BUDGET traveling Europe and working abroad!
Alright, so in one of my last posts I talked about traveling Europe for a month! This time I'll talk about traveling Europe for three months on a Budget and working while doing it. During my three months I went to four countries.
- Spain, I spent a week in Spain, just traveling and attending a concert!
- Portugal, spent a month here working and traveling.
- Czech Republic, I spent three weeks here working.
- Italy, I spent five weeks here working as well.
Alright, so I'm sure you're wondering how an American can work abroad in Europe, especially just an average every day American. Well let me start by saying it's incredibly difficult to get an actual work visa for Europe. You basically have to prove that you're better qualified than every European citizen in order to get one. Which is pretty much just ridiculous. So there are ways around this. Yes, plenty of people work under the table, and it works out well for lots, but I've also heard of plenty of people never getting paid for work they do, so you have to be careful. In some countries you can get certificates allowing you to work there for a year, but you still have to abide by European visa rules. Just research the Schengen and non Schengen zones and you will learn everything you'll ever need to. I did neither of these options and I actually went a different route. I'm sure some of you have heard about a site called Workaway. For those of you that haven't, or those that want a little more information about it, here you go. You can make a profile with a bio about yourself, languages spoken, skills that you have, work you're willing to do, and countries you're going to. Once you make your profile, people who are looking for workers can contact you and offer you to come work for them. You can also search for jobs and contact them as well. The types of jobs on the sight are never ending, anything from hostel work, farming, house sitting, teaching, restoring buildings, yoga lessons, literally anything is on there. Most of the jobs you find on Workaway aren't paid, instead they are exchange jobs. In exchange for your work you get a bed and a meal, sometimes all your meals, sometimes just a bed, and sometimes they will pay you, it just depends on the job.This being first Workaway experience ever I decided I wanted to do hostel work, as I'm familiar with that line of work, I was wanting to meet lots of new people, and there would usually be multiple other workawayers as well. I found hundreds of different jobs in so many countries so I decided to figure out where I wanted to go. Beach or mountain? City or village? Well, my first Workaway job was at a hostel in a small beach town in Portugal, Faro. But before we get to that lets talk about some expenses.
For my flight, once again I used Skyscanner. I had been looking at different dates and setting alerts for flights. TIP: always buy flights on a Monday or Tuesday and fly one Monday or Tuesday as well, they are the cheapest! I usually check flights a couple days a week to se did prices changed and it just so happened that one day when I looked, the price of the flight I wanted was $600 round trip, so of course I had to buy it. I flew fro, the west coast of the States to Madrid, Spain, again for only $600 round trip. I'm telling you always watch your flights! When I arrived in Spain, I planned a week of traveling before I settled down in Portugal for my first hostel job. During the first week I stayed in the cheapest hostels I could find, cooked all my meals myself, or ate 3€ hostel meals and for transportation I used metros and used coach buses for long journeys. In Europe, traveling by bus is cheaper than flying or trains, at least most of the time it is. My hostels were around $10-$15 a day for a bed in a dorm. Since I wasn't eating out, I would spend around $10 at the supermarket and it would last a day or two! It's not the most exciting way to travel, considering food is a huge part of why I love traveling, but when you're ballin' on a budget, you gotta do what you gotta do. My transportation costs were about $100 for the first week, but I also took two rather long journeys(around 17 hours total).
When I arrived in Portugal I started my first hostel job. It was at a small hostel, it had four dorm rooms and three private rooms, it also wasn't the most lively of hostels I had seen, but I was optimistic! Thankfully my fellow workawayers were incredible and we made it an incredible time! In exchange for working 3, eight hour shifts a week I got a bed, breakfast and dinner as well. It was a decent exchange! The only accommodation I paid for that month was my hostels when I travelled which was maybe $60 altogether, which was about a week of traveling. Portugal is a rather cheap country, so you can find hostels for really cheap! As far as food goes, I went to the supermarket about once a week to buy some snack and spent about $15, I ate out once in awhile as well, while I was traveling I ate out most of the time that month as well. Altogether I think I spent about $300 for that entire month, which is nothing! And I got to sit on the beach, meet incredible people and explore a new country the whole time! I took a couple of days off after this job to travel through northern Portugal before I caught my flight to Prague, Czech Republic. I got a bus from Faro to Lisbon which was $15 and stayed in a hostel for about $15 a night, I spent 3 nights there, so in total it was $45. I did some small day trips and eating out while there as well which was another $70 probably. I had to get a bus back to Madrid, which is where my flight was. I took an overnight bus, which took the cost of a hostel away which was nice and my bus was $30. I caught my flight to Prague and got to my next hostel job.
