20 websites for budget travelling in Ukraine and abroad. Free accommodation, work, food

Travel stereotypes have begun to change rapidly. Nowadays, the main thing is to see and learn a lot of new things in a short period of time, and comfort and needs are giving  a way. For example, I want to see the Eiffel Tower or relax in the Carpathians, but I'm not ready to pay a lot of money for an accommodation. Great, I'll find free accommodation, using couchsurfing,  and it's not super important to me that it's not a 4-5 stars host.

Or I have money for  a house and a a flight, but I'm not ready to eat in a cafe, so I'll look for a "foodsharing" and see if someone near me wants to share food (and it's not about leftovers).

The world is developing rapidly, and you may not know about a bunch of services that can solve many issues while traveling for free. You can use them yourself, or help your friends, many of whom are now forced to travel abroad.

Free accommodation on Couchsurf and beyond

You may still not believe it, but the possibility of  a free accommodation is proved by the communities with more than 14 million trips and feedback from those who are already actively using the services.

"We were so impressed with our first trip - free accommodation in an expensive Finnish capital, meeting and communicating with a real Finn, walking around non-touristy places - that we got infected with the idea. Since then, it's hard to remember at least one of our trips where we didn't use guest networks." - Anton and Tetiana (users of the couchsurfing service) shared in an interview with the Ukrainian portal.

COUCHSURFING is a search for  a free accommodation around the world, including Ukraine. There is also a section with offers to accept refugees from Ukraine. The service is absolutely free for Ukrainians. Read all about Couchsurfing (change to the website link) in the article on UAPortal.

trustroots.org - created by a group of programmers from the UK, the site quickly became popular among travelers. The site has 70,000 registered users from all over the world. The site offers not only accommodation, but also free food and some travel services.

servas.org is a cool service for traveling cyclists. More than 100,000 opportunities to spend the night in 161 countries.

bewelcome.org is a joint project of Hospitality and couchsurfers that is definitely worth your attention. The free service allows you to find accommodation in 217 countries among more than 130,000 users.

Free housing in exchange for home care

If this makes it easier for you to accept the gift, because it is more realistic for you, then do not hesitate. After all, people who are leaving for a long time really want their homes to be looked after. And even if they do something, it will be a real surprise. Maybe someone needs to leave animals under the supervision, and someone wants to save money on cleaning. It's a bit difficult for our Ukrainian mentality, but it's already a fairly popular reality.

mindmyhouse - homeowners who have frequent travels or pets or plants that need to be looked after register here. You can find options among 11,044 users. Registration costs $20.

Housecarers - the location is mostly England, Italy and the USA, and the registration fee is $10.

Consider your goal when filling out your personal profile. If you are hoping to find a house for cleaning, your photo in front of a clean apartment will be a plus. Don't be surprised by questions about work or even personal matters, people also need to start trusting you to leave their home or pets with you.

And talk.

And there is such a thing. Free accommodation for the sake of sharing language experience (this is not a dating site). Sometimes you have to learn languages quite quickly, life has proven it, and someone in the world really wants to master Ukrainian. I hope you will find a conversation partner on these sites. It can be quite fun.

talktalkbnb.com - many countries and languages. Let's go to the world of understanding each other.

lingoo.com - a site for teaching your native language abroad. This is your chance to become a freelancer or volunteer.

Home exchange

Don't worry, it won't be forever. Maybe someone will want to rest in Ukraine while you are on vacation somewhere in Europe. This is not a sarcasm, it is quite real. Foreign guests come to Ukraine even now, some on business, some as volunteers, and some out of curiosity. So why don't they provide you with a place to stay in exchange for yours?

homeexchange.com is a fairly popular service. It has a paid registration fee, but free use for the first two weeks. That is, your first exchange of houses or apartments can be completely free. Do you think there is your dream among 400,000 offers?

lovehomeswap.com - has the same conditions as the previous one.

ihen.com - a small database and a low registration fee. Sometimes you don't need much for a dream.

Do you want to live in the airport?

This can come in handy if you arrive quite late and have no other options.

Sleepinginairports.net - search for your airport and offers.

Housing + work

Having a roof over your head and a salary to boot has its advantages. After work, you can explore the city and have something to eat.

workaway.info - if you really want to find a job with housing in your dream country, use a paid subscription for $20. An additional feature on the platform is the search for travel companions. It's more fun to travel together.

worldpackers.com is a community that provides an opportunity to find not only jobs with accommodation, but also food around the world. You need to know English to use the service and have $50 to subscribe.

helpx.net is a free analog of the previous one.

anyworkanywhere - for those who are interested in a short-term work and housing, as well as hostels and volunteer positions.

hippohelp.com - probably the best place to start without any start-up capital. It is completely free.

Free food

And once again, we remind you that food sharing is not about leftovers, or feeding the homeless, or expired food. Believe in the world.

First, you can simply type in Google or Facebook - foodsharing.

Second, you can use the following services:

trustroots.org - there is a section with food. You will be surprised at the number of people in Europe who are willing to share food. Maybe it's time to register Ukraine as well.

foodsharing.de - Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A large database of free food.

Olio is a British mobile app where you can offer to share or receive food.

Creating a safe environment and learning to trust is what we should strive for. We hope that these services will help you or your friends travel and do good around the world.