You may think the title of this blog is a typo. How can someone stay in Europe hotel bill or rent free for two months. Well, I’ll tell you. Ever hear of a site called WorkAway.info.
Well, I had been knowing about WorkAway for a few years now, and finally joined and thought I would give it a try. It basically works like this: You pay a small fee to join. At the time this blog article was written the price was Solo Traveler starting at $69/yr, and Couples membership starting at $79/yr. You pay the fee to join, then as a WorkAwayer and then you can start searching for WorkAway opportunities that fit your interest(s) and where you want to travel to. You pay your own way to get there… but you do not have to pay for lodging in exchange for working doing whatever projects you agree to work on. However, you have to reach out to the hosts. Send them an email through the platform telling them why you would be a good fit for their WorkAway opportunity. Seems the standard is if you work for 5 hrs., the host provides meals (usually breakfast, lunch and dinner). If you work for 3hrs. a day, usually the host does not provide food, and you have to buy your own food and cook it yourself. To see if it would be worth your money to join, you can always browse their site before you join to see what is available. For me, I love to garden, and doing home improvement DIY projects. So that is the type of work I looked for, and I chose to visit France. Some other types of projects included working with kids and animals, that didn’t interest me… so I didn’t apply for anything like that. Also if English is your native language, there are alot of people who just want you to join their family to do a cultural exchange, so they can practice their English around you.
Now on the other hand, say you have an extra room in your home (extra bedroom or separate apt.) and you have some work that you need help with, or just want to do a cultural exchange to practice a new language you are learning, etc…. then you may want to join the WorkAway.info platform as a host. Then people will help you with your project.
Long story short… I was lucky enough to get accepted at two fabulous WorkAway assignments. The first one was staying in a castle in the Burgundy region of France with a Count and his wife (Countess). Sounds fancy, but they were so down-to-earth and a very nice couple. Except for the time, I was telling the Count I was going to put some mustard on my baguette with pork pate. I think he was about to faint. So I didn’t do it. I didn’t see the problem. Seemed like cheese on it would have been a good idea too. Seemed just like any sandwich to me. But I guess any pate deserves more respect than being next to mustard and cheese. I planned to use Dijon mustard. From where I come from… Dijon mustard is fancy. I wouldn’t have thought of doing that to Foie Gras (goose or duck liver pate). But the French take any pate very seriously.
Well, at the castle, I had my own room, which was very spacious, about the size of 3 rooms actually. I was asked not to share pictures inside the castle, since it is open to the public and regular visitors have to pay to view inside. Since I happened to be the only WorkAway worker in May, I had the entire floor to myself and didn’t have to share the bathroom, which I was prepared to share if I had other workers there. The only thing that I missed was having other workers on that assignment to talk to while I worked. Thought that would make the work go by quicker. They said that May is hard to get WorkAwayers in France because of all the national holidays in France during that month. Breakfast was mainly croissants and coffee. I kept wanting to load my croissant up with preserves, but was informed that the French never put anything on their croissants. I ate lunch and dinner with the Count and his wife. She was an excellent cook, making fancy gourmet meals that she said were French staples and favorites from the Burgundy region of France.
On this burgundy castle WorkAway, I was supposed to do painting and cooking. But I ended up doing some gardening (mostly pulling weeds in a large peony flower bed, a large bed or roses). If they say gardening, remember to bring your rose gloves if you have any. I left mine at home, and wished that I had brought them with me. I also did some painting. Painted the above garden gate and another garden gate. And on days it rained and I couldn’t work outside, I helped with some cleaning inside the castle. Washing windows and vacuuming. On a workaway, you have to be willing to pitch in where needed, assuming it is not too far off from what you agreed to do. I didn’t end up cooking because I caught a bad cold, since it was raining there a lot and was cold when I arrived in the region.
On my off days and my weekends, I visited some nearby towns via train, and also visited London for the Chelsea Flower Show, which was amazing. I had wanted to go to see the Chelsea Flower Show for several years since I found out about it. I’ll write a separate blog article about that experience.
Anyway, on to talking about my second WorkAway experience. This one was very exciting. The hosts were an older English couple (Nicky and Mick) who were retired university professors who lived part-time in the United States. I stayed in a small hilltop village town in the South of France in the Côte d’Azur region (or French Riviera).
Nicky’s garden is unbelievable, even by Chelsea Flower Show standards. I might write a separate article listing the plants that were in her garden. I cataloged them. It was quite impressive. Just from the editable items alone, she had: Grapes, Olives, Peaches, Lemons, Grapefruit, KomKuat, Oranges, and Pomegranate. Now that is just the editable plants…. she had so many flowering trees and flowers, roses, vines, and of course lavender plants, like the one I’m cutting in the photo below.
