Useful websites for travelers
The following are websites and other travel info that I have heard or read about. I find these to be very useful to people who want to explore the world in all different ways. A tour, working while traveling, house sitting and so on. If you think I'm missing something please feel free to let me know!
Let's start with the most important! Airfare! This is a list of discount websites I have either used myself or read about in other travel blogs.
Student universe (you need to be either a teacher or a student to get discounts on this site)
Skyscanner
momondo
cheapoair (USA,Canada,UK)
Tripadvisor
Googleflights
Jetradar (searches budget airlines too)
Azair (Europe, Middle East)
Webjet (only use this site to search, then book directly through the airline because this site will add on a booking fee)
Look for airline deals with budget airlines. The United Kingdom is famous for tickets often priced just higher then the taxes charged for the ticket.
ryanair.com, easyjet.com, flymonarch.com and in Australia virginaustralia.com has happy hour rates for one hour a day and jetstar.com
For a long layover check out:
layoverguide.com
Contiki European tour - a tour company that "covers the world from all angles" they have an age range of 18 to 35 year old travelers. They offer 8 different ways of travel options for you to choose from. They range from budget to accommodation in style. They have large groups from 18 to 35 people for the Europe, Australia, North America and New Zealand trips and small groups w/no more than 25 people for Asia and Latin America. 50% of the travelers on these trips are solo while the other half have brought along a friend or significant other. It's a great way to do a tour or somewhere in the world and make new friends.
Coolworks.com - seasonal jobs all over the world! A company trying to connect adventurous job seekers with employers and one another. Many are located at national parks. Here's an example of a few jobs that are on the site right now.
El Capitan Lodge, Alaska
Denali park resorts
Historic Tapoco Lodge, Colorado
And many more...
alaskatourjobs.com
House sitting options:
posting in many countries-
housecarers.com
List your house for free if you are looking for a house sitter, pay $50 a year to be a house sitter and have full access to homeowners requests for a sitter. The money you pay is said to be going back into the maintance of the website.
mindmyhouse.com
This site is also around the glide opportunities and free for homeowners and only $20 a year for someone interested in house sitting. Dual memberships are respectable.
Australia based:
housesitworld.com.au, happyhousesitters.com.au, aussiehousesitters.com.au
The maybe not so obvious helpful sites:
Craigslist.com
Best used when traveling in the USA. You could possibly find housing, a vehicle if you want to buy a car to road trip in and then sell it and many other options for traviling.
An Australia/NZ based website (similar to Craig's list in the USA)
Gumtree.com
You can buy or sell a vehicle and find ride shares with other travelers here.
Facebook.com
Post a message regarding where you are going and ask if anyone in your FB community knows anyone in these upcoming countries of yours. I paid very little for accommodations in NZ, Australia, and Thailand because of my FB community and now I have friends in even more places.
House swap websites similar to the movie The Holiday:
homeexchange.com, homexchangevacation.com, homebasehols.com
Teach English in another country is another way/idea to travel with a purpose, if you find you need that.
Interexchange: international exchange programs, teach English abroad, internships abroad, match with seasonal employees.
Travelers advertising on travel forums for anything helpful, really:
thorn tree.lonelyplanet.com
Ride sharing:
erideshare.com
hitchhikers.org-
Cuba and New Zealand are common places for hitchhiking to happen
Crew a boat
UK-based crew-seekers international - crewseekers.net (a member ship fee applies)
Lists info on paid positions, shared contribution voyages and working passage trips.
Or try findacrew.net to live in board and eat for free in trade for your
Post your own add in harbor or port towns or look for adds already posted looking for help or just start asking locals if they know of any work.
Flight attendant - travel for free
Join the Peace corps and make a huge impact on other human beings around the world.
Yoga instructor
Travel photographer and sell your photos to stock photo websites.
Work on a cruise ship
carnival.com, royalcaribbean.com
Best option for short term contracts is to offer an area of expertise for education or entertainment of the passengers.
These jobs aren't as great as crew members work long hours, stay below deck and are allowed off the ship only about every other stop.
Transport other people's vehicles:
Helping a person move their car when they have moved from one place to another. To start this process connect with car rental or relocation companies. Some of these companies will be looking for drivers to relocate a car in a limited amount of days. You could also advertise yourself for this service in your own city and the city where you want to travel, if you wanted.
A few Australian based rental companies are blitz.com.au and maui.com.au and they are sometimes in need of drivers to re locate. At the end of a season they often need to move many vehicles to one location that's higher in demand. You normally need to be 21 for this job and you should have some flexibility in your travels to be able to work with the companies who need you.
WWOOF
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms
An international network of organic farmers who offer opportunities for volunteers to help. A membership fee is required to gain access to the farm info in the country you want to visit.
wwoof.org
Trade work at a hostel for your stay
You can ask the front desk upon arrival if you can trade your night(s) stay for work or you can call in advance to ask. Usually they want you to stay more than one night for work/stay trades. You could also try looking for jobs off sites such as hostelworld.com (the message board), backpack.co.nz (jobs within NZ)
You can look for random everyday type work over seas
You could nanny with greataupair.com or aupair.com but there is an age limit cut off for this 25 or 30 years old is the max age you can be for this, I believe.
Something outdoors might be more fitting: anyworkanywhere.com for listings of fruit picking working visas are also a way to go but also have age cut off of 25 or 30 years old so check this out before you get to old.
goworkabout.com is an Australian based seasonal jobs site that are pre arranged.
Organize a group tour
Some travel companies might offer you a discount or free travel if you organize a large(ish) group for said tour. You'd be known as a "group leader". You are just the person you gathers the people to go along with you in the adventure the company does the rest.
adventuresincorporated.com or adventure-abroad.com or look into a tour that interests you.
globaladventurechallenges.com, acrossthedivide.com, and charitytreks.ca are all sites where you can take on a challenge in the name of a charity.
You can always enter into contests, even if you are someone who never wins anything. If you have the time to invest (think of it like a hobby) then it could pay off with a free trip somewhere. Google: travel contests
And see what comes up!
Volunteering on a project in another country -
This may allow you the opportunity to fundraiser to support the work that you are going to do. (Vergemagazine.com)
Some of these projects may provide you with food and housing and occasionally flights but that's usually asking a lot.
Lions club (.org) and rotary club (.org) will usually support you as well as family, friends, the church you might go to and other social groups.
This can be a very rewarding experience and a chance to experience the culture of that country better!
Giving credit to my findings:
Posts seen on FB
Advice from friends
Andrea Gourgy with verge magazine
Buzzfeed.com
Nomad travelers