Hosting Couchsurfers - Everything You Need to Know

When travelling over my three year stint I did my fair bit of Couchsurfing and thought of myself as a bit of an expert. The more I couchsurfed, the better I got at it. Not that there are certain tricks to how to do it best but I got so comfortable of just rocking up a stranger's house and knowing how to have a good time and be a good guest. 

The ins and outs of Couchsurfing and doing it successfully all combine tricks of knowing how to write a good request, choosing hosts to fit your personality and how to act when you are surfing. These were all vital in guaranteeing a top notch stay and making sure my host enjoyed having me as a guest and in the end, would write me a great reference. But as I am a a bit of a pro at being a good surfer, I've then become a bit of a snob at hosting and I'm sick of it already...

10 Things You'll Probably Only Ever Do as a Backpacker

When you're a backpacker you lead quite the different life as to what you would lead at home. Your money habits change drastically, your hygiene can alter and you day to day routine gets completely thrown out of the window. Some of these changes are good and some are just pretty cray and you're happy to leave them in the middle of the Australian outback.

1. Hitchhike

I would never hitchhike in my home country, the UK. Not because I think the UK is anymore particularly unsafe than the likes of Australia, where I have hitchhiked, but I simple wouldn't even think of hailing down a random car and asking for a ride at home. Maybe its because I have my own car, maybe its because British folk are so awkward at chit chat or maybe I do feel unsafe? But I've hitchhiked a fair few times on my travels, and although as a single blonde backpacker I do feel like I could be an easy target, I'm fairly trustworthy.

Five Things I’ve Learnt about Myself Whilst Travelling through Australia

I’m coming towards the end of a five month trip through Australia and I realised I’ve slightly changed and I’ve learnt a few things about myself. None of this, I’m now a spiritual being shit, more of, here are just five things I’ve discovered. 

1. I hate dogs

I’ve always known I’m not a huge dog fan, I’m more of a crazy cat lady, but having stayed with a lot of families through Australia who have dogs, I realise that I almost despise them. Some families have been fine, their houses haven't smelt, their dog was well behaved and I even took to playing with some of the puppies. But some of the houses I’ve stayed in have had annoying, yappy, little dogs who crawl all over you and try to lick your face whilst the owner is beaming, “oh look how she likes you!” I don’t want your smelly dog on me, and I’m tired of vacuuming around because there is hair everywhere. Rant over.

Five Ways to Live Abroad For Free

I’ve spent the last four months travelling through Australia and so far I haven’t paid for a single piece of accommodation. It’s so easy to now travel on a budget and essentially travel abroad for free. I’m not talking about someone sponsoring me to travel the world (if only…) I’m more or less talking about travelling and getting your accommodation, and sometimes food, for nothing! 
I’ve come across many different ways to do this and I can think of five easy ways you can travel on a budget and use your money for the fun things rather than an uncomfortable bed in a fourteen person dorm.

1. Couchsurfing

Probably the most heard of. Couchsurfing is a great way to stay at someone’s house for free and also meet some locals. If you aren’t familiar with couchsurfing, it’s basically a website where you search for a person in a selected city/town/area/blah blah and see if their couch is available for you to sleep on. I’ve used this site a number of times to stay in a place and sleep on someone’s couch, or sometimes have my own double bed in my own room. It’s all free, you don’t need to pay for the website or pay anything to your host. However, I do like to cook for them or take a small gift as a thanks. They get to meet new people, and then they can couchsurf in other countries as well, so you can return the favour but it’s not expected. The site allows you to narrow your searches, so you can pick age ranges, non-smokers, even similar interests as everyone has their own profile. You’re then allowed to reference a host after your stay, that way you can avoid the weirdos and it lets you know past surfers experiences. The expected stay can range from just one night to as many nights as your host lets you, but I assume this tends to be 3-4 nights maximum stay.

5 Tips to Help You Learn a Language

(Disclaimer blah blah, Backpack Becky is not affiliated or sponsored by any of the companies/websites below, this is our opinion only. As much as I’d like these companies to pay me to write about them, unfortunately this is not the case…)

At the moment I’m living in France as an au pair and attempting to learn the language. I have the freedom in my life to be able to leave a place at the drop of a hat and move to another country. Hence why I'm now surrounded by berets, baguettes and croissants, because I want to be able to speak fluent in French. However, being in France has taught me it will take much more than just living here to improve my language, so here are some ways you can improve without having to pack up your life and leave your country.