 2010, 10:55 am
  #6  
Moderator: Delta SkyMiles, Luxury Hotels, TravelBuzz! and Italy
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 26,502
Moving thread to the Budget Travel Forum.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator
obscure2k is offline  
Old Oct 19, 2010, 11:54 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Traveling the World
Posts: 6,066
Couch Surfing

You could Couch Surf and stay at people's homes for free(:
danielonn is offline  
Old Oct 20, 2010, 3:41 am
  #8  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Programs: Marriott (Lifetime Titantium), whatever other programs as benefits make sense.
Posts: 1,920
People haven't just thought about it, people have done it. Matador has an article on it, and here is a guy that did it for 400 days. Somewhere I came across a site of a guy who was travelling continuously without any cash.

I have personally met some people travelling on what I consider ridiculous budgets. I met a guy in Costa Rica who was trying to do $US 10 a day on average. he was camping, mostly, and had a fishing rod to catch his own dinner. I met him in Montezuma. He ended up trading a fish he caught with a camp ground owner in exchange for 5 days free camping, saving himself $10 ($2 a night camping fee, I believe).

Of course, with miles and points I have had a few trips where my only expense was taxes on the rewards tickets and food and beverage, but that probably isn't exactly the same thing.
GregWTravels is offline  
Old Oct 20, 2010, 7:05 am
  #9  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Metro DC
Programs: UA Plat, SPG Gold, HH Gold, Priority Club Platinum, Hertz #1 Gold Club
Posts: 291
Walk, run, or hike. LOL
gohan403 is offline  
Old Oct 20, 2010, 10:29 am
  #10  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Wenatchee, WA
Programs: Lifetime AA Gold-1MM
Posts: 4,909
Originally Posted by gohan403
Walk, run, or hike. LOL
You left out swim.
BLI-Flyer is offline  
Old Oct 20, 2010, 10:41 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: NYC
Programs: UA, AA, AGR
Posts: 327
Hitchwiki has a lot of useful general and location-specific advice on hitchhiking, including an interactive map of places where people have tried hitching and reports of the results. In many parts of the world this is a great way to travel for free while seeing more and interacting with more people than one otherwise would when travelling. I've found it can be as fast as travelling by bus, and get you places buses don't go. (Even crossing an ocean isn't a dealbreaker if you're willing to hang around marinas for a few weeks offering to help sail/cook/etc, though I haven't tried this.) The associated Trashwiki might be useful for the "food and beverage" side of things, though it is much less extensive as yet (Hitchwiki itself occasionally has info on missionary food and the like). Couchsurfing of course has been discussed in this forum many times (though if you're hitchhiking you should also be prepared to camp in the middle of nowhere if necessary).

For a completely different approach to travelling free, Free Frequent Flyer Miles and Frugal Travel Guy (as well as the miles&points forums here at Flyertalk) provide advice on racking up thousands of frequent flyer miles and hotel points entirely through credit card offers and similar promotions. Sometimes just opening a checking account or making a single purchase with a new credit card yields enough miles for a free roundtrip flight.

Of course, neither of these approaches works perfectly reliably in all situations. I find it most effective and rewarding to combine the two, e.g. arriving in a city hitchhiking in the back of a pickup and departing on a business class award ticket (though I've never found hotel rooms to be worth the points or money compared to hostels/camping/couchsurfing). Even then, it's pretty difficult to NEVER spend money, but I've definitely travelled for much less than I would have spent if I had stayed home.

Last edited by lexande; Oct 20, 2010 at 10:54 pm
lexande is offline  
Old Oct 21, 2010, 12:42 am
  #12  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 836
I always do that. One is borned "free" and have free will. I don't see much things on earth are better than travel for free. But sometimes traveling for a lesser price or just half price is already quite enjoyable.
philosophy_king is offline  
Old Oct 21, 2010, 4:07 am
  #13  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 5
Originally Posted by danielonn
You could Couch Surf and stay at people's homes for free(:
Great tip! But from where one can get about people who offer free staying at their home? Is there any website which lists them?
Owen Fry is offline  
Old Oct 21, 2010, 4:46 am
  #14  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: 60137
Posts: 10,498
Originally Posted by Owen Fry
Great tip! But from where one can get about people who offer free staying at their home? Is there any website which lists them?

See Post #11.
sonofzeus is offline  
Old Oct 21, 2010, 8:23 am
  #15  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2
Question Anyone actually tried Couchsurfing?

Hs anyone in this forum actually tried couch surfing? I like the idea of it but obviously there are safety. I'd like to think i'd have the trust in humanity to give it a go but i'd like to hear some personal experiences.
bdjackson is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.