NextPath

After four-plus grueling years of college, sometimes the last thing you want to do is jump straight into even more work with a nine-to-five job.

The good news is, if you’ve ever wanted to pull free from your geographical anchors, take a break and see the world, now’s the perfect time — when you’ve just graduated and haven’t really settled into a career yet.

Think you’re too broke to see all those far-off places you’ve only read about?

As long as you’re not allergic to strangers, couches, or flying by the seat of your pants, we’ve got eight resources to help you travel the globe without ever paying a dime for hotels, hostels, or rent.

1. The Caretaker Gazette

   For about $30 a year, you can access The Caretaker Gazette’s private database of people offering rent-free accommodations in exchange for caretaker duties. The database provides extended rent-free opportunities all over the world in exchange for everything from ranching and organic farm work to nursing the elderly and housesitting. Some of the positions actually pay, too.

2. CouchSurfing

   The Couch Surfing Project is a network of globetrotters who offer free temporary accommodations to travelers when they’re not staying with other project hosts themselves. With over 400,000 members registered in over 35,000 cities in more than 200 countries, the network is pretty comprehensive, and there’s no fee to join.
   
   To help you stay safe and away from the crazies, CouchSurfing includes online peer reviews and rankings of its members. CouchSurfers can also be tagged as “vouched” for, but only by other already vouched-for members.

3. Global Freeloaders

   Similar to the Couch Surfing Project, Global Freeloaders offers a no-charge, members-only database of people offering up their homes as temporary places to crash rent-free. And like CouchSurfing, Global Freeloaders expects you to host members when you’re not being a guest of a member yourself — in fact, you’ll need to host within six months of signing up to fulfill your membership obligation.
   
   Unlike CouchSurfing, though, there’s no peer review or formal system of vouching for or verifying members. But Freeloaders does ask that you communicate with potential guests long enough prior to hosting for you to feel comfortable with them.

4. Hospitality Club

   The Hospitality Club bills itself as “the largest online hospitality exchange organization” and, similar to CouchSurfing and Global Freeloaders, offers free accommodations worldwide through an online network of volunteer hosts. However, you won’t ever be required to act as a host yourself to maintain your free membership.
   
   The service promotes safety through forums, chats, peer reviews, and passport checks.

5. HouseCarers

   If you can live with the irony of spending your vacations housesitting for somebody else on vacation, HouseCarers provides seemingly endless lists of people looking for house sitters all over the world.
   
   There’s no liability insurance included with the matching service, so a homeowner may ask you to pay a bond or security deposit. And although basic membership is free, allowing you to search for housesitting opportunities at no cost, if you want to reply to a housesitting ad, you’ll need to upgrade to a full membership for $45 a year.

6. Organic Volunteers

   If free-range traveling is your cup of tea, then Organic Volunteers is for you. It offers a service similar to The Caretaker Gazette, and contrary to its name, Organic Volunteers doesn’t confine its listings to just organic farming. Opportunities with Organic Volunteers include everything from hostel management to artist internships.
   
   Membership is $20 a year and gives you access to the searchable database of global opportunities.

7. WWOOF

   World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms is “an international network of organic farms, gardens, and businesses where you can visit and receive food, accommodation and training in return for your help and participation.” Many organizations, including Organic Volunteers, are active in this 70-country network, but the people at Planet Friendly have dedicated their entire site to it.
   
   Wwoofers are big on volunteer service, and Planet Friendly has plenty of links to volunteer opportunities, in addition to its listings for jobs, apprenticeships, and internships. Subscriptions are required in order to access full listings and contact info, and prices vary by country.

8. Servas International

   Founded in 1949 as a peacebuilding movement and recognized as a non-governmental organization by the United Nations, Servas International is the original CouchSurfing and Global Freeloaders, but with a focus on volunteer service. Volunteers often work in relief camps or with advocates for peace.
   
   Housing and meals are generally offered for two days, and potential members — both hosts and travelers — must go through a fairly rigorous evaluation, including an in-person interview, prior to being accepted into the program.
   
   Membership fees vary by country.

A closing word on safety …

We recommend not taking candy from strangers, looking both ways before crossing the street, and generally being careful when accepting invitations to sleep on someone’s couch — in other words, using basic common sense.

Remember, the big bad world was made that way by the much smaller people living in it.

We’re all for drinking up the lifetime of experience that’s out there waiting for you. Just take it with a dose of healthy paranoia on the side.