Switched from hostels to house-sitting for my Europe trip

I was going back and forth between paying $35 a night for hostels in Berlin or trying house-sitting through a website for free stays. Ended up watching someone's cat for 5 nights in a real apartment with a kitchen, saved about $175 just on lodging. Has anyone else tried swapping lodging types mid-trip and found it worth the extra planning?

3 comments

3 Comments

eric72315d ago

Saw a post on a travel forum where a guy did this for three months straight. He watched dogs and cats all through France and Italy. Said he basically paid zero for housing the whole time. That's wild to me because I tried couchsurfing once and got stuck on a lumpy futon. But having a kitchen changes everything, you can actually cook real meals instead of eating bread and cheese from the corner store.

patriciareed14d ago

Gotta say I feel you on the futon thing. My one couchsurfing experience was in Brussels and I ended up on a pile of cushions that smelled like an old dog. Having a real kitchen and a bed that's actually meant for sleeping sounds like a dream compared to that mess. The whole point of traveling is not having to eat sad bread for every meal or drop cash on overpriced crap. Makes me want to try this house sitting thing even though I'm usually pretty picky about where I sleep.

gavin_hill2715d ago

House sitting really shines when you hit cities with expensive lodging, Berlin's a perfect example of that. @eric723 nailed it about the kitchen being a game changer, nothing beats cooking pasta at 11pm after a long day of museums instead of dropping 15 euros on sad takeout. Just double check the wifi situation before you agree to anything, some of those older European apartments have connection speeds that'll make you miss the hostel common room.