Shoutout to Hostel One Prague for giving me some of the best times of my life! My work here was minimal, you couldn't really even call it work! I made dinner for guests sometimes, checked them in, took them out to bar crawls or out on day trips! It was just as much fun for me as it was for guests! For my "work" I received a bed and dinner every night as well! No about Prague, there aren't enough good things I can say about this city. It's so incredibly beautiful, so full of spunk and history as well as wonderful people. The architecture is incredible here as well! During my time here I spent a bit longer much money on nightlife, which set me back about $1000. Oops. Ya $1000 isn't very much to spend in three weeks, but when you only have $1200 left in your account, it's a lot! I didn't do any traveling outside of Prague, as I had hardly any money left and another month left in Europe, but the city is so incredible you don't need to go anywhere else! So much to see and do in one place! After my three weeks there I grabbed a flight to Naples, Italy for my next hostel job! I booked this flight through Skyscanner on an airline called Ryan air, they are known for having cheap flights throughout Europe! Super convenient! My flight was $25! So I was off to Italy!
Shoutout to Six Small Rooms, for being my saving grace when I arrived with $.26 in my account, and for being a wonderful home throughout the holidays! Here my work consisted of checking guests in and out, doing laundry, cleaning and changing beds! It's truly such easy work! I received breakfast and a bed in exchange for three shifts a week. If I worked any extra shifts they would pay 32€ per extra shift! Which was incredible, and I was able to make enough to money to eat for the month I was there and make my way back to Germany to head to China! Naples is an interesting city, having been to Rome, Florence and Cinque Terre before, Naples was much different. It's a much cheaper city, which also comes with a bit more dirt and grime, and maybe a little more crime. Now a lot of people associate Naples with the mob and thinks it's incredibly dangerous, which I would have to disagree with. It's just an average city. No, I didn't feel super safe walking down a dark alley at night, but I probably wouldn't in any city! Naples is centrally located for trips to Capri, the Amalfi and Positano coasts, Mt. Vesuvius, Pompeii and Rome! There is tons and tons to do here and it's a great spot to have as a home base for lots of little trips! I was in Naples for the New year, and I can honestly say that an experience in its own! It sounded like I was in a war zone, fireworks were going off all day and all night, and not just pretty fireworks but ones that sounded and felt like a bomb, it was a bit frightening! Once midnight hit the sky erupted with the most incredible firework show I've ever seen and the craziest part is none of it is put on by the city, they are all from local people shooting hem off themselves! It was insanity and a really great way to finish off my three month Europe trek! Throughout my time in Naples I think I spent maybe $150, thankfully I received some Christmas money that held me over until I left!
My total budget for my three months of travel was about $3000. Now I did quite a bit of traveling in the first two months and some occasionally splurging while the last month was incredibly tight and I was unable to do or see too much. But it's always an excuse to go back!
If you ever find yourself in any of these cities, book a bed at Hostel One Prague(Prague, Czech Republic) or Six Small Rooms(Naples,Italy), you won't be disappointed!
Also give Workaway a look, it can be used anywhere in the world and really helps with traveling on a budget! Incredible experiences are to be had and memories to be made! Happy travelling!
TIP: if you're wanting to travel on the cheap, keep your travels slow, cook some of your own meals, and stay in cheap places. Portugal, Prague and Naples are all really cheap places! I'm talking 3€ pizzas, 1€ bottles of wine and 5€ hostels cheap!