10 GOOD REASONS TO TRAVEL THROUGH WORKAWAY OR WWOOFing
But first, what are WorkAway and WWOOFing?
Lac La Hache. Io e Little Rosie
They are two different websites where people who are looking for helpers can advertise voluntary work to people who are looking for a low cost travel experience. The basic concept is pretty simple: I help you out and you provide accommodation and food. There is no money involved. We are talking about 5 hours of work per day with two days off per week. Once you have signed up on the website (which costs between $20 and $30) you get access to a never-ending list of hosts. There are all sorts of people who need someone to help them out: from a family that’s looking for a babysitter, to a farm that needs someone to help out with the animals, to a yoga school in need of instructors or a resort looking for someone to rent sports equipment to tourists… it could be anything, really.
Ruby lake, Canada. Presso il mio terzo host canadese.
First of all, a little about me: these two websites should really pay me for all the advertising I’m doing for them, seriously, the owners should materialize out of thin air and throw fistfuls of cash at me! Secondly, for anyone who doesn’t know me personally, you have to know that I am NOT running away from Italy. I am NOT part of the famous brain drain. I LOVE Italy, I ADORE Como, my hometown, and, even though I’ve seen places that have literally taken my breath away, I’ve yet to find anywhere that would make me consider permanently leaving my beloved Italy behind. Ask Simona, my dear friend, who wanted to drag me to Germany with her for a one month long German course. She had to beg me for months and wear me down before she managed it because I, no, thank you very much, but no, absolutely didn’t want to leave Como for such a long time.
And now, after 7 months in Scotland and 4 in Canada, I’m writing about how great it is to pack up and go. So, these are my 10 good reasons to travel through WorkAway and WWOOFing:
1. “A penny saved is a penny earned” cit.
As the proverb says, why spend money when you can avoid it? As a typical broke university student, when I first decided to travel I didn’t have much money set aside. These two websites are the perfect solutions for anyone who is in the same situation or, why not, for someone who simply wants to have a low cost adventure. The only expenses you will face are going to be A) signing up to the website, B) transportation to the country and to the different hosts of your choice and C) doing touristy things (if you want to) between one host and the next one. Everything else is for free since food and accommodation are provided by the hosts.
Scoraig, Scozia. Io presso la mia seconda famiglia scozzese
2. Spin a globe, put your finger on a random point and GO
Both websites have hosts almost everywhere in the world. Some countries are more popular than others but, basically, you are really spoilt for choice.
Invergordon, Scozia.
3. The work
Now, I can’t speak for every single place in the world as I obviously haven’t been everywhere, but, when the host plays by the website’s rules, trust me, you won’t die of fatigue. Especially because you will only work for a few hours a day and have at least 2 days off per week. Often enough the jobs you are assigned to do will be extremely simple and easily manageable for the average person. Obviously if you are a carpenter you might be asked to build something, if you are a chef you could help out at the restaurant, if you are a brilliant IT technician you’ll be able to help out with their website… generally the work will be decided based on your abilities.
Keith, Scozia. Io che poto le piante di ribes in compagnia di Vladimir, il gatto di casa presso il mio primo host scozzese.
4. Learning a foreign language
At the risk of being beaten up by my lovely English teacher friends, I have to ask:
Do you have a basic knowledge of grammar and vocabulary in another language but desperately want to improve? Are you thinking about investing a few thousands dollars in a Summer course in some pretty little town overseas? Rethink your decision! Hold on to your money and try one of these websites instead.
From personal experience and from what others have told me, I can assure you that on a language course you will have an amazing time and make a lot of friends but no, linguistically you will not learn much. Generally during these courses you end up spending entire days with your classmates who, sadly, know as much about foreign languages as you do. Therefore you will spend weeks using sentences with the grammatical complexity of “the cat is on the table” and using the same old familiar 5 words.
Or worse. Is that someone from my city or my country over there? I’ll go and sit next to him! And just like that, after a month in Germany I spoke my friend’s Italian dialect better than German.
With WorkAway and WWOOFing there is no way out. You will often end up in places where nobody can utter a word in your language and, guess what, you will be forced to speak in their language ALL the time. Until you feel like bursting into tears. Until you get back home and you won’t be able to speak your own language properly anymore because you’ll be forgetting words and mixing them up together after not speaking it for ages. All the families that have hosted me (7 altogether, between Canada and Scotland) have helped me a lot and NONE of them ever expected me to speak perfectly. They knew English wasn’t my first language and genuinely wanted to help me out with grammar, pronunciation, phrases and expressions … I think I drove some of them nuts by asking them to repeat themselves a thousand times over when I didn’t understand something or had no idea what they were talking about. Sorry, I love you. Please do forgive me.
Golden, Canada. Frasi con “th” che la mia seconda host canadese ha consigliato ad un ragazzo tedesco da ripetere viste le sue difficoltà a pronunciare il suono. Lui ha pensato bene di appiccicarle in bagno.
