Workaway Reviews: My Experience Volunteering Abroad

Have you ever wished you could travel for free, meet new people, and connect with locals? Then Workaway is the program for you!

Workaway is a wonderful website where you can connect with thousands of hosts around the world. They offer an alternative to typical work and travel programs, such as unpaid stints at hostels and volunteer work that you pay to do.

Instead, you’ll find positions doing everything from teaching English to painting murals – even raising animals or helping out at resorts. In exchange for your work, you’ll get free accommodations and food!

I used Workaway to make money travelling Europe for a year. I’m sharing my Workaway review and pro tips to help you make the most of your Workaway experience.

Read on to learn how to volunteer abroad for free travel!

My favourite way to travel for free is with Trusted Housesitters!

What is the Workaway Program?

Workaway is a platform with over 50,000 opportunities for travellers to exchange work for meals and a place to stay.

Workaway is an online network of hosts and travellers, kind of like Airbnb for volunteering.

Hosts post listings on the site and travellers reach out to them (occasionally hosts will reach out to travellers, but it’s usually the travellers writing).

Both hosts and guests have profiles that Workaway verifies.

For example, you have to submit photographic evidence of your passport and have it approved in order to be a verified member on the site.

The best profiles include photos (of real people and the accommodations, not just landscapes), details of experience for travellers, host expectations or work required, and a sense of personality.

Hosts have more expansive profiles.

They have to specify the number of hours they are expecting you to work, what they offer in exchange (i.e. accommodation type and meals), and what kind of guests they accept.

For example, some places allow pets, some have internet, and some only accept one Workawayer at a time.

Like Airbnb, hosts and travellers leave reviews that are shown to others. It’s a good incentive for both parties to do a good job. It’s critical to read these when deciding on a place to stay!

If you aren’t sure if you’d like to join yet, go on the site and browse the hosts. You don’t need a membership to see their profiles – only to actually contact them for a volunteer position.

You can apply to be a Workaway volunteer here.

How do Workaways work?

You write to a host and get approval to stay with them. They will have certain expectations that they lay out, like what type of work you do.

Workaway limits free work (in exchange for room and board) to 5 hours a day for 5 days a week (max 25 hours a week). Hosts do try to get around this, but I only let them if I’m getting more bang for my metaphorical buck. For example, am I getting amazing food? Am I getting other perks? Am I getting paid?

Workaway sees itself as a cultural exchange centre. You’re supposed to be getting a cultural experience on top of the work that you’re doing. This may be eating local cuisine, learning the language from the hosts (although often they prefer you teach them English), or from cool excursions.

Need help learning a new language? I recommend iTalki! I’ve tried ALL the apps, but iTalki is the only way I’ve managed to learn as much as living in the local country.

When you’re searching for hosts, you can filter based on location, types of work, your travel dates, and other specifications.

Be sure to set up your travel dates and destinations on your profile as some hosts may reach out to you for opportunities as well.

My favourite feature of Workaway, one that I tell everyone about, is the ability to print a reference letter from your profile. Essentially, you’re able to turn your positive reviews of your hard work into something you can use for your CV later.

It was the selling point to my dad who was super concerned about the trip.

I’ve had Workaway on my CV for years now and it’s benefitted me greatly. Nowadays employers want people who have global experience, work well with others, can multi-task and be flexible, and who are interesting. Working through Workaway will give you all that and more!

Not bad for a free way to travel, eh?

Basic Rules of Workaway

• A host can only request 25 hurs of unpaid work per week
• You must be provided with 3 proper meals per day, or the groceries to cook your own
• There must be a place to sleep, shower, and use the bathroom
• Hosts cannot ask you to do work that you did not agree to already
• You get 2 days off per week (this can be negotiated depending on pay, etc.)

Types of Workaway Experiences

If there’s a type of work you can think of, it’s on Workaway!

Workaway has opportunities for literally everyone.

The most common types of jobs are:

• Farm work
• Childcare
• Building
• Cleaning
• Language lessons
• Caretaking of homes or elderly individuals
• Petsitting
• Online work (such as photography for websites, building sites, copywriting, etc.)

I’ve also seen jobs for yoga, meditation places, servers, and more!

Search for your skill and I’m 90% sure you’ll find a job that requires it!

My favourite way to travel for free is with Trusted Housesitters!

Workaway Program Locations

Workaway operates around the world.

I found the most Workaways in Europe and the UK. There are also a number in the US.

