Many of my friends and family wonder, how we can afford to travel. Some just come right out and say it! Myself and my boyfriend are extremely good at budgeting! We can live very minimalistic if need be. In fact, we both enjoy the challenge of saving money and sticking to a budget! We worked so hard and saved our butts off to be able to do this trip.
The hard work paid off and we are now on this incredible journey, we are actually living it!
One way in which we save A LOT of money when traveling, is by couch surfing. There are many great websites out there that you can use, but we tend to use www.couchsurfing.com.
Couch surfing is where you stay in someone's house for free! It's a great way of meeting people from all over the world. It's also a great way of having first hand experience of life in different cultures. Most of our hosts have cooked us traditional meals and shared their knowledge of their country with us.
People have asked if this is safe, especially as we have a child in tow. The answer to this is, so far we have only had positive experiences couch surfing. I think it has been easier finding good hosts as we have Layla with us. I think it's because the hosts know that we won't be partying and coming back to the house, late at night.
We have stayed with some truly wonderful people…………..
Thomas in Berlin
Thomas’s house was our first experience of couch surfing. Thomas was a retired doctor, who worked as a film extra in his spare time. Most of his life was spent living inside the Berlin wall, so he was full of stories. My daughter learnt so much history here and Thomas taught her some archery. Thomas has spent most of his life living outside the Berlin wall, it was so interesting to hear him speak about his experiences. We learned so much about history and what life was really like back then.
Petra in Prague.
We stayed with Petra in Prague, for three nights. She shared her home with her boyfriend, Ben and her two beautiful dogs. She lived in a large country house in a rural village, it was full of character and charm. The room we stayed in was decorated with vintage Scandinavian furniture.
On our last evening, they put on a BBQ for us in the garden and we played board games.
The Nagy family in Budapest
We stayed for three nights with the Nagy family, they cooked us a traditional three course Hungarian meal on arrival. My daughter loved this stay the most, as they had two beautiful children, Emma and Lila. It was great for her to be in the company of children.
Couch surfing has truly been a wonderful experience for our family. I would recommend it to anyone, especially travelers on a tight budget.
Peace out
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