My next adventure....Chile and Argentina

 I leave for Santiago, Chile on October 30th.  Here's my general schedule:

October 31 - arrive in Santiago and spend one week there with friends I've already made and been communicating with online from couchsurfing and Facebook. (Claudia, Patricio, Alejandra).

November 6 - 18? - go to Isla Negra off the coast (2 hours from Santiago, south of San Antonio) and do a work exchange at a small peaceful hostel with owner Sandra.  I do whatever work she wants from me for apprx. 25 hours per week and she gives me a bed, food, Spanish speaking, and help to see the sights and get around the area. 
 

Nov. 19-29 -  Unplanned so far:  I'm thinking I'll go to Valparaiso, a coast city, or to the wine country, or back to Santiago to do some hiking in the Andes. 

Nov. 30 - Dec. 13 - Two weeks of trekking in Patagonia area with Active Adventures.  They take care of everything.  I just show up and enjoy the other hikers and amazing scenery.


Dec. 13 - 23 - Unplanned so far.  This will be my last ten days to get in anything I hope to see before I fly out on Dec. 23rd.

More Practice posts

This is more blog post practice on the tablet.
Had lunch this weekend with girlfriends who have been getting together since 1980. We were missing one, Diane.  "Old" friends are  awesome! 

A practice post from Longmont

The photo is from a trail run in the foothills of Boulder last week. The fall colors are amazing!

Free, brief stays with an individual or a family

Do you want to stay with someone who can tell you about that place and who offers you a couch or room for a night or two for free?  Stay with a host family/person - no money exchanged and no expectations of services from your host.  In some cases you may just get a place to stay from a nice person and in other cases you will make a great friend!

Couch Surfing     Couchsurfing.org
A free service - just create an account.  Once you have an account you can choose to be a surfer or a host.  If you want to surf, you choose your destination, tell what you hope to do there, and see possible hosts.  Anyone can offer to host, but you can see if the host has positive References from other couch surfers, you can read what the host writes about him or herself, then you can correspond over the couchsurfing website.

I've been on this site for over a year and am impressed with it! I hosted one couch surfer and it was a very good experience. 

From their website:  You have friends all over the world, you just haven’t met them yet.
Couchsurfing is a service that connects members to a global community of travelers. Use Couchsurfing to find a place to stay or share your home and hometown with travelers.


Global Freeloaders website
Similar to couchsurfing but word has it that a quiet, possibly older crowd prefers this site over couchsurfing.
It's easy to make a free account.  They offer free accomodations with hosts all over the world!

From their website: GlobalFreeloaders.com is an online community, bringing people together to offer you free accommodation all over the world. Save money and make new friends whilst seeing the world from a local's perspective!



Hospitality Club website
I haven't joined but it sounds similar to the two sites above.

From their website:  The Hospitality Club is the world's largest hospitality exchange organization. We are thousands of friendly members world wide who offer each other free accommodation when traveling. Membership is free and joining just takes a minute - we would love to have you onboard!


Servas Home Stay site   Servas.org
I have no experience with Servas, but it sounds like you apply to be a traveller or a host, you get interviewed, and if approved you are put on their list.  The host is only obligated to offer 2 nights of hosting if they agree to take a traveller.  It says "a small fee will be involved".  





From their website:  Servas is an international, non-governmental, multicultural peace association run by volunteers in over 100 countries.  We operate through a network of Servas hosts around the world who are interested in opening their doors to travellers , and of Servas travellers who want to get to know the heart of the countries they visit.

Host Lists are provided for the countries a traveller will be visiting. A deposit is required for Host Lists, and this is refunded when the lists are returned, together with a travel report.  

Overseas Work Exchange Sites

What is a work exchange?  Do specified work for someone in exchange for room & meals. Time commitments vary.  See info & sites in this post. 