You’ll find fewer in New Zealand and Canada, but still some opportunities outside of the cities.

When you log in, you can select countries from a drop-down list. With 170+ countries, you’re almost guaranteed to find the location you’re looking for.

How to Use Workaway to Travel on a Budget

Workaway is the best tool for anyone who is travelling on a budget.

You get free accommodation and food in exchange for 25 hours of work per week. Sometimes even less!

You can even make money by working additional hours at certain Workaways.

On top of this, my hosts (as is common through the program) took me on cultural excursions throughout my stay. I got to go to Vienna twice for free thanks to my hosts in Austria!

You can also make friends to travel with, which will cut your budget.

I managed to travel Europe for 8 months and actually made money thanks to Workaway!

It meant that those weeks when I was just travelling, I could splurge a bit more thanks to the extra cash I’d made.

How to Use Workaway to Make Friends for Solo Travellers

You can actually use Workaway to make friends!

Not only can you befriend locals that are hosts or neighbours, but you can meet fellow travellers to explore the world with.

To do this, stay at Workaways that accept more than 1 volunteer.

These often have less luxurious sleeping arrangements (i.e. shared dorms), but it’s worth it for the friends you’ll make!

I met people who I’m still close with almost 5 years later! And got lots of fun group getaways out of the friends I met while I was still travelling, which helped me overcome the solo supplement.

They developed an app for connections after I finished using Workaway. Now, you can meet up with other volunteers and find people in your area. This helps solo volunteers find others nearby!

👉 Want to make friends around the world? Join Meetups today for free!

Workaway Costs

In order to sign up for the Workaway program, you have to pay a yearly membership fee.

A one-person membership costs $44 USD. If you’re travelling with a partner, friend or children, you can create a joint account for $56 USD.

You can cancel your membership after the year and Workaway will hold onto your profile. It will become inactive so you can’t apply to hosts, but you won’t lose your references or have to start writing from scratch.

This is a great feature as I’ve taken a couple of years off the site but fully intend to join again for some more free solo travel opportunities.

Otherwise, there are no costs to being on Workaway. If a host tries to charge you for your experience with them, it’s not allowed!

Paid Workaway Experiences

I told you the Workaway program will let you travel for free, right?

How is that possible when you have to pay $44 for a membership?

Well, I’d argue $44 is basically free – but there’s a chance you can even lower that!

Some Workaway hosts offer paid placements for travellers.

These are rarer, as most simply exchange the 5 hours a day for your room and board. You can actually search specifically for paid placements in the Workaway program and find opportunities to make some extra cash.

Paid placements typically require more than 5 hours of work or specialty work – like digital marketing, building, or giving lessons to others.

I never took this opportunity as I was more concerned with finding places with internet access so I could make money freelancing (that’s how I kept my Workaways free!).

If you decide to search for paid opportunities, you’ll need to be more open to different locations.

You have to follow the paid work rather than fitting paid work into your carefully crafted travel itinerary!

Is Workaway Safe?

Yes, Workaway is safe.

There are security measures in place to help keep volunteers and hosts safe. These include:

• Passport verification for those using the program
• Honest reviews from past hosts and Workawayers
• The ability to report unsafe people
• Pictures of the individuals

Additionally, the ability to speak with the host/volunteer before you meet can help you determine if you are comfortable staying with them.

As a solo female traveller, I didn’t feel comfortable staying with single men. I preferred to stay with women or families.

Hosts display who is hosting you, so I was able to rule out those opportunities that were single men.

I also felt safer when staying with other Workawayers, since they were often female like me. You can’t select this, but the majority of people I met via Workaway were women, so it seems to be more used by females.

To stay safe:

• Read reviews
• Trust your gut
• Tell someone where you’re going
• Ensure there’s wifi or internet and check in with people back home
• Ensure you have an exit strategy from the place (don’t rely on them to pick you up and drop you off if things go wrong)
• Speak to the host ahead of time
• Ensure there are pictures

Workaway Review Based on My Experience

I signed up for Workaway the first moment I could. Before I was even approved, I had at least six dozen hosts set aside in a wish list (a convenient feature for over browsers like me!).

Eventually, I had to pare them down. I decided to base my choices on the countries I wanted to be in.

Admittedly, that wasn’t the best way to do it, but it helped me create a timeline of when I’d be in certain places. That made it easier to let hosts know when I planned to be available to work for them.

From that plan, I managed to get an array of opportunities across Europe.

