I love the idea of creatively finding a free bed in Europe. I used to do it routinely. These days, I usually sleep in hotel rooms. How much a part of the equation is sleeping free for you? What super cheap options (couch surfing, AirB&B, other social B&B networks, etc) are useful to you and why?
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My kids WOOF’ed their way through Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. At the B&B they worked in Kona, they only worked mornings and in exchange for that, they received free room and board.
On our trip to Europe 10 years ago, we slept at the airport in Munich to catch an early flight back home. It wasn’t too uncomfortable and we survived. Now we try and schedule our return flight as a “nonstop” to avoid the early morning departures. We have also slept overnight on trains; however, these nights were always spent in designated sleeping compartments.
My wife and I have been doing home exchanges through Homelink since 2003. We have completed more than 20 very successful exchanges. For us, the real payoff is meeting new friends and being part of the local culture, rather than saving money. But, we have saved many thousands of dollars in hotel and car rental costs while following Rick’s advice to “live like a local” on our European travels.
I am a cheapskate but even I think a safe, good night’s sleep is worth paying for. Maybe if I had more time and less money, sleeping free would be more important.
Probably depends partly on your age group, and partly on what you consider part of the experience. I would much rather stay in reasonable accommodations and get a good night’s rest every night. Then I have plenty of energy for the walking and sightseeing I like to do, and my tired muscles from the day before have had time to recuperate.
This is very important. I have only used Couchsurfing outside the US in Australia but not in Europe. My wife used it once in Denmark and it worked great. Best site I have used in Europe is VRBO (Rome, Barcelona, Paris).
Others have also pointed out that Rick’s business model has shifted. If there are back door elements remaining, they probably are reflected in some of the accommodations he chooses. As for trains, I recall a video of a recent group which traveled village Turkey and they did not look like happy campers
Rick, I think it’s important to keep this section (and camping, hitchhiking, etc.) because it’s something that (some) young people want. If you remove those sections, perhaps you lose a lot of young readers. And we need you to teach young people! :)
What I like about your books is that you give us information and it gives us the OPTION to do or not do something. Even if I don’t plan to sleep for free somewhere, it’s good to be informed because you never know when you might need it.
PS I just flipped through your book (ETBD 2007) and the only section that I would even consider removing would be “travel photography”, and even that had some good pointers.
Not important at all. I pick unique hotels along the way and I think that adds a lot to our trips. Trying to save a few dollars on a hotel is not that important. The few times I have gotten a place for free (at a place with somebody we met), it just wasn’t comfortable for us. Nice to have your own bathroom, and “hopefully”, a quiet room.
Spending a night on a train or in the airport is just no fun anymore. The next day we are just beat.
Not important at all. When I was 19, I slept on trains, bunked with relatives of relatives of friends, and even once on a train platform. At 58, I need a bed and a shower. :-)
Your ETBD approach, Rick, has led me to eschew traditional hotels in favor of B&Bs and apartments. Both are real money savers in their own ways, and offer a more back door experience than staying in a Marriott or similar big buck hotel.
If it was up to me I would sleep free more often because saving money and being adventurous is my highest priority. I have no problem getting 3-4 hours sleep and giving it 100% the next day. I can afford better accommodations but prefer the budget approach. When I travel though, I’m traveling with my wife. She prefers a comfortable room each night and stops of at least 2 nights per city. We’ve done it my way a few times and it usually makes her pretty grumpy. I appreciate the budget information even if I can’t always use it. I say keep it.
I think these sections (sleeping free, camping, hitchhiking) are very important because:
1. Your purpose is to help people make good choices. Making a good choice involves being informed about reasonable options.
2. The main value of guidebooks (especially a general one like ETBD, without actual hotel listings) is to make the traveler aware of options they may not know about. Everyone knows there are hotels in Europe. Learning about camping, overnight trains, WWOOFing, and other creative alternatives are a key benefit of reading a guidebook.
Please don’t pigeonhole your readers. We’re not all middle aged and flush!
I think this section should DEFINITELY stay in your book. This section was one of the most important on my first trip in 1999. I think if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t even have known (nor considered) I could pull the chairs down to make a bed on some trains. I wouldn’t have slept on a park bench in Southern Italy. I wouldn’t have “waited for my train” overnight on several occasions. As some previous posters mention above, it’s very importatn that you continue to give “first-time” travelers all there options, explain the safety of these options, and give travelers the choice of which options they use.
I have many friends who, when traveling, brag about the hotels they stay at for $400+ per night. They laugh at me (and give my wife those “I’m so sorry for you looks”) when I explain to them they could have spent less than a quarter for that per night and spent more time on vacation, or came home with more money in their pockets. My answer is always the same to friends, family, and students: Sure you can spend hundreds, on a room per night, but are you traveling for the hotels or the other experiences of Europe? Unless you plan to spend more time in your room than sightseeing, blowing your budget on a hotel is a waste and keeps you from doing/seeing more while travelling. For those on a small budget: sleeping cheaply is a great way to stretch that budget and allows you to splurge on other things (food anyone?). Even for those with Tens of thousands to blow in 2 weeks, sleeping cheaply (even free sometimes) allows you to spend that $400+ per night on other things (ie private tours/guides, extra 3-4 days of accomodations, 7 course once-in-a-lifetime meals, skydiving over the swiss alps, etc).
I never understand people wanting to throw away their money on the part of their vacation they want to use the least: the room. Unless it’s a honeymoon, romantic getaway, etc., the whole goal of traveling is to be OUT OF THE ROOM….
…Whoops this just turned into a rant on expensive hotels v. cheap alternatives. I got far way from the Free Sleeps topic. Sorry :)
I think with the use of internet and different websites available for the hotels, B&B’s, Hostels and other possible place to stay. It is easy to see what you are going to spend and how much on these sleeping places to stay. With some of the chains, being more reasonable than some, ie Accor, with its Ibis, Premiere class, Etap and searching more convenient on the internet, it isn’t as important to sleep free or almost free. At least that is my opinion.
I personally am not interested in sleeping for free. That’s not where I am in life right now. I want a clean, comfortable bed at night. We usually vary our sleeping arrangements, with maybe a splurge the first night and the last night in Europe with a variety of other arrangements while there, rentals, B&B’s, farms, local hotels, and the occasional local chain for clean but cheap. We avoid the American chains. We can do that at home. (Except once in India where for my last night I wanted a clean bed with clean sheets, a clean bathroom, and a hot water shower. I knew the Marriott would not let me down.)
I value getting a good night’s sleep every night because, if I don’t, I’ll be miserable the next day and my days in Europe are far too valuable to me. My few experiences sleeping for free on night trains were a disaster and I insist on sleeping on couchettes to the extent that night trains are available. They are more rare each year. I sleep well in a couchettte but I have had a great deal of expericience with them. A typcial first-time experience will be poor, mine was, but it gets easier to sleep well on a couchette with experience.
Hell = sleeping anywhere but a real bed…free or not…except when you go camping on purpose. Hell x 2 = tiny cups of coffee.
I am 27 and sleeping as cheaply as possible is my goal. I can then spend my money on great restaurants, admissions, compfortable travel, and clubs. I find the section’s on sleeping cheaply/free and packing lightly the best parts of any book as I always backpack it.