As I have explored in previous posts, working vacations are a great way to finance your travels abroad. Previously, I noted Help Exchange and WWOOFing as options for working abroad.

I recently ran across Michael Page recruitment, which covers everything dealing with working in the UK. It’s a helpful resource that is a great starting point for researching jobs and careers in the UK. The site has a focus on careers instead of working as a laborer. The site has listings for bankers, engineers, accountants, IT Professionals, and many others.

What sets Michael Page apart from other working vacations is the professionalism of this this way of traveling abroad. Michael Page Recruitment is more of a career first, travel second type of option which can appeal to anyone looking to travel while advancing their career.

Michael Page International also offers consulting and information dealing with everything necessary to live in the Uk, like Visas, bank accounts, and everything else imaginable.

So if you cannot afford to take a sabbatical to travel, consider working professionally in the UK.

Alot like my previous post on WWOOFing, I found another site called helpx.net (help exchange) which offers pretty much the same programs as th WWOOF sites do, but on a smaller scale. Help exchange is another way to gain free accommodation and meals while traveling abroad.

One difference between WWOOFing and going through help exchange is that HelpX does not limit its work to only organic farms.

… an online listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&B, inns, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and accommodation (board and lodging)…

So if you were intersted in WWOOF, but the whole organic lifestyle would not fit, HelpX can offer you a different type of working holiday for travel.

At the top of every budget traveler’s bookmarks should be the new hip CouchSurfing 2.0, a website that offers free accommodations, and possibly meals, to almost anyone. Couch surfing is two year old online community with about 50,000 members offering their a room or couch for a free bed to travelers.

There is not real hitch, except that to join the community, you would be expected to offer a room or couch of your own for someone to stay at. The majority of couch surfers age anywhere between 20 and 30 years old, and its members reside in pretty much every country worth traveling to.

Couch Surfing is not the only hospitality community available to use on the internet. HospitalityClub.org is another alternative that was started in 2000. Hospitality Club is actually the largest hospitality club, and it works the same way Couch Surfing works.

A third and final free travel and accommodation website is GlobalFreeloaders.com. I believe this is the smallest of the three, and they are alot like the other hospitality sites. Although, Global Freeloader states that if someone should accept a free stay from someone else, they should be able to offer a free stay at their place in the next 6 months. This is a good idea to discourage people who want to cheat the system.

[tags] couch surfing, budget travel [/tags]

WWOOF’ing is a new travel idea that I just ran across recently. It allows travelers to obtain free accommodations, and also food sometimes, in thousands of destinations accross the world. No, this isn’t a scam, because you do pay for your stay in ways other than the local currency.

WWOOF stands for World Wide Oppurtunities on Organic Farms or Willing Workers on Organic Farms. The name is pretty self explanatory, but in a short description, travelers are expected to work in exchange for room and board.

WWOOF.org is the official site online for people who may be interested. They have links to 24 national WWOOFing organizations, and to independent hosts in 50 other countries. The national WWOOFing organizations require its members to pay a membership fee, but the independent hosts do not.

A picture of a WWOOF farm in New Zealand, from WWOOOF New Zealand