I initially planned to work for 3 weeks then spend a week travelling, moving to a new country every month.

That didn’t fully work out as you’ll see.

Workaway in Baden, Switzerland

I started out working in Switzerland for a young woman.

Initially, I was meant to help cook, clean, and watch her chihuahua, Marley.

At the last minute, she needed to visit her family in Greece. So my first Workaway was more like an Airbnb. I had a lovely flat in Baden to myself, with a fully stocked fridge (of free food!), and a chihuahua friend to take on walks.

It was barely even work!

When I needed to restock some food, I paid for half of it myself because I felt bad for how little I was contributing.

Workaway in Pisek, Czech Republic

My first assignment had gone so well that I was sort of nervous to move on to a group Workaway where I’d be teaching English outside of Prague.

I was working with a company that paired English speakers with a group of employees hoping to better their English.

Wow was I spoiled!

We got taken to this beautiful little chalet on the edge of Pisek. We had beautiful meals prepared by the hotel’s chef and far more tea than any human being should drink.

I shared a room with a girl who has become a long-term friend. We’ve met up around Europe that year, and if it weren’t for the pandemic, we’d have met up in 2020 as well.

The volunteers got a crash course in teaching English before we were paired with a student.

Every day we worked with the student for a few hours (totally 40 by the end of the week) individually and in groups. This is more than the typical 25 hours, but we were getting a lot in return for our work and it was only for 1 week so I decided I was alright with the work.

They worked on their English, we got some cool Czech pen pals, and we got a certificate showing how many hours of English we taught – something I’ve been able to use for jobs later.

They even took us on a historic walking tour of Pisek, completely free!

We got a round trip to Pisek from Prague, which saved me from having to figure that out on my own.

Workaway in Zwettl, Austria

My third Workaway was with a private family in Austria.

They needed someone to help out around the house and on their farm in the Austrian hills (note: hills, not alps. I was not prepared to work in the alps).

The family was so sweet and constantly treated me like one of their own.

The teenage girls watched the Kardashians with me and translated the German dub into English (so technically I was helping them with their English), the mother was a pharmacist who started mothering me like she did her own daughters, the grandfather constantly teased me in his broken English, and the dogs were a dream.

I was sort of a housekeeper, doing light cleaning, cooking lunches (and the occasional Canadian meal), and walking the dogs.

Again, it barely felt like work.

I had hours throughout the day to work on freelance projects, go for runs (until winter hit), and to play with the horses in the paddock.

The family took me to Vienna twice and even offered me free accommodation at the paternal grandparent’s house in the city. I decided to stay in an Airbnb instead because I needed some alone time before my next Workaway.

In retrospect, what I actually needed was some traveller time – time to be with other travellers – and I guess time to travel.

Workaway in Berlin, Germany

My one and only truly horrible Workaway experience was in Germany.

It was almost enough to make me swear off the whole thing altogether.

I decided I wanted to be in Berlin for Christmas. Not just Germany – Berlin specifically.

Why? I honestly have no idea.

It was nearly impossible to find a Workaway in the city, so I settled for something worse than I should have. I didn’t see the red flags.

I must have been blind!

It was the first time I barely lasted a week – in part because I had to wait a few days for my Airbnb.

The six weeks I’d planned to spend working with this family, in much the same way I had in Austria, ended up being an Airbnb Christmas present from my dad so I could have somewhere safer than a storage closet to live in.

Honestly, I don’t like talking about this Workaway – not because I’m trying to sugar coat anything – because it sent me to a dark place.

The horrible way these people treated me really impacted me.

I felt like a failure for not sticking it out and making it work, even though it wasn’t at all what I signed up for.

They made me feel like a servant, not a person. There was no cultural exchange. There wasn’t even food in the family was home.

It darkened the rest of my time in Berlin.

I had a good time later (which is how I found the best 10 things to do in Berlin), but there were a lot of sad, lonely days where I felt like packing in my whole trip. I barely made it through my first Christmas alone – thank the gods for Christmas markets! – and was so happy when I finally moved on to Spain.

Workaway in Bennisiva, Spain

Benissivà was the perfect antidote to my Berlin troubles.

It was in the middle of nowhere in the Spanish mountains, about an hour from Alicante. The job was working at a yoga retreat, which included 2 free yoga classes a day – a desperate mindfulness escape for me.

I fell in love with the little town, with the friends I made sleeping in the oldest building I’ve ever been in, and with one perfect hammock in the meditation garden.

