Lesser known ways to travel and live communally

January 6, 2017 6:31 PM

About a decade ago, a book called "Delaying The Real World" came out, and it detailed ways to travel the US and the world and listed many organizations and ways to stay in a place for free and communally, while also being of service in some way. Is there another, more recent guide to ding this, or does anyone have resources for how to do this? I know/have done WWOOF and Workaway, but many of my destinations are cities and do not have these options (NOLA, Portland, the PNW in general, Nashville, Santa Cruz, Northhampton Mass, Provincetown). Thanks!
posted by Kombucha3452 to Travel & Transportation (2 answers total)

In case you haven't run across it already, there's also HelpX. For example, they seem to have 27 different opportunities in/around Portland.

And if you just want to live different places for free (and forego the "service" aspect), look into house-/pet-sitting. There are several house-sitting websites listing TONS of opportunities all over the US (and the world).
posted by Halo in reverse at 9:15 PM on January 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

If you have an interest in bicycles and/or mechanical repair work, try contacting a local Bike Collective and see if there's someone who will host you in exchange for volunteering for a while. I'm guessing you'll have the best luck with volunteer-run collectives, as they tend to be pretty loosely structured and always in need of volunteers. It probably works best if you have prior experience with similar organizations.

A few weeks of dedicated work from someone who doesn't need too much training can be pretty valuable to an organization that relies entirely on volunteer labor! If you have skills in some other realm, contact whatever groups you can find that seem relevant.

Also, many hostels will do work-trade - you clean & do housekeeping, they give you a bed. You usually have to cover your own food, though.
posted by sibilatorix at 12:06 PM on January 7, 2017