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 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.