At the retreat, I worked as an all-around volunteer. I helped clean and set up the yoga room, cleaned the pool area, lit fires (never successfully – even with those little Styrofoam starter things. I was so hopeless), served food and tea, led written meditations, led hikes to ancient cave paintings and up La Forada (a beautiful mountain), and worked on their website and social media marketing.

Somehow I fit all of that into 25 hours a week!

I did therapy sessions from a hammock in the dark, broke from the retreat’s vegetarian diet by gorging on fish on weekends, streamed Wreck-it Ralph with the other volunteers, learned to make Swedish crackers, and vegan scones, and went on a number of girls trips with the other volunteers.

It felt more like a retreat than a work experience. I got to see parts of Spain I’d never even heard of, visit small beach towns, and piece myself back together after Berlin.

If I wasn’t booked to meet my mom in Marrakech, I don’t think I would have left!

Workaway in Unnamed Town, Croatia

My final Workaway experience ended up being months later than I expected. I tried to find work in Morocco and Turkey but since it was the off-season nothing was available – well, nothing I was qualified for and nothing that didn’t involve children (I’m genuinely terrified of children).

So I did some proper travelling instead and tore through my bank account with surprising ferocity. Then I met up with some family in Serbia and ended up staying nearly 6 weeks meeting cousins I’d been hearing stories about for years.

Croatia was my return to Workaway and I was thrilled.

I had wanted to work at a ranch since my first few Workaway searches. A ranch or a dog sledding place – until I found out you had to cut up dead reindeer, then just a ranch.

Stari Dud is a tourist ranch south of Zagreb, literally not in a town. It’s closest to Bović but not actually in the town.

For the first few weeks I lived in the tourist accommodation in a lush suite, but I was later moved to bunk beds in the summer barn (which I ended up preferring once we managed to get the mouse out).

I worked with two British girls who were paid riders staying the entire summer.

I got unlimited free trail rides – often so unlimited I was begging to give my butt a break.

We made our own food, but got snacks like fresh bourek from the ranch owner.

I painted fences, mucked out barns, fed horses, helped train a filly, built fences, tore down other fences, cleared trails, helped serve guests, gardened and learned how to work a truly ancient mower, and attempted to tack up horses (my terrible wrists mean I can never get a girth on tight enough).

On days off, we went to Zagreb (once when I needed a back x-ray after falling off a horse at a canter uphill – just some deep bruising!), partook in historical celebrations at the nearby bath town, went to the natural baths, tanned by the pool, read in the yard, sang along with Benji the border collie, partied with Safi the stable hand, went to a shed party, and even drove a horse-drawn carriage.

It was my favourite all-around Workaway.

From being in the middle of nowhere with terrible internet that made freelancing impossible to being surrounded by nature to Lauren trying to teach me to drive stick in the world’s oldest truck (which died a few days after I left through no fault of mine!); it was perfect.

The ranch was the epitome of a Workaway experience: a true cultural exchange.

Is Workaway Worth it?

For me, yes.

I never would have been able to travel for a year as a solo traveller across Europe while making money without Workaway. I’d have given up much sooner and gone home due to lack of funds or loneliness.

I met dozens of great people, learned new skills, had amazing experiences, and explored parts of the world I wouldn’t have otherwise discovered.

It isn’t for everyone.

You have to be willing to work, rough it a bit, and go with the flow.

But if you’re willing to be adventurous, Workaway can help you see the world!

If it hadn’t been for my plan to go to law school (which never happened because I moved to New Zealand instead), I wouldn’t have stopped travelling with Workaway!

Workaway Horror Stories and How to Avoid Them

1. The Shortened Hostel

The Solution: Avoid this kind of Workaway by getting your details ahead of time so you know what to expect. Trust your gut with red flags and have an exit plan.

If the host was already trying to get rid of you early on, then they probably aren’t a good host to begin with.

2. The Redneck Experience Gone Wrong

The Solution: Ask ahead of time about the living situations, the schedule, and be honest about your abilities or lack thereof.

I would have ensured a schedule earlier on.

3. The Creepy Host

The Solution: This is why I avoid single men who own property and use it for Workaways. Stick with couples, families, or women if you’re a solo female traveller.

4. My Nightmare Experience in Germany

I chose a Workaway in the heart of Berlin, or so I was told.

She didn’t give me the address until 1 hour AFTER I was supposed to have met her at her house.