This WorkAway felt different since there were several great fellow workers that I got to meet. There was separate apt. for the female workers where we all have our own private rooms and share two bathrooms. There was one male worker who was staying in an apt. in the garden area just past the Pickleball court. Oh, yes, she had a Pickleball court, and she gave us all instructions on how to play the game. I had started playing before I went on this trip and even traveled with my own set of paddles and balls. Which I really could have just saved that space…. or just taken one paddle. Lesson learned. I won’t be overpacking again. I say that every time, but this time I really mean it. Next trip, no shopping and only bringing a small carry-on bag and a duffle bag.
On this WorkAway, I worked 3 hrs each morning, and so we had to buy our own food and cook for ourselves, which was ok. Our hosts were nice enough to serve us coffee, croissants, and fruit each morning after our work was finished as we talked about politics, culture, sports, etc.
Our hosts were engaging and lively. On my off time, I often took the local bus for 2.60 Euros to one of the nearby beaches. One time, I even took a ferry to a private island off the French Riviera (Porquerolles), where I rented a bike and rode all over the island, finding some beautiful beaches. On another weekend, user workers rented a car and went to Saint-Tropez. Saint-Tropez has all the expensive luxury brand stores like Hermès, Jimmy Choo, Giorgio Armani, Fendi, and Louis Vuitton, etc. Reminded me of the area in Italy across from the Spanish Steps…. as far as the fancy stores. All these were outside my budget, but it was still nice to look in the shops. In Jimmy Choo, I saw some shoes that cost over $7,000. I hope that if I ever had that type of money, I wouldn’t waste that much on one pair of shoes. I thought the shoes I bought in Auxerre were almost too expensive…. after Saint Tropez, I see what a bargain they were. Also, that large straw bag I got at the weekly Wednesday market for 110 Euros.
On another weekend, booked a Lavender Tour that left Avignon (which was about a 3-hour train ride from where I was staying). I stayed the night at Hotel Bristol, and took the tour the next morning. Great tour. I booked it via Viator months in advance of arriving in France.
Above photos are of me with some of the fellow WorkAwayers and/or Hosts.
Long story short…. you can use platforms like WorkAway.info and Trusted House Sitters, to extend your stays so that you can have a more immersive experience in another country. So you can stay longer than just a week or two. This was the first time I used WorkAway to do this, and I plan to do it again in some future trips I want to take to Portugal and New Zealand. In future trips, I don’t know if I will still do gardening work, or I might look for office work or work helping another artist with art installations. I saw one host looking for someone to help look for and pick up interesting driftwood at the beach for their art installations. That sounds interesting. Just combing the beach for interesting stuff.
I haven’t tried Trusted House Sitters, so I have no firsthand experience with it… with it you are usually pet sitting for cats and/or dogs. That seemed too restrictive to me, since I want to have the freedom to go away for the weekend if I want, and with pet sitting, that doesn’t seem possible.
This program seems great for retirees, students on a break, and remote workers. Because most WorkAway Hosts want you to stay 2 weeks – a month minimum. For the Burgundy Castle WorkAway I stayed 3 weeks, and for the South of France garden project, I stayed 5 weeks. Also management styles are different of the Hosts. At the castle, they left me alone to just get the job done, but at the South of France large garden, the host was more hands-on, working beside you.
During this trip, other than spending a week in Paris and Versailles before starting the WorkAways and doing all the touristy stuff, I didn’t get a chance to do the first time I was in France years ago with a friend. Some culturally immersive things that I did were: Taking French Lessons and having interesting talks with locals. Like the time I met and talked for hours (in English) to a French lady (Karen) on the train and shared lunch with her during a train layover on the way back to Paris. Also, the interesting conversations and cultural exchange between the Count and his wife, and the hosts in the South of France location. Also, my talks with the other WorkAway workers who were from places such as Australia, various parts of the UK, and China. As a solo traveler, these interactions were so refreshing and stimulating. compared to staying at a traditional hotel, where the only interaction is asking a hotel concierge for a restaurant recommendation.
If anyone reading this has had experience doing WorkAways, please let me know how your experience was and where you did it, in the comments.
Happy travels and volunteering. This experience helped me get outside of the touristy large cities of Paris and Nice, which is basically all I went to the first time I visited France. Also I was able to help some great people who needed assistance with some projects around their home or castle. Still can’t believe the castle experience. That isn’t something that you can usually even pay to experience. How many people can say they got to stay in a castle in France for 3 weeks? Now, I can.
Thank you, WorkAway… and Hosts for your hospitality.