4 Ways to Travel for (Nearly) Free

Ask anyone about travelling and normally they will say: ‘I’d love to travel more but I simply don’t have the money.’ I know because I am guilty of this too. However, we buy tonnes of things that we don’t need every single day.

So cut back, save a little, and get smart with how you travel. With so many different options out there, money shouldn’t hold you back. If you’re willing to open your mind to other ideas and options, you might end up travelling to a country or two and spend very little money in the process.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Sell your time

Now, what does this actually mean? Well, if you give up some of your time to dedicate to a few hours of work each day, in turn you might not have to pay for things like accommodation, food and possibly other benefits. On top of this you will likely be helping a local group or individual in the process. In addition to saving money, this is a chance to get to know the local people and the country you are visiting a little better. Volunteer work exchanges are great for all you adventurous types who are willing to take on something different and seek a deeper knowledge of a destination.

Here are a few volunteer exchanges to think about:

WWOOF

HelpX

Work Away

2. Couch Surfing

Everyone knows about Couchsurfing nowadays. The concept is simple: if you’re too poor for accommodation, you Couchsurf. If you’re in another country and you meet someone through Couchsurfing, it not only makes your travels cheaper but more enjoyable. Making friends also means you get to split things, whether it’s a room, dinner or a taxi. If you’re not into crashing on a couch for the night, you can instead look into house sitting.

Here are a few house sitting websites to check out:

House it World

Trusted House Sitters

3. Teach English abroad

Hundreds of people a year put on their backpacks and take off to schools around the world to teach English. South East Asia and South America are particularly popular destinations for this. Whilst teaching you are almost always guaranteed free accommodation and some organisations even pay a monthly wage for your skills (but beware, don’t expect to be rich!). If you’re hoping to earn money through teaching, why not look into completing a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)? This could increase your chance of earning a few bob.

4. Freelance

The idea of travelling and writing for a living is what many of us dream about when we wake up every morning to our 9 to 5 office jobs. However, although this may be the stuff of dreams, freelancing could be a way of earning a bit of extra cash whilst you are on your travels. Many travel blogs and websites are always looking for contributors and are willing to pay a small sum for each article. Do some research and see what you can find. You never know, it could also help you work towards living that dream of travelling the world for a living.

5 Life Changing Travel Experiences

Source: gapyear.com

Spot the Big 5 on safari

This life changing travel experience is one for animal lovers. Countries where you can spot all members of the big five include South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Botswana. Remember to have your camera at the ready!

Source: VisitNorway

Witness the Northern Lights

The Northern Lights can be viewed from many countries such as Norway, Finland, Canada and even Alaska. However nothing is guaranteed, which makes catching a glimpse an experience of a lifetime.

Source: onestep4ward

Climb Kilimanjaro

If you’re looking for a challenge of a lifetime climbing the world’s highest walkable peak may be just the thing for you. The best time for climbing Kilimanjaro is between January and mid-March or June through October, and many people choose to take up the challenge whilst raising money towards a good cause.

Source: theplanetd

Travel to Antarctica

Very few people can say that they have witnessed first-hand the nature and wildlife of Antarctica. If you’re lucky enough to be one of those few, how life changing is that?!

Source: Penguintravel

Ride the Trans-Siberian Railway

The 9,288m trek through eight time zones is considered one of the most memorable journeys you can take. So if you’re spontaneous enough to buy a ticket this could be one train ride that could change your life.

How to See the World for Free

Work on a farm

Travellers who are prepared to put in a hard days work can stay in beautiful locations for next to nothing by joining a farm volunteer scheme. Lots of farms around the world invite people to volunteer in exchange for free food and accommodation. Not only are these great eco-friendly projects but if your willing to get your hands dirty, it’s a way to learn about rural life and enjoy a long-term visit on the cheap.

Most farms require you to stay for at least one or two weeks but the length of stay can usually be negotiated with your hosts. Your work could involve anything from picking fruit to building barns, learning about organic crops or setting up an irrigation system.

If you’re on a tight budget but still itching for an adventure you can look for farms that are open to volunteers through sites such as wwoof.net (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) or Growfood

Crew a ship

An increasingly popular way to travel around the world is to crew a ship and earn your passage. You can’t sail a ship without a crew and nowadays adverts for crew are posted online, giving the ordinary landlubber the opportunity to sail the oceans on the cheap, provided they are will to get their hands dirty and scrub the decks.

Some trips, especially longer ones, will require the crew to have previous experience. However, there are still many opportunities for complete beginners to muck in and pick up sailing skills along the way. If you have no previous experience, you are more likely to be helping with the basic tasks, such as cooking and cleaning.