It was actually a short train ride to Berlin. It didn’t include food. I wasn’t allowed to use their shower. I had to sleep in a storage closet with minimal heat in the middle of winter. I had to clean up after the entire family but couldn’t spend any time with them.

To top it off, I had no internet connection in my little room, so finding a way to leave was even more challenging!

Eventually, I left after a week (which was 6.5 days too long to have stayed).

The Solution: Trust your gut. If they don’t give you information up front, bail!

Practical Information for Using Workaway as a Solo Traveller

How to Sign Up for Workaway

Go to workaway.info and click the yellow “Join Now” button on the upper right menu. Select “Join as a Workawayer”.

You can select a couple account, a single account, or gift a membership. I’ll take you through the process for a single traveller.

Click “join now”.

You will then need to enter a username, password, email, and fill in information about yourself.

Then you will need to pay for your account either via Debit/Credit, Paypal, or redeem a gift voucher.

You’ll need to submit a photo of your passport for verification afterward while setting up your profile.

Click here to get started!

How to Write Your Workaway Profile

1. Introduce yourself

Keep your bio simple. Remember, hosts are reading a lot of these bios every day. You don’t want to overwhelm them!

Include:

• Who you are
• Where you’re from
• What skills you have
• What you’re looking to get out of Workaway
• If you have volunteered previously, worked or studied abroad, or have any relevant experiences
• If there’s anything you’re really passionate about

2. Add pictures

People need to know you’re a real person. I wouldn’t want someone coming into my home that I haven’t seen!

So ensure you add a profile picture that:

• Shows your whole face
• Has you smiling, even just a small smile
• Where you can see your eyes (no sunglasses!)
• Is casual and maybe even shows your skills (i.e. mine has me with a dog at my old doggy daycare job)

Ensure that all photos upload correctly, as they sometimes show upside down. You’ll also want to make sure they’re not blurry.

You can also create a photo album of other images.

It’s important to include some shots of you working on those skills you mentioned. If you don’t have any, stage them!

Head into your mom’s garden with a shovel, start baking a cake, or head on a trip to go horseback riding.

Don’t just post photos of your travels where you aren’t included.

Also remember that even though these are casual, you shouldn’t be skulling wine or partying in the photos. You can definitely show off your fun-loving personality, but keep it semi-professional.

3. Include travel dates and locations

Hosts can search for Workawayers. So have your travel dates and ideal locations listed to help them find you for jobs.

Update them as you go along. They will change, and that’s fine!

But having them up to date will help both you and hosts not waste your time.

4. Verify with Facebook

Workaway has the option to verify yourself with Facebook. This can help as an added security measure and boosts host confidence that you’re a real person.

Workaway Profile Example

Tips for Finding and Getting the Best Workaway Experiences

1. Don’t be picky about location

When I signed up, I had an idea of travelling across Europe’s most brilliant cities via Workaway. Those are super difficult to find. And the few city Workaways I tried were the worst of all my experiences.

Be open to working in more remote areas and not having as strict of an itinerary.

Often hosts will take you on adventures anyway.

My host family in Austria drove me across the country to Vienna – twice! Those were two totally free trips that I hadn’t planned for, but they let me see the brilliance of the city. In Croatia, the ranch owner took us to a shed party where the men serenaded us on accordions and the women made us amazing spaetzle.

2. Have three non-negotiables

You want to be flexible when you travel, especially when you volunteer, but it’s important to keep yourself in mind too. I picked three requirements I had and ruled out any hosts that didn’t offer them.

My non-negotiables were: 1) a real bed (no sofas), 2) internet (so I could work), and 3) full meals, not just bread and cheese.

3. Stay at places with more than one Workaway volunteer

Typically places with multiple Workawayers have more social structure built in and you’ll have a lot more fun. Other travellers are looking for similar experiences, will travel with you after your placement is over, and are as into the experience as you are.

I met so many kindred spirits who felt the 9-to-5 life was awful and that travelling full-time wasn’t a crazy dream.

I’ve kept in touch with them to this day and have even met up with them around the world!

4. Read host Workaway profile reviews!!

Reading host reviews is the most important thing when it comes to choosing a good host!

Since they write their own profiles, hosts can say whatever they want. Reviews verify whether it’s true or not.

Listen to your gut when you’re reading reviews, too.

I signed up for an opportunity in Berlin – solely because I wanted to be in the city (remember when I said you shouldn’t choose experiences based on location?). I had a bad feeling in my gut when I read the reviews. People seemed like they were choosing their words carefully – even if they weren’t saying negative things.

