We have been travelling full time now for nearly three years, and one of the reasons we are able to make it work is by being smart with the way we spend our money. We plan accordingly, and make sure we aren’t spending more than we need to on our travel expenses. It’s definitely a misconception that everyone who travels either spends a lot of money or sticks to a shoestring budget. While these two extremes used to be the primary options, the internet has opened up a whole new category in between. Thanks in large part to the sharing economy, there are now so many options for traveling in an inexpensive way, but not missing out on the home luxuries we’re used to. We would definitely classify our style of travel as being in between these extremes. We travel in an affordable way, but we also have everything we need (and want) when we’re away. We like to “live like a local” when we travel, so we have the comforts of home wherever we are. One area where we are especially mindful of our spending, is our accommodations. Travel accommodations will be one of the biggest expenses of a trip, but there are many options in between staying in an expensive hotel or a budget hostel. Where you stay can also be a very important factor in comfort and safety when traveling as an LGBTQ+ person or couple, and there are ways to ensure those considerations are addressed.
Here are our top 5 Tips for smart travel accommodations:
1. Stay With Friends & Family
This one is easy! If you’re lucky enough to have friends or family in other parts of the world, go visit them! Use it as a jumping off point for a bigger trip, or make a trip out of their destination. We often stay with friends and family members that live in other cities or countries, and we love the quality time we get to spend with them. We are fortunate to have these people spread out all over the world, and it’s a great excuse to travel to see them. These trips are a fun way to visit with loved ones and also experience a new place from a local’s perspective. It can also save you a lot of money on the cost of accommodations! We like to repay our generous hosts by cooking them delicious meals, tidying up around their place, and treating them when we go out. We find this to be the perfect way to be smart about accommodation costs. Staying with family and friends who are supportive of you no matter how you identify, can also take away some of the potential discomfort you may feel staying in other accommodations. It’s also just a really nice way to spend time with the wonderful people in our lives!
2. Home Exchange
Home exchanges have become very popular as a smart means of accommodations when travelling, and considering them may even inspire you to travel somewhere that you’d never thought about going. There are plenty of trusted house swapping sites online, and we’ve used several of them. When we first tried home exchanging a few years ago, we preferred to use a specifically LGBTQ+ website called Home Around the World. We did both simultaneous and non-simultaneous exchanges with other travellers, and it was an amazing way to save on our accommodation costs. This site was also great for ensuring that you are exchanging with people who are either members of the LGBTQ+ community, or allies. While we were living in Vancouver full time, we did a direct swap with a gay male couple down in San Francisco. They came to BC and stayed in our Gastown condo, and we spent a week in their beautiful San Fran townhouse. We both gave each other tips and advice on how to get the most out of our stays, and of course our homes were both well respected. We also did non-simultaneous exchanges with people living in LA, Toronto, and NYC.
More recently we’ve tried out two other websites, as Home Around the World users aren’t as active as they used to be, due to how popular and inclusive other websites have become. The biggest home sharing website around (and the one we now recommend) is HomeExchange.com as they have the most users worldwide! Properties can be listed as specifically LGBTQ+ friendly, and you can even filter your search to find these properties. It’s our first year on the site, and we have yet to do an exchange, but we’ve already had requests from a lot of people with amazing properties all over the world. Staying in someone’s home is a great way to get a local’s perspective when you’re in a new location. It also gives you all the comforts you’re used to, and most of these houses will have full kitchens, and laundry available for use during your stay.
We highly recommend home exchanges, but of course you need a home that you’re able to offer up in order to use this method!
3. Couch Surfing
We’ve only tried couch surfing once, and while it’s not our ‘go-to’ style of travelling, it’s popular with a lot of travellers. There is a website called couchsurfing.com that matches travellers in need of accommodations with locals who have extra space (most of the time, a spare bedroom) and are interested in meeting people from around the world. This can be a good option for solo travellers, or anyone who likes to socialize and meet new people. This isn’t the best option if you like to keep to yourself and have your own space, as you are definitely expected to spend time visiting and being social! There is a wide range in the type of accommodations hosts are able to provide, but in some cases, you will be able to find a private room with use of the kitchen and laundry. In these cases, a couch surfing stay can be quite comfortable, and since no money is exchanged, it’s a very smart option in terms of affordability.
When we used this website, we stayed with a woman who was an active member of the LGBTQ+ community, and we had a good experience. We spent time talking with her about the queer magazine she wrote for, and discussed different LGBTQ+ events in the area. Just like when we stay with friends and family, we made a point to be very respectful of her home, and we brought her a gift when we arrived to thank her for having us as guests.
