Travel by Americans rebounded strongly in 2022 as pandemic-related limits and anxieties eased. Surveys indicate that 87% of people intend to travel at least as much as last year, and nearly half of U.S. residents plan to journey even more in 2023.
Instead of sticking with the standard flight-to-rental-car-to-hotel-or-Airbnb routine, you can discover richer, often less expensive ways to get away by exploring alternative travel options.
Alternative Travel: Explore the Globe for Less
Alternative travel covers several approaches: working while traveling, volunteering, swapping living spaces, birthright journeys, hospitality networks, and sharing platforms. These methods can help you cut costs, deepen cultural exchange, make new friends, view destinations through a fresh lens, and pick up new abilities.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index shows airfare prices beginning to ease, even as lodging and local transportation costs climb. Here are numerous strategies to assemble the trips you want without maxing out credit cards.
Depending on the time you can allocate, you might stay in Hawaii for free, exchange your home for one in the French countryside, or rent a midsize RV to tour national parks. A few countries even offer funding to let teens or young adults become immersed in their culture.
Options like homestays, home exchanges, workaway programs, house sitting, and hospitality exchanges also give you chances to connect with communities and locals while traveling.
Below are definitions and the advantages and drawbacks of these alternative travel approaches.
Types of Alternative Travel
Working While Traveling
There are several ways to earn money while you travel. You can become a nomad — digital or otherwise — by making income or bartering during your journeys. Two common paths are house sitting and travel-related jobs.
House Sitting
House sitting is one of the simplest forms of working travel and can provide complimentary accommodation.
As a house sitter, you live in someone’s home and care for the property, which may include pets and gardens. Assignments can range from a day or two to several months.
Responsibilities vary. The essentials include maintaining the residence — cleaning and ensuring appliances and systems are functioning. Duties can also cover pool and garden upkeep, logging mail and messages, and full pet care. Sitters should make the home look occupied by turning on lights and being present at different times of day and night.
You can learn much more about house sitting on dedicated sites. Most house-sitting platforms charge an annual membership fee.
Sites for house and pet sitting: Nomador, Mind My House, Trusted Housesitters.
Teaching While Traveling
Teaching English overseas is a superb way to fully engage with another culture. Requirements differ by destination, but most places expect a certificate in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) or CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Many programs also ask for a bachelor’s degree.
There are opportunities for veteran educators as well. The U.S. Department of State offers short-term and semester-based awards for K-12 teachers to study, learn, and teach abroad. Roughly 400 teachers from 70 countries take part annually.
Websites for teaching abroad include Go Abroad, Go Overseas, Council on International Educational Exchange, and Teachsurfing.
Other Travel Jobs
There are many other jobs that facilitate travel: working in national parks, on cruise ships, as a flight attendant or pilot, guiding tours, lifeguarding, or working as a travel nurse or other medical professional.
Volunteer Travel
The most recognized volunteer travel program is the Peace Corps. It’s a significant commitment — three months of training and then at least two years of service — but it’s an extraordinary way to be fully immersed in another locale. Peace Corps volunteers receive a monthly stipend to help cover living costs.
If that’s more than you want to sign up for, there are plenty of shorter volunteer placements. Teaching English as a volunteer is similar to paid teaching, but usually in shorter stretches.
One interesting option offers a free six-day stay in a German village provided you agree to speak only English. Pueblos Ingles hosts participants for six to eight days in Spain or Germany for free, where they must speak only English. Programs are available for adults and teens starting at age 13.
Two well-known volunteer travel platforms are Workaway and WWOOF. You might volunteer at an animal rescue or organic farm in Hawaii for two weeks or help with a recycling initiative in Belize. Most placements ask for four to six hours of work per day and offer a meal or two plus accommodation. WWOOF focuses on organic farms while Workaway lists a wide variety of roles. Workaway requires an annual fee; WWOOF offers both free and premium options.
Volunteer travel sites include HelpX (Europe-focused), Go Abroad/volunteer, International Volunteer HQ, and Staydu.
Home Swapping
The 2006 film “The Holiday,” featuring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, popularized the idea of swapping homes. In the movie, two women exchange houses and each finds romance locally.
You might not meet a soulmate by trading places, but you could fall in love with someone else’s home. No money changes hands between homeowners — only the mutual use of their residences.
The original home exchange group, Intervac, was launched in the 1950s by Swiss teachers eager to travel affordably.
Home exchange or house swapping is straightforward: people swap living spaces for set periods. Several organizations help facilitate swaps, giving the process predictability and safety.
Home exchange sites typically charge an annual fee to list your property, browse listings, and manage swaps. Since the swap itself is free, membership may be worth the cost.
Other than membership fees, the main expense is ensuring your home is attractive to potential swappers. Make sure appliances, heating/cooling, and entertainment systems are in good working order.
Besides Intervac, home swap sites include HomeExchange, HomeLink, and LoveHomeSwap. Annual fees generally fall between $100–$200, and many sites offer free trials.
Birthright Journeys
Birthright travel initiatives help members of a country’s diaspora return to learn about their ancestral culture and homeland. This resonates especially with the 60% of young adults in a Forbes survey who said they want to travel more. Most birthright programs are aimed at that age group.
The best-known example is Birthright Israel, which funds a 10-day trip for young Jewish people ages 18–26 living outside Israel.
Other countries and organizations also offer similar trips. The National Italian American Foundation runs all-expenses-paid trips to Italy for young adults.
Various programs subsidize some or all of these birthright journeys, typically aimed at young adults.
Birthright program sites include Armenia, pan-African initiatives, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, the ancient Assyrian regions in Turkey and Iran, and Palestine.
Hospitality Exchange Networks
Hospitality exchange networks — where members of a group can stay with other members for a few days — trace back to post–World War II efforts by peace activists and cultural exchange enthusiasts. Servas was among the pioneers and still exists today.
These networks often charge a membership or access fee, generally between $33 and $125. Once you join, stays with members are free.
Hosts list what they can offer (a room, a bed, a yard to camp in, etc.). Travelers reach out to hosts to arrange brief stays, usually a few days. Hosts frequently act as local guides, creating meaningful and personal cultural exchanges.
Since then, other exchange networks have emerged, some maintaining the peace-and-cultural-exchange ethos, others serving specific communities.
Hospitality exchange sites include Couchsurfing, Warmshowers for cyclists, Hostwriter for journalists, BeWelcome, LGHEI for LGBTQ+ members, Women Welcome Women, and The Affordable Travel Club.
Other Alternative Travel Options
If your dream is to “drive around the country in an RV” but your budget won’t allow purchasing one, the sharing economy has reached recreational vehicles. These platforms work like Airbnb, but for RVs. Owners can earn extra income by renting out their rigs, while travelers can use an RV without the burden of ownership.
RV rental platforms include Outdoorsy and RV Share.
You can also give up a permanent residence and live on the road or in a vehicle full-time. You can follow a couple as they transform a van into a live-work space. If you want to become a digital nomad, there’s a social network just for that lifestyle. Whether you have days, weeks, or a lifetime to travel, there are adventurous ways to craft meaningful experiences.
Contributor Maria Dawson writes on lifestyle and culture topics. She previously owned a coffee shop in St. Petersburg, Florida, and has hosted an arts program on community radio for nearly three decades.