Sometimes expenses are covered and sometimes the crew will be expected to pay their way, but this should be no more than between £15-25 a day. More experienced crew could even be paid for their work, which can be between £200-500 per week.

If sailing the seven seas is something which takes your fancy check out these useful websites:

Crewseekers International, Find A Crew, Crewbay, Sailing Networks, Ocean Crew Link

Top 5 Unluckiest Places in the World

The Mayans thought the world was going to end in 2012 but according to Viking legend the Apocalypse is actually due in February 2014. So, could 2014 really be our unlucky year? I doubt many of us will believe that. However if you’re superstitious or not, a trip to one of these unlucky destinations may make you start believing.

Source: Paranormal Events

Bhangarh, Rajasthan, India

Considered as a ghost town in India, it is believed in the early 17^th century, Madho Signh, a fierce ruler, sought to construct his capital at Bhangarh. During the time a saint named Baba Balanath warned the king not to raise his buildings to heights that would cast a shadow over his cherished salvation spot. Madho Singh obliged, but years later, Ajab Singh added onto the fort, unleashing a series of peculiar events that swiftly led to the city’s doom.

Source: Wikipedia

Rose Hall, Montego Bay, Jamaica

Legend states that Rose Hall was the abode of White Witch, Annie Palmer who was brought up by a Haitian nanny who practiced voodoo. When it comes to curses nothing seems quite as infamous as a voodoo spell, and it is commonly believed that Annie Palmer was responsible for the murder of three husbands and multiple lovers over the course of a decade. Today she is regularly seen wandering her house with her collection of murdered men stalking the terrified visitors.

Source: mstecker

Drake Passage, Patagonia, Chile & Argentina

Between the southern tip of South America and the icy fringes of Antarctica, lies a grey expanse of crashing waves famously known as the Drake Passage. With torrential winds that like to change direction, this turbulent route between seas is not for the faint hearted. Named after the famous British explorer Sir Francis Drake, this body of water has been the demise of countless vessels, including the San Telmo, the flagship of the Spanish Armada bound for Peru.

Source: built.org.uk

Tower of London, London, UK

The notorious Tower of London is famous for being the last destination for many poor criminals and unlucky nobles who met their death by the executioner’s blade. The grounds are said to be haunted by popular spirits such as Thomas Beckett and Henry VI who miserably walk the cold stone halls. The most famous spirit Countess of Salisbury, who in 1541 was hacked to death by her executioner after trying to escape from the gallows, is regularly seen. Some people have even claimed to have seen her grisly death acted out by other spirits.

Bermuda Triangle, Atlantic Ocean

Obviously no unlucky list would be complete without the famous triangle of terror that spans across the Atlantic Ocean from the shores of Florida, over to San Juan, Puerto Rico and up to its namesake island of Bermuda. The legend of the Bermuda Triangle first began during the 1950s when five fighter planes mysteriously disappeared during a training session. Since then, it has grown in notoriety after subsequent tragedies involving additional planes and boats. Whilst sceptics like to blame magnetic fields and hurricane-prone winds, there are still many true believers out there who insist supernatural forces are to blame.

5 Weird Foods From Around The World

Everyone has different tastes and as they say – one man’s meat is another man’s poison Here’s my top 5 weird foods from around the world. Like that old saying goes: every man to his taste. Warning: the content of this blog post is not for those of a weak constitution.

Source: Georama

Deep Fried Tarantula, Cambodia When most sane people are confronted with a large, hairy and venomous tarantula the one thing on their mind is to run away fast. However, in Cambodia many choose to eat it and the fried tarantula is a common and much appreciated delicacy (crazy huh?). The spiders – usually the size of a human hand – are tossed in garlic and salt before being deep fried until nice and crispy. Most people only eat the upper body flesh and legs (dipping them into sauce for extra flavour), but the very bravest choose to also eat the abdomen which contains a brown, runny paste, and sometimes even the eggs. Yummy!

Source: souschef

Century Eggs, China Speaking of eggs, no eggs in the world can top that of China’s infamous Century Eggs. Century Eggs have many names – millennium eggs, thousand-year-old eggs or pidan, but are essentially quail, duck or chicken eggs preserved in a mixture of ashes, clay and salt for several months. During this bizarre process, the egg’s white turns into a jelly-like brown mixture, while the yolk takes a mouldy greenish hue. Century eggs emit a powerful smell of sulphur and ammonia, and its taste is what the polite would say strong and interesting. Definitely not for those with a weak stomach.

