http://www.hospitalityclub.org/

With this club you can stay, for free, with residents of the country you wish to travel to. Through this club you can network through all kinds of people and stay with them in their homes, apartments, flats, etc. The guy I traveled with used this club to find us places to sleep in Munich and Vienna. And on top of getting a native to show us around and help us get oriented and answer our questions, and on top of putting us up for days at a time, it was completely free. Then again if you absolutely need a bed to sleep in or get too stressed staying in strange places then this may not be the thing for you. But I have to reiterate I traveled through three countries over almost two weeks and spent less than five hundred dollars. Join this club. There's no catch, except you should host people in return when they ask to stay with you. You can turn people down at will or accept who you want that requests to stay, it's completely optional and entirely voluntary, but a fantastic and invaluable network of people to have in regards to traveling abroad.

The two places I stayed at weren't too shabby at all. The flat I stayed in munich was messy as hell, but really close to the subway and therefore a short ride to the city center. And I stayed in an amazing apartment in vienna that was in walking distance to the Schonbrunn palace. If you travel a lot or find hotels/hostels too expensive then you should seriously look into this to do a little globe trotting.

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Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.

Wow. That sounds awesome.

Especially since it doesn't seem like it's as economical to just go to Europe as it once was like in the 70s (I don't hear about people just travelling through like they used to anymore) so this is a really interesting idea and a good way to probably meet some kind, interesting people. Or cannibals but I'd have to give them the benefit of the doubt

btw.. by five hundred dollars I meant five hundred euros.. which is more like 900ish USD, haha Still not bad though. The EU and the UK are kicking ass out of the American dollar.

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Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.

couchsurfing.com is way cooler.

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The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

When I went to London and Amsterdam (EDIT: Spring 2004 not 2002) both Pounds and Euros were damn near twice the US dollar (pounds more so). What sucked is stuff wasn't cheaper...like how our dollar is worth more in Canada but stuff costs more, so it balances out. That didn't work so much in those 2 places lol. The same Starbucks coffee that would cost $3 here cost 3 pounds in London which essentially ended up being $6. That whole trip was rediculous expensive. I hear it's a little better now.

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Yea but London & Amsterdam are probably two extremes in the countries you went to, everything is more expensive there relative to the rest of the country.

And what you just said really makes me wonder what the point of currency conversion is anyway, there is no way any shop in the UK or US is going to change their prices everyday to keep them the same with market fluctiations and shit, sucks really.

Unless you are a brit exchanging your £3 for $6, and being able to buy two coffees with it, thats fucking great. Your money quadruples in value almost.

Perspective 4tw

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yeah. it really depends where you and what you're buying. in austria things like milk, bread, and beer were MUCH cheaper than here... but things like peanut butter, candy, soda, US owned chains... all more expensive.
tax was also included into the prices and that makes so much more sense. i dont see why we dont do that.

but seriously, check out couchsurfing.com. the community there is alittle better organized than hospitality club. i used it for pretty much everywhere i went for the last 4 months i was in europe and it was awesome.

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The lovers, the dreamers, and me.