We just spent a fabulous 3 months in Thailand, and we spent a grand total of $60 on accommodation…
…So how did we do it?
No, we didn’t figure out a way to hack AirBNB, sleep on the streets, or stay in the cheapest dingiest hovels imaginable…
We Swapped Work For Travel!
Where did we stay?
We stayed in 2 of Thailands biggest cities Bangkok and Chiang Mai, this was to be slow travel at it’s finest and give us a chance to really explore and get to know everything these amazing 2 destinations have got to offer.
We stayed in a huge, fully furnished nice apartment in Bangkok for 6 weeks, that had the following:
- a pool
- a gym
- cable TV with 700 channels
- Xbox 360
- a housekeeper
- super-fast WiFi
- a bathroom each
- Was located on Sukhumvit, Soi 20 within easy walking distance to 7000 restaurants, 2 malls, a park, 3 supermarkets and the BTS skytrain.
Then for 5 weeks we stayed in a massive 2 story house in Chiang Mai that had these features:
- divinely furnished with amazing oriental furniture and art,
- a huge flowery garden and lawn
- Cable TV, loads of DVD’s and super-fast WiFi
- a balcony overlooking Doi Suthep mountain
- a housekeeper who did EVERYTHING
- and a total of 6 different vehicles for us to drive and ride around on: 2 new mountain bikes, a scooter, a scooter with Thai sidecar, 650 Kawasaki sports bike (my favorite!) and a Toyota Hilux!
- Situated in a quiet leafy suburb 10 minute drive away from a big mall and 10 minutes walk to a supermarket complex.
What did we have to do to score these places?
Our first Swap-Host in Bangkok needed us to take care of their lovely old Dachshund called “Kia”, who we had to feed and take outside a few times per day, while they were busy with family.
Our time in Chiang Mai we consulted with our Swap-Hosts to make social media profiles and a website for a new venture they were starting. We also helped to look after 4 well-behaved and adorable dogs named Tiger, Chloe, Rex and Lola, we had to feed these dogs once per day and walk them once and the house-keeper did all the rest. I also mowed the lawn once.
Both opportunities had housekeepers, so we had to do minimal housework ourselves which was really nice. The housekeeper in Chiang Mai actually made up our room daily, washed and ironed our clothes and did our dishes because the owners asked her too!
How did we spend our time?
We went out a lot to loads of amazing restaurants especially in Bangkok, because the apartment is in the main tourist area with loads of great places to eat.
We went to parks, visited malls, rode up mountains, went for runs, swam, cooked some comfort food from home, went to the gym and spend some time working for ourselves online.
We watched a lot of movies and caught up on all our favorite TV shows too.
We had a lot of time to ourselves. Both Swap Work For Travel opportunities required less than 1 hours “work” per day, so it was more like a vacation!
So, where did we spend our $60?
We rented a nice hotel room the first day we were in Thailand on the way to Bangkok. Then after our Bangkok gig finished we had 3 nights to fill in before we could move into our Chiang Mai digs so we stayed at a funky little back-packers that was recommended to us.
How can you do something like this too?
We had a really great time this last 3 months in Thailand. This time last year we were in Sri Lanka helping an expat couple with their social media and Thailand was definitely more chilled out, just what we needed!
If you would love to do something like this, stay somewhere special for free and eat for free while helping people out…
Sign up to become one of our platinum or gold members and pay a small yearly fee to have access to our entire data-base of amazing opportunities from 5 star hotels and dive resorts to small eco-tourism companies.
You can travel with a difference like we do for as long as you like.