Traveling around the world is a dream for many, but the high costs are often a deterrent. Fortunately, there is a way to discover the world inexpensively and gain unforgettable experiences at the same time: Workaway.
What is Workaway?
Workaway is a platform that connects travelers with hosts all over the world. In exchange for a few hours of work per day, you receive free accommodation and sometimes even meals. This can range from volunteering in a youth hostel, helping on a farm or supporting social projects.
Why Workaway?
- Save costs: With free accommodation and sometimes meals, you save significant travel costs.
- Cultural exchange: You get to know the local culture first-hand and can make real connections with people all over the world.
- New skills: Whether it’s farming, language teaching or manual labor, you’ll be constantly learning new skills.
- Flexibility: Workaway offers projects in over 170 countries, so you can choose your destinations flexibly.
Why locals are particularly valuable as hosts
One of the biggest highlights of our workaway experience was living with local hosts. The cultural exchange is particularly intense here, as you are directly involved in people’s everyday lives. You learn so much about traditions, ways of life and the little secrets of the place that normally remain hidden from tourists.
Local hosts often take the time to show you their favorite places and tell you stories about their culture and history. These personal insights not only make your trip more exciting, but also more meaningful.
Tips for workaway beginners
- Optimize your profile: Make sure your profile is completely filled out and add a friendly photo. Describe your skills and interests in detail. Also verify your passport to show that your account is genuine.
- Apply early: Popular hosts can book up quickly, so apply early. But also look out for the last minute symbol on hosts. This indicates urgency and current vacancies and can typically offer you quicker commitments.
- Show flexibility: Be open to different types of work and flexible in terms of working hours. Even if some jobs are new or completely unknown to you, it is still worth applying for a position, as motivation is very important to many hosts. So don’t hesitate and write to several hosts to maximize your chances.
Register with Workaway
If you also want to travel the world on a budget and gain unforgettable experiences, then sign up for Workaway. Use our affiliate link to get started right away, get a month for free and support us at the same time: Join Workaway.
You have the option of creating a Single Account for one person or a Couple Account for two people. The latter is cheaper and is perfect for traveling together.
With Workaway you can not only travel cheaply, but also experience the world in a way that is often not possible as a normal tourist. Start your adventure today!
Our conclusion and our experience with Workaway
There are many similar providers to Workaway, but we deliberately chose this one because it has been around for a long time and has a wide range of hosts worldwide. As a result, Workaway shows consistency and the hosts have frequently been with the company for many years and are very experienced.
We have been able to use Workaway several times and have even been able to save money with our couple account. For example, we stayed in a hostel in the Philippines, on a farm in Vietnam and taught German to a family in Bali, Indonesia.
Many hosts accept short stays of between one week and various months, which gives you the unique opportunity to stay in one place for a long time or to use Workaway for short transits. We also wrote an article about our time as a volunteer at the Waldorf Kindergarten in Thailand with Workaway.
If you want to be even more relaxed and are an animal lover, you can also try TrustedHousesitters. We have also written an article about this for you.