I met with Francoise from Boulder, who has made travel her top priority for her entire adult life.  She just returned from over 6 months of travel, most recently on work exchange to Ireland (did a website for the castle she lived in), Scotland (worked at a bed & breakfast), New Zealand (made a video), and some months seeing the U.S.  She's recently done 5 experiences through Workaway.info and says they've been amazing!


Francoise (www.differenttrails.com)  also reports that she travelled more inexpensively than ever because by exchanging her work for living accommodations and meals, she had very little to pay for.  And, she made some lifelong friends at each work exchange experience.  What skills do you have that you could exchange for foreign hospitality?

On work exchanges, you pay a subscription fee to the website you sign up on to find a placement, but you don't pay for the work exchange itself.  You exchange your labor for room and board, usually including food. Below are some work exchange sites. 

Workaway.info  http://www.workaway.info/
Create your profile and look at work exchange opportunities and select those you'd like to do.  Those offering the work can then choose you.  Search for opportunities in many different ways.  Read reviews from others who have done the work for a certain business.  Days and times for the work exchanges vary.  This is the site Francoise has used and has been very happy with her experiences.


WWOOF.  http://wwoofinternational.org/
Work exchange on organic farms. 
WWOOF organisations connect people who want to live and learn on organic farms and smallholdings with people who are looking for volunteer help.
WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles. Volunteers give hands on help in return.


Help X.    http://www.helpx.net/
HelpX is an online listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and accommodation.



Team Rubicon     http://teamrubiconusa.org/
Go to the site of a disaster to help immediately after the disaster happens. 
From the website:  Volunteers help at sites of natural disasters through this organization immediately after the event happens.  "Bridge the Gap" refers to Team Rubicon's primary mission of providing disaster relief between the moment a disaster happens and the point at which conventional aid organizations respond. The "gap" is primarily time.

House-sitting and Pet-sitting opportunities in the world

Below are 5 house-sitting/pet-sitting websites to find house-sits in the US and internationally. The descriptions are from a very good travel blog (www.hecktictravels.com) that is not mine.

Trustedhousesitters.com - $60/year

- The functionality of the site is one of the best out there. And even though they are fairly new to the game, they are working hard to be the number one site out there, of which we are sure they will get there!

Mindmyhouse.com – $20/year

- This is the first website we signed up to, and got us our wonderful house sitting job in British Columbia. While this site doesn’t have as many listings as others, it is very easy to use and has the lowest subscription cost.

Housecarers.com – $50/year

- The home owner here in Honduras saw our profile online and contacted us directly through this website. We have since gotten other home owners tracking us down on here as well. It has one of the bigger networks of home owners, but the layout and functionality of this site needs some improvement. The majority of listings on this website are for Australia.

Caretaker.org – $29.95/year

- This is the only one of these four websites that doesn’t allow you to peruse all listings for free- you have to become a paid member to get in their database. It is a popular one though, and also includes opportunities to take care of and operate functional properties as well (i.e. bed and breakfasts, etc.)

http://www.sabbaticalhomes.com -
 
From me:  This site is for educators and says it's for all types of housing - house swaps, exchanges, sharing, and rentals.  You can also use it if you're not in education.  House-swaps are available for $45 fee for 14 months on the site for educators ($65 non-educator).  House sits are free to set up for educators.  You can see all the listings before you pay the fee. 

Two short articles about housesitting from a great travel blog.

http://www.hecktictravels.com/housesitting-101

http://www.hecktictravels.com/housesitting-201

Thinking about the next travel adventure....

Hello to my friends,
I'm still in beautiful Longmont, Colorado and have no big trips planned because I'm working until the first of June, 2014! 

I am going to be posting on this blog again, but not travel stories - travel resources.  It will be the place where I post ideas for traveling for those who don't want to spend all their time with tour groups. 

If you don't want to receive these posts, you can UNSUBSCRIBE to my blog.  When you read this in your email, go to the bottom of the screen and click on the Unsubscribe link.

The picture is from my hike today with Cousin Dean at Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park - beautiful!

Happy Holidays to all.  Love,  Kim