$5-a-day for Irish Accommodations!
A big expense to a holiday travel budget is the housing or hotel accommodations. In Europe, finding hotels able to accommodate a family of four within a reasonable price range for us ($150 or less per night) was very challenging. Many hotels required us to book 2 rooms. It seems a hotel room capable of holding 4+ people isn’t as prominent as it is in the States. For our initial 3-month trip Heather and I searched multiple hotel sites, Airbnb and other options.
Seeking out ways to keep housing costs in line has been a focus and a fun challenge for me. Heather mentioned several programs she heard about to me early in our preparation stage. Before our trip began, I signed up for several of these different sites. TrustedHousesitters, Homestay and Workaway were the three I decided to actively pursue.
TrustedHousesitters
TrustedHousesitters cost about $100 per year and offer two types of service. One for the pet owner and one for the house sitter. The rising cost of boarding a pet or pets continues to be a financial burden. The anxiety pets experience when removed from their home environment is noticeable. Having a home occupied means plants are watered, mail is collected plus it may reduce potential problems. Obvious signs of a vacant home may open the house up to vandalism or burglary. Having someone in the home may also help in the event of any unforeseen issues. For example, many years ago while on vacation, a water pipe sprung a leak in our garage. Thank goodness we had a housesitter that was able to assist with limiting the damage.
From the house-sitting side, the ability to visit great destinations and have a large enough home base for the family is perfect. Some house sits even offer the family car along with the house. This happened for us in Ibiza Spain. A daily task for the house sitter is walking, feeding and cleaning up after the pets. Also, I maintain indoor/outdoor cleaning. Being that I can do some basic handyman work, I have assisted with fixing a few small items around the house as a courtesy. The kids have been great to help keep the house clean, play with and offer endless entertainment and cuddles for the pets.
So far, I have had a lot of success with TrustedHousesitters. I have been able to secure 3 house sits, Ibiza Spain (7 days), Kanturk Ireland (19 days) and Denver CO (4 days). I like to think that means Ireland housing cost us $5 per day or only $14 per day in Ibiza. Or looked at over the entire trip so far, we have spent just under $4 per day in both countries on housing with more house sits still to come! In exchange for looking after the pets and house, we get free accommodations in some pretty amazing places. In Ibiza, we made sure to explore a new and different beach every day. In Ireland, we traveled to multiple castles, parks, towns, and villages to explore all the beauty and history Ireland has to offer. Not only do we stay at great homes in wonderful locations, we meet fantastic people who are becoming lifelong friends.
If you want to save a few dollars traveling, don’t mind helping other travelers by watching their pets OR you are a family who doesn’t like the thought of kenneling your pet for extended periods then these sites may be a perfect solution for you and your four-legged children! Here is a quick and easy link to learn more about TrustedHousesitters.
Homestay
This site connects travelers with homeowners who have available rooms within their house. It can cost much less than a hotel and give you the opportunity to visit with and learn from locals in your chosen city. The host earns additional income.
We spent 10 days in Montreuil France which is a suburb just outside Paris. The average hotel price in this part of town would be $105 and up per night vs $300+ in Paris for our family of 4. We spent about $45 per night for a large upstairs loft with 3 beds. Each morning breakfast was provided from a local patisserie shop (pastry/bakery) just up the road and let me say, the pastries were fantastic. We occasionally had dinners with the family and heard about their day and shared our experiences that day too. The adult homeowners work during the day and the kids went to a school which left us able to use the house for schooling or quiet time to prepare our excursions or next travel plans. We used public transportation to get from the home to city center and this too was an educational experience for us and the kids. We would tell Keki & Bam where we wanted to go and let them use the maps and guides to get us on the right bus and metro to find our destination. To sign up and see how this site works plus earn $20 toward your first Homestay, use our link to explore the site!
Workaway.info
This site consists of hosts seeking a helping hand with their projects whether it be home or business. In exchange for your volunteer help, the host offers a place to stay and occasionally meals. Many people all over the world are looking for help improving their homes, farms, and communities. Your skills are in high demand. Can you teach English as a second language or helping run a business (guest relations, marketing, computer I.T.)? Perhaps you have carpentry skills, can paint or talent working with animals. This is a site you need to explore. I have been able to secure two Workaway programs in Italy. Once complete, I will share more on my personal experience. I am excited to learn new trades plus see more of the world. The kids are excited to work with farm animals and engage with other kids. The cost for a single Workaway guest is about $35 and $45 for a couple or family. The link to Workaway is here.
UPDATE:
We spent 1 week in Sardinia Italy as part of the Workaway program. The town of Tortoli is centrally located on the eastern side of this second largest island in the Mediterranean. We received housing accommodations for our family of 4 plus 2 meals per day. We were required to work 6 days a week for about 5-6 hours per day. Our job duties were mostly picking olives to later be pressed for virgin olive oil. There was one day in particular that we were asked to clean several rooms in the B&B plus feed farm animals and make the breakfast for guests staying on site. I am not going to lie, olive picking is not the most fun. It takes time to clean a tree of olives. We climbed up and down ladders often. I made a rake out of bamboo to reach the highest levels of the tree where a ladder would not work. After our week we had collected 196 kg of olives which created 27 liters of virgin olive oil (432 lbs / 7 gallons). When you look at what it cost to join Workaway and what we received, 6 nights accommodations and 2 meals per day for a family of four, our daily living expenses were about $6.50 per day. Now the downside is 5-6 hours a day picking olives right?!? Plus we did not get the opportunity to explore the island as much, so our afternoon trips consisted of short drives to neighboring towns or to walk the beach because we knew we needed to return to the farm / B&B that evening. Still, this is a good program. I have seen many different job duties depending on the country or time of year. If someone is willing to put in some work, there are families and organizations very happy to welcome you.
As we travel I am always revisiting our budget. Are we staying inline with our goal? What can we do to reduce costs without sacrificing the educational experiences? These 3 sites are some of the ways we have been able incorporate cost savings into our family travel.
We are always on the lookout for more solutions though. What kind of budget-friendly options do you and your family use?
