How about the finances?
At the beginning of our adventure, when we were traveling with the motorcycles, we thought that the monthly costs for the insurance and tax of the vehicles as well as things that we consider necessary (such as health insurance, internet, etc.) would come out of our savings. We wanted to earn the living costs, fuel costs and any repairs by working locally. However, we didn’t always expect money as a wage. A hot meal or breakfast, a warm shower, a safe place for our tent or maybe even a night in a warm bed would be enough for us in between.
Through the Workaway platform, we were able to find hosts who offered us these opportunities. Work in exchange for board and lodging, or so the theory went. Unfortunately, in our opinion, the practice was different.
When selecting the work on offer, we were mainly interested in gardening, housework and animal projects. We therefore chose various hosts who were looking for helpers for precisely these tasks. Only in one of our hosts was the principle of what Workaway actually stands for pretty much adhered to. We had all the food we needed. There was one shared meal a day, which was always prepared by the hostess or a few times by me, although this was then counted as working time. We also had accommodation with our own cooking facilities and a variety of work, where we learned a lot and had a lot of fun.
Most hosts expect a lot of work from you, preferably with prior knowledge, and don’t even offer food or at least groceries to cook for yourself. Others expect you to travel in a camper, in which you then also live. Some offer at least one meal, others do not. In other words, work to park your camper safely, otherwise nothing in return.
It was a great experience that we wouldn’t want to have missed. Unfortunately, our expectations (apart from this one host) of learning something new at work, saving money or even earning money, getting to know the country and its people up close, as stated in the offers on the Workaway pages, were not fulfilled.
Nevertheless, we can actually imagine visiting one or two hosts again at some point. But with completely different prerequisites and expectations. More for us as an occupation, to get to know nice people and possibly take something positive away from the work we did.
It was not the aim of our trip to work the whole time, which is why we tried to find a good mix of work and travel after our first workaway experience.
As wild camping is usually prohibited, we had to rely on accommodation. However, most of them were beyond our budget and even the cost of camping on a campsite was not much different from guesthouses or the like.
With food and fuel costs, we were rarely over budget.
After we switched from two wheels and a tent to a camper after a short time, we no longer had to worry about how we could get a better grip on our finances. After all, traveling with a camper or motorhome results in a completely different set of costs.
After a good year of traveling with the camper, we can say that we have been able to keep within our budget.
The cost of living varies from country to country.
France, for example, is an expensive country. In Portugal and Spain, it all depends on where and what food you buy.
There are many free, official pitches for motorhomes and campers. Free parking is also possible here and there.
Even if we do end up on a paid campsite or pitch for campers/caravans only, the overnight costs are balanced out by the fuel costs, depending on the length of our stay. As we don’t drive the camper and only ride the motorcycle during a longer stay, we have a much lower fuel consumption. For example, in the months we spent on a pitch in Portugal for the winter, the monthly accommodation costs are so cheap compared to the fuel that we even benefit from them. So we can save a lot of money on fuel and accommodation costs if we either travel slowly (i.e. a few kilometers a day) and use free pitches, stay for 2-6 days before continuing our journey. Or stay on cheap, chargeable pitches for long enough to balance out the fuel costs.
How about the finances?
At the beginning of our adventure, when we were traveling with the motorcycles, we thought that the monthly costs for the insurance and tax of the vehicles as well as things that we consider necessary (such as health insurance, internet, etc.) would come out of our savings. We wanted to earn the living costs, fuel costs and any repairs by working locally. However, we didn’t always expect money as a wage. A hot meal or breakfast, a warm shower, a safe place for our tent or maybe even a night in a warm bed would be enough for us in between.
Through the Workaway platform, we were able to find hosts who offered us these opportunities. Work in exchange for board and lodging, or so the theory went. Unfortunately, in our opinion, the practice was different.
When selecting the work on offer, we were mainly interested in gardening, housework and animal projects. We therefore chose various hosts who were looking for helpers for precisely these tasks. Only in one of our hosts was the principle of what Workaway actually stands for pretty much adhered to. We had all the food we needed. There was one shared meal a day, which was always prepared by the hostess or a few times by me, although this was then counted as working time. We also had accommodation with our own cooking facilities and a variety of work, where we learned a lot and had a lot of fun.
Most hosts expect a lot of work from you, preferably with prior knowledge, and don’t even offer food or at least groceries to cook for yourself. Others expect you to travel in a camper, in which you then also live. Some offer at least one meal, others do not. In other words, work to park your camper safely, otherwise nothing in return.
It was a great experience that we wouldn’t want to have missed. Unfortunately, our expectations (apart from this one host) of learning something new at work, saving money or even earning money, getting to know the country and its people up close, as stated in the offers on the Workaway pages, were not fulfilled.
Nevertheless, we can actually imagine visiting one or two hosts again at some point. But with completely different prerequisites and expectations. More for us as an occupation, to get to know nice people and possibly take something positive away from the work we did.
It was not the aim of our trip to work the whole time, which is why we tried to find a good mix of work and travel after our first workaway experience.
As wild camping is usually prohibited, we had to rely on accommodation. However, most of them were beyond our budget and even the cost of camping on a campsite was not much different from guesthouses or the like.
With food and fuel costs, we were rarely over budget.
After we switched from two wheels and a tent to a camper after a short time, we no longer had to worry about how we could get a better grip on our finances. After all, traveling with a camper or motorhome results in a completely different set of costs.
After a good year of traveling with the camper, we can say that we have been able to keep within our budget.
The cost of living varies from country to country.
France, for example, is an expensive country. In Portugal and Spain, it all depends on where and what food you buy.
There are many free, official pitches for motorhomes and campers. Free parking is also possible here and there.
Even if we do end up on a paid campsite or pitch for campers/caravans only, the overnight costs are balanced out by the fuel costs, depending on the length of our stay. As we don’t drive the camper and only ride the motorcycle during a longer stay, we have a much lower fuel consumption. For example, in the months we spent on a pitch in Portugal for the winter, the monthly accommodation costs are so cheap compared to the fuel that we even benefit from them. So we can save a lot of money on fuel and accommodation costs if we either travel slowly (i.e. a few kilometers a day) and use free pitches, stay for 2-6 days before continuing our journey. Or stay on cheap, chargeable pitches for long enough to balance out the fuel costs.