Source: 0assf

Casu Marzu, Italy Oh cheese, glorious cheese! Who doesn’t enjoy a good slice of cheese? But if you actually took time to think about it, cheese is pretty weird – essentially just fermented milk, full of germs and all sorts of bacteria. But we can stomach this fact as cheese just tastes so good. However, the Casu Marzu goes way beyond simple fermentation to the point of actual decomposition. This Italian sheep milk cheese is crawling with live fly larvae (AKA maggots to the normal person), and not by accident but on purpose. At the end of the making process, the crust is cut open in order to let flies lay their eggs in the cheese. Once those eggs hatch, the little larvae make their home within the cheese. Some people love to eat their casu marzu with the larvae still alive and wriggling, not-so-brave others prefer to suffocate them with a paper bag prior to tucking in. Live Cobra Heart, Vietnam The act of eating live cobra hearts cannot be considered common place in Vietnam, but some people do eat them. As is the case for most things like this, eating a cobra heart is entirely down to superstition – many people believe that by eating a snake live, they will inherit a part of its power and enhance their strength. The ritual consists of the following: a lucky live cobra is picked out by the customer (the meaner, the better), its head is then unceremoniously cut-off and it’s still beating heart is ripped out and placed on a saucer, and finally garnished with a little blood. The heroic eater is then supposed to tilt their head back and swallow the heart whole. This type of dining is certainly not for the faint hearted.

Source: streetgormetla

Escamoles, Mexico

A word of warning – please be careful next time you’re in Mexico and are ordering food. Next time you tuck into Mexico’s famous bean selection, those charming little white ones might just as well be escamoles. Escamoles, also known as giant black Lipometum ants’ eggs, are considered an ‘insect caviar’ and apparently have a nice buttery taste. A good way of detecting these ‘bad eggs’ is to keep in mind that they have a consistency very similar to cottage cheese. No need to thank me!

5 Retro Posters to Inspire You to Travel

 

Mindful Wanderlust

Store Vintage

Strange Line

Flickr

Flickr

 

5 of the World’s Wackiest Restaurants

Source: DailyNews

Magic Restroom Café, Los Angeles

The idea of sitting on a toilet in public is a horrifying concept for some, but not for those dining at the Magic Restroom, where loos are the focus of the new restaurant in LA. Inspired by God knows what, Magic Restroom owner YoYo Li has introduced toilets as seats and a mix of yummy Asian and western food – like zha jiang mian, named ‘constipation’ on the menu and braised port over rice, (‘smells-like-poop’). If you really feel like treating yourself why not try one of the sundaes, choose from chocolate ‘black poop’ or the vanilla-strawberry sundae ‘bloody number two’, all served in miniature toilet bowls (of course!). Revolting and hysterical in equal measure.

Source: The Guardian

Twin Stars Diner, Moscow

Just as the name suggests, at the Twin Stars diner all the staff – from waiters to bartenders and even the chefs – are identically-dressed twins. The almost fetish concept was brought to life by Alexei Khodorkovsky who says it’s been hard to find suitably qualified twins but the concept is paying off and is a hit with the locals. Plus if you’re a twin living in Moscow you know where to go for a part-time job.

Source: DailyNews

Barbie restaurant, Taipei, Tawain

The Far East’s love of all things cute and fluffy is a well-known fact, so Taipei’s popular Barbie restaurant comes as no surprise. It is staffed by waitresses in sickly bright pink tops, tutus and tiaras, and there’s enough pink food to make you think someone has slipped something funny in your drink.

Source: The Age

Draculas and Witches in Britches, Melbourne, Australia

Due to the Twilight phenomenon and the current obsession with vampires, horror-themed theatre restaurants have become popular haunts of the city. Dracluas offers a camp cabaret during a three-course dinner that begins with drinks in the Graveyard cocktail lounge and a ghost-train ride.

Alternatively, if 40-year-old witches float your boat head to Witches in Britches for a kitschy interactive pop show and a five-course meal that starts with pumpkin soup ladled from a cauldron.

Source: The Telegraph

The Heart Attack Grill, Las Vegas

It’s a common cliché that Americans love big portions, and to embrace this head to the Heart Attack Grill in Vegas (obviously!) for a serving of obscenely huge burgers with sides of fries deep-fried in lard. For purely comical purposes, diners are given hospital style gowns before tucking into a towering heart attack on a plate made with four beef burgers and 20 slices of bacon. However, there is no need to worry that your health is in danger, waitresses dressed as nurses are on stand-by to help you out of the restaurant in a wheelchair if necessary.

5 Best Places to Catch the Sunrise

1. Stonehenge, England

Sun worshipers gather here annually to watch the sun rise on Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Stonehenge is a mysterious destination that continues to hold deep spiritual value for travellers.

2. Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Angkor Wat at any time of the day is an impressive sight, but arriving early enough to watch the sunrise provides something a little more special for visitors.

3. Mount Kilimanjaro, Tansania

What better way to celebrate climbing to Kili’s summit (19,341 feet above sea level) then to witness on of it’s glorious sunrises. If you’re one of the dedicated souls who are attempting the climb make sure you don’t miss out.

4. Svalbard, Norway

Situated north of the Arcitc Circle, the northernmost inhabited spot of the planet features the midnight sun. This is the phenomenon where the sun stays continously in the sky for 24 hours a day.

5. Grand Canyon, Arizona

The Grand Canyon hosts the most impressive sunrises in the United States. The enchanting shades of bronze and orange against the stunning scenery is well worth getting up early for.

Top 5 Toilets With A View

1. Boston Bay high camp, Wshington State

2. Mount Sinai, Egypt

3. Alcatraz Island, San Fransisco

4. Mount McKinley, Alaska

5. Tasman Glacier, New Zealand

10 Most Beautiful Buildings In The World

As a History of Art student at heart, Antonio Gaudi’s eccentric masterpiece will always be one of my favourite buildings in the world. Arguably the most extraordinary church on the planet, construction of the Sagrada Familia began in 1882, and as Gaudi’s vision was so complex it still remains unfinished to this day. However, plans have been made to have the icon of Barcelona completed by 2026, the 100^th anniversary of Gaudi’s death, although it might be a shame to actually see the structure as completed.

On the banks of the Neva River in St Petersburg stands a remarkable former residence of the Russian tsars, designed by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The baroque ornamentation and grand statues which line its roof edges symbolise a lost time in Russia’s history when tsars held the power. Nowadays the building is better known as the State Hermitage Museum and is a must-see if you’re lucky enough to visit St. Petersburg.

Arguably named the most famous building in the world, the Taj Mahal has become the romantic symbol of India. The Taj Mahal was built in Agra by Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14^th child in 1631. Described by Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore as ‘a teardrop on the face of eternity’, this monument of love continues to attract people nearly 400 years on.

Whether you love it or hate, the Museo Guggenheim never fails to create an impression. Designed by Frank Gehry in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao, this building opened in 1997 and became one of the most influential and striking buildings in modern architecture. The museum symbolizes Bilbao’s industrialism through its ribbon-like sheets of titanium and metallic surfaces. However, the inside of the Guggenheim will fail to disappoint too as it houses some incredible art work.

Situated at the heart of Istanbul, the Aya Sofya demands attention standing as an enormous structure with four minarets, and an imposing dome (31m wide and 56m high). However, what is more striking about this building is not its architecture but rather its history. Constructed in the 6^th century AD intended as an Orthodox church, it later became a mosque, and has recently been transformed into a museum.

As the former seat of the Tibetan government and the winter residence of the Dalai Lama, the Potala Palace is perched high above the holy city of Lhasa. The palace is now a state museum of China, and has been given a place on the Unesco World Heritage list. In addition to its remarkable history, this palace is most famous for its imposing presence, as it includes 13 floors and contains thousands of rooms.

As a symbol of Australia, many would be surprised to know that the Opera House was built by Danish architect Jorn Utzon after winning a competition for his design in 1956. It’s been poetically described as everything from a typewriter stuffed with scallop shells to the sexual congress of turtles. While the view is pretty spectacular from any angle, the best way to take some great photographs is by catching a ferry view approaching Circular Quay. Australia’s most recognised icon once inspired architect Louis Kahn to claim: ‘The sun did not know how beautiful its light was until it was reflected off this building.’

Completely covered, inside and out, with pale blue and yellow ceramic tiles, this stunning 17^th century mosque sits beside one of the world’s largest squares. Esfahan’s Emam Mosque is a wonder; its tiles seeming to change colour depending on the light conditions. This remains a supreme example of architecture from the Safavid period (1502 – 1772).

Situated in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra, this elaborate temple is carved out of a sandstone rock face. Al Khazneh was originally built as a mausoleum and crypt at the beginning of the 1^st century and is steeped in history. Although many of the building’s architectural details have eroded away during the two thousand years it was carved and sculpted, the site still remains an incredibly popular tourist attraction.

This 19^th century Romanesque palace sits on a rugged hill overlooking the village of Hohenschwangau near Fussen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by the reclusive Ludwig II of Bavaria as a personal refuge, but it was opened to the public immediately after his death in 1886. More notably, the palace has appeared in several movies and was the inspiration for Walt Disney, making it the ultimate fairy tale castle.