We definitely recommend couch surfing, and the only reason we haven’t continued using it is because we generally like to have our own space to work remotely, and we frequently travel with our little pup!
Couch surfing as an LGBTQ+ person can obviously add an additional layer of safety concerns, so it’s important that you feel safe with your host. From our experience, some hosts on the website will list themselves as being members of the community or open to hosting LGBTQ+ travellers. If they have that information listed on their profile, you’re able to search the ‘keywords’ for inclusive hosts. As always, do your research and listen to your instincts. There are other couch surfing platforms outside of this website as well, some of which are geared more toward LGBTQ+ travellers. Facebook groups, and online travel forums are a great place to start if this is your style.
4. House Sitting
We haven’t tried house sitting yet, but it’s become a very popular way for travellers to find accommodations around the world! There are always people who are looking for a responsible person or couple to care for their home while they are away. Sometimes you would be expected to water plants, check the mail, or even care for a pet, and in return you would stay in the home free of cost. We recently signed up for one of the biggest house sitting websites called TrustedHouseSitters.com which is mostly geared toward pet-friendly people! We see several new house sitting opportunities posted every day that you can submit to, and we plan on using this method more in the future. You definitely need to be flexible with your dates, and it helps if you’re even flexible with your destinations. When you sign up, you are expected to create a thorough profile, so you can introduce yourself to homeowners looking for a sitter. We chose to be very open about the fact that we’re a same sex couple in our profile, because we would only want to house sit for someone who is inclusive of our community.
Typically, the people who have house sitters take care of their homes take great pride in their properties. The homes are generally very well kept and have all the comforts you would need during your travels!
5. Airbnb
Our last option and definitely the one we use most often, is Airbnb. There are other vacation rental sites which use the same home sharing principle, but we have been using Airbnb exclusively for close to 7 years and can only speak to it specifically. Of course, of the five options, this is the only one that isn’t free of cost, but if you are going to spend money on travel accommodations, Airbnb is a great way to do it. It’s far more affordable than a hotel, and you get so much more for your money! Rather than staying in a small room with no kitchen and having to go out for all of your meals, you can have an entire apartment or a whole house to yourself. Because we travel full time and work remotely, it’s important to us to have a proper work space and a sense of home. We love to grocery shop and cook healthy meals at our accommodations, and having a real kitchen is definitely worth it for us. We also travel quite often with our small dog, and Airbnb makes it easy to find pet-friendly accommodations so our pup can feel at home too. If you do spend money on your travel accommodations, we definitely think Airbnb is a great way to go. If you’ve never used it, you can use our code to get a $45 credit toward your first stay by clicking here. While searching for the perfect place, keep an eye out for properties that have a weekly or monthly discount. For longer stays, you can end up saving a lot of money!
As a lesbian couple, we feel safe booking accommodations through Airbnb because they are a very inclusive platform. Hosts on the website must agree that they will not discriminate against any guests based on race, sexual orientation, or for any other reason. If there is a discrimination incident, the Airbnb resolution centre will mediate the situation, and they do not tolerate any anti LGBTQ+ behaviour. Of course we still recommend reading reviews before booking, and as always do your own research to ensure your safety while travelling.
*BONUS TIP*
While hotels are generally your most expensive option for accommodations, sometimes they do make the most sense when travelling! We will often book a hotel for single night stays while on a road trip, or when we want to treat ourselves with a fancy night for a special occasion. Sometimes we will stay in a boutique hotel rather than an Airbnb if we’re travelling abroad and would feel safer doing so. Hotels generally have more security than an apartment or home, and we’ve travelled to some destinations where the Airbnb accommodations didn’t provide enough security to make us feel comfortable and safe.
When we do book hotels we use Hotels.com because they have great rates, a lot of sales, and a good loyalty program. For every ten nights you stay, you get a free night for the average value of the ten nights you purchased. We’ve saved up our free nights to use on a beautiful villa in Bali, and an upscale hotel in downtown Vancouver to celebrate our wedding anniversary. You can use your free nights on many hotels around the world, and if the room you want costs more than your free night, you can redeem it and pay the difference. Something to keep in mind with this website, is that when you redeem any sale coupons, the night will not count towards your ten stays. You will need to determine if the coupon discount is worth it, or if it’s better to have your stay contribute to your free nights. Hotels.com also does price matching, so if you find a lower price on another website or on their own website after you’ve booked your reservation, they will always match the lowest price. We recently saved $200 on a reservation in Mexico, because the price had been lowered closer to our travel dates.
Happy travelling! Let us know if you have any other great tips for being smart with your travel accommodations!
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