I have been trying to find decent ways to travel for less money. I am completely willing to spend time/effort/manual labor to acheive these goals, and I am wondering if any of you have experienced some organizations who helped cover your expenses? Peace Corps is a bit too long of a commitment for me, is there anything similar for short-term? What about WWOOF, anyone used them? It sounds amazing.
I have been a member of couchsurfing.org for a few years and got a great free few days in Panama. If you haven't yet, check it out!

I worked as an au pair for a summer in Barcelona. Sometimes you can find a family who will even pay for your flights. Even if not, your rent is covered and you get a small stipend which is usually enough to cover a few small trips during the time you're there. I had plenty of leisure time to explore the city, and if you go through a program you can often take language classes as well.

I've heard great things about WWOOF.

I haven't been WWOOFing, but one of my friend has had great experiences with it. Helpx (http://helpx.net/) is a similar site, I think you might have to pay a little bit to join the site but then you get a number of places that will offer you free accommodation/food in exchange for a few hours work.

Depending on where you're going/what you're interested in, many hostels offer a work for accommodation scheme. In Melbourne I was cleaning for three hours a day in exchange for a free bed. I had to stay for a few weeks to do this, but if you're planning on sticking around it's a good idea. It also means there's a bit of a community between the workers because they're all in the same place for a while so you can really get to know someone without worrying about them leaving in a couple of days.

I went to Europe/ the Middle East a few summers ago. My partner and I couchsurfed with much success, did a lot of camping (we actually went to google earth and found a forested national park in Czech republic), and shopped around for cheap hostels. We also hitch-hiked a fair amount, I would just suggest checking in with local customs to make sure this is ok/ do not hitch hike alone!

For food, do not eat out!!! We visited a lot of local markets/ learned to haggle well Ate a lot of basics- we had a big pot and cooked a lot of potatoes/ onions/ carrots (bring your own spices!)

Overall we managed to maintain our budget on a three month adventure...with money left over!!!!

I know people who have done woofing, which they said they really liked!

I guess the big thing is depends on your destination... we avoided Western Europe because of cost and saw just as many fabulous thing traveling in Czech republic, Poland, Romania etc....

-H

I have heard about an organization that allowes teachers to travel with students for free. But it's not like a field trip the teacher organizes....it's more of something you volunteer to go along with. Does anyone know what I am talking about? I felt like it was called ONE something...or Wow, but none of that feels right.

Have you ever checked out http://www.workaway.info? I heard about it from a friend who's currently spending the summer on a farm in Hawaii--how awesome is that?

I'm planning a three-or-four-month excursion to India in January and have made a few solid contacts through Workaway. You have to pay a registration fee, but so far, it seems totally worth it.

On that note, does anyone know of any way to find discounts for the "getting there" portion of the trip? I'm trying to figure out the most cost-effective way to get from New York to New Delhi...that's pretty hefty airfare. Advice would be SO greatly appreciated!

My husband and I WWOOFed last summer and for us, it did NOT turn out well. We tried our best to communicate and arrange all the details with our host, but nothing worked out. It's an *immensely* long story, but if you want all the deets I wrote about it on my blog (http://nubbytongue.blogspot.com/search/ ... eek%20Farm). We met a friend named Dan at that farm who ended up traveling with us for the next three months. He spent a month of that WWOOFing at Frey Farm. Frey was a much better experience. I can give you his contact info if you want details, I'm sure he'd be happy to help!

After we left the farm (a week into our two-month commitment) we were basically homeless for a month and a half. Twelve days of that was spent with an exceedingly generous couchsurfer, six at a friend of a friend's parent's house, seven nights at hostels, five or six at a friend of a friend's house... it was insanity. If you don't know anyone where you're going, definitely have couchsurfing as an emergency back up. And do your best to budget in some emergency money! If we hadn't had money for hostelling... I literally have no idea what we would have done. We wouldn't have even been able to sleep in the car because it was PACKED with all our worldly possessions.

Oh, another fun tidbit from that trip:

In Kansas City we'd arranged to stay two nights with this super awesome couchsurfing chick. We had a ton in common and she was going to show my husband and I around the city, we were going to cook together; it was going to be rad.

The day before we arrived in KC I called for her address. No answer. Texted. No response. Messaged her on Couchsurfing. No reply. I must have contacted her 15 or 20 times to absolutely no avail. We ended up getting a hotel instead. Luckily, that leg of the trip turned out fine (awesome, actually!) but again... always have some kind of back-up plan!

So sad to hear that couch-surfing in KC fell through :( I'm a Kansas ex-pat so it's always cheering to see someone mention the place. Glad you were able to make the most of the trip. What'd you guys do there?

Kansas City was one of our favorite stops on the road trip. =]

We went to:
-Woodyard BBQ
-YJ's
-Nelson-Atkins Museum
-Le Petit Rouge on West 63rd (best cupcakes EVER)
-A Farmer's Market (can't remember which one!)

Oh! And we got to experience an epic summer thunderstorm while we were having dinner at Woodyard. Out of nowhere it started torentially downpouring, thunder, lightning, wind... it was awesome!