5. Food, what else?
Okay, I must admit that it is not always in the pro column. I still need to recover from the haggis, the national Scottish dish and no, you do not want to know what it is made of, trust me. But do you think that by going to a Japanese restaurant with Chinese managers you’ll be able to taste real sushi? Are you sure that McDonald’s pancakes are exactly like the Norh American ones? Do you know how British people take their tea and what they have with it? Do you truly believe that the real Italian cuisine is the one you find in your local Italian restaurant? No? Then go and find something authentic. With WorkAway and WWOOFing you’ll live with your hosts, eat when they eat and have what they have. You’ll taste dishes they have been passing down from generation to generation. They might teach you how to cook their favourite food, you will really try the local cuisine and have the chance to taste the true flavours of the country you are in. Basically, you will learn the true meaning of term “local cuisine”. And there is nothing nicer than someone sharing their food culture with you.
Greeny Lake, Canada. Presso il mio primo host canadese
6. Unknown places
Everyone is capaple of going to visit the most important cities, monuments and tourist spots in a country. Glance through a TripAdvisor or Lonely Planet guide and ready, set, go! Everyone is running to a place 300,000 tourists before them have seen. And, truth be told, I do it as well, I am not going to deny it. But thanks to WorkAway and WWOOFing I savoured the joy of ending up in places off the beaten track, places that only the locals knew and secret corners books do not talk about. I went canoeing in huge Canadian lakes where the only people for miles around were my host and I. I collected seashells on white deserted beaches on the North Sea. I crossed streams on horseback under the watchful eyes of a mama bear and her cubs. I played darts in Scottish pubs in tiny villages with only a handful of inhabitants … hence, I truly believe these two websites gave me the opportunity to completely embrace the countries I visited and to do things I never would have done as a normal tourist, or to see places I would have never seen following the common routes. And I’m deeply grateful for this.
Scozia. A raccogliere conchiglie su una spiaggia deserta sul mare del nord con il mio terzo host scozzese
7. Everyone can do it
Whenever I have told someone that I was about to leave for another long trip I have been bombarded with exclamations of “lucky you”, “I wish I could do that too”, “I’m so jealous”, “what a dream” blah blah blah … and my question is: “why don’t you do it as well then?”.
I wish I could say that I am special, that I have some amazingly rare skills, a lot of money and not a care in the world. But, sadly, that’s not the case. I’m well aware that more often than not the idea of dropping everything and leaving can be terrifying, that the idea of stopping, even if only for a moment, to take a break while the rest of the world keeps spinning around us can be scary but, you know what? When you get back from your trip everything will be exactly how you left it. Besides, you will notice that, while you were away, you haven’t lost anything but you have grown richer through experience and, whatever happens, you will have learnt a lot. If you are a student your studies will still be there waiting for you to pick them up again. So, when we are all inevitably still working at 70, do you think you will look back and regret those 2, 3, 7, 10 months you spent travelling the world? I don’t think so.
Timbasket lake, Canada. In canoa con il mio secondo host canadese.
8. Learning to adapt
Not to be the billionth person who quotes Forrest Gump but… “life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” And the same goes for hosts. Learning to adapt in every situation is definitely one of the key parts of this kind of adventure. Both websites give you a profile with a detailed description of the host so you can choose the best one for you, depending on your tastes and inclinations and so you can have an idea of what to expect. But you can never be too sure about where you are going to end up, or maybe you do, but reading a description while comfortably sitting in front of your computer at home and actually being there are two totally different matters. I therefore believe it is an important opportunity for personal growth because learning to be flexible opens a lot of doors for you in life.
Lavatrice, scoraig penisola scozzese
9. You gain a new family
It has been two years since I came back from Scotland and I still have a phone date with one of my Scottish families every other Sunday. I often exchange messages with the other family and constantly receive invites to go and visit them all (again!). Because very often hosts are families that welcome you with open arms and do everything in their power to make you feel at home, to welcome you like one of their own and to include you in their life. And, you know, a family is forever.
Cartoline e lettere per amici lontani
10. Other travelers
Before leaving for the first time I was sure I was only going to meet local people. I was on my way to one of the most remote peninsulas in the Scottish Highlands, why would I ever think otherwise? But, oh boy, was I wrong! Often enough hosts welcome more than one helper at the same time. The result is that during my WWOOFing and WorkAway experiences I have met many other people who, like me, were travelling the world and enjoying experiences similar to mine. Working and exploring together, we often became good friends and I consequently created a great network of acquaintances all over the globe, from France to China, from Canada to Japan, from Australia to Costa Rica… the cultural exchange in this kind of adventure is truly never ending, there is always something new to learn and someone new to meet.
Scoraig, Scozia. Con una ragazza australiana ed uno inglese
To sum up, I warmly suggest these two websites and all the experiences they give you. Of course Life is not always peaches and cream and the same goes for this kind of adventure. Not all hosts are perfect and there will always be the one you prefer above all others, but, nevertheless, they provide a good platform to jump from and dive into their country, to see, explore and visit a corner of the world. So… go for it! What are you waiting for?
If you want to know more, visit the following links:
https://www.workaway.info/
http://www.wwoof.net/
AUTHOR: Chiara