If I had thought more about the reviews and compared them to the glowing ones from my other successful Workaways, I would have realized something was wrong ahead of time and not had to endure my one bad Workaway.

5. If it’s not what you signed up for, leave

Like I said above, my stay in Berlin was not what I signed up for. I felt really guilty leaving them in the lurch, but essentially they’d left me in the lurch too.

I wasn’t getting a real room, real food, or even real internet (literally my only 3 requirements).

If they weren’t fulfilling their end of the deal then I had no reason to fulfill mine.

There’s some risk involved because you worry about getting a bad review from the host and having that affect your future Workaways. But you are more important than a review.

Hosts will typically ask you about a bad review surrounded by good ones. Often bad hosts won’t even leave a review for fear that you’ll leave a bad one for them as well.

If someone puts you in an unsafe situation like that: report them.

Workaway has 24/7 customer service and a way to report bad hosts. You can actually help future travellers by informing them that one of their hosts isn’t behaving accordingly.

6. Talk to the Workaway hosts ahead of time

I learned from my bad experience and started chatting with hosts before I arrived.

It’s something I’d naturally done with my first host, a lovely woman from Switzerland. When I arrived, I already felt comfortable with her.

It’s ok if hosts are slow to get back to you, but if they don’t even have the time to send one quick message a week, likely they don’t have the time to fulfill the cultural exchange that Workaway was founded on.

Some hosts will even require talking ahead of time or having a video interview.

The yoga retreat I worked at in Spain required a short interview with the owner and the volunteer manager (a Workawayer who ended up getting promoted to a paying gig). It actually made the process seem more legitimate and calmed me a lot since they were my first hosts after that bad experience.

7. Know your skills

Host profiles list what type of work they want volunteers to do. Travellers can filter their host searches based on these.

Before you start looking for hosts, write down at least 10 things you’re good at.

These can be anything – they don’t even have to be on the searchable list.

For example, I’m a writer.

That’s not something Workaway specifically offers, but it’s a unique selling point I could offer my hosts. It got me out of dish duties at the yoga retreat to do some copywriting work for them.

In fact, my tour guide experience got me a job on a tourist ranch in Croatia when I had no building experience (one of their desired skills).

8. A picture is worth a thousand words – for you and them

Pictures are key on a Workaway profile.

You need a clear profile image that shows your full face. It’s not so you can show off your model good looks, it’s so they know what to expect.

Hosts and travellers come from all over the world. They may not recognize your name as male or female. They may just want to look in your eyes and get a feel for you.

Having a relaxed, smiley photo is a great first impression.

Similarly, hosts need photos. I don’t trust a host profile that only has a shot of a grassy landscape.

For me to trust a host with my safety, I need to see images of them, the area I’ll be living in, and the area I’ll be working in.

Many hosts only have an image of themselves or their family (and maybe some horses if it’s that kind of place).

That’s ok! Ask them for additional photos of the area and the accommodation so you know what you’re getting into.

If they won’t, move on. That’s not a good host.

9. Pack disposable clothing

Most of the work on Workaway isn’t sitting behind a desk. Usually, you’re getting down and dirty (in one case, very dirty when I slid down a muddy hill chasing a stubborn pony).

So pack accordingly!

At least 50% of your suitcase should be working clothes: old shirts, jeans you can throw away or get paint on, sneakers or boots. Plan to throw them out at the end of the trip (or keep for those dirty chores at home).

If you don’t have any, head to a thrift shop and grab some cheap options. They usually offer bundles of tees for low prices and have plenty of jeans you can wear short term.

A good rule of thumb is to have enough work clothes to get through 10 days without washing. Since you’ll be dirty anyway, you don’t always need a clean tee or jeans, but you definitely don’t want to wear all your dirty gear 10 days in a row.

After a day mucking out the barn I didn’t want to wear that shirt for even another morning without a wash!

10. Apply! Apply! Apply!

One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen is that hosts often don’t reply to applications.

I’m not going to lie: that’s true.

Workaway hosts aren’t amazing at checking their profiles. You can counteract this in two ways:

1) check their response %. If it’s below 50, don’t even bother. If it’s anything below 80% apply but don’t get your hopes up.

2) Apply a lot!

I over-applied a number of times and still didn’t hear back. Or I got offers for months in advance because they hadn’t updated their calendars – months when I intended to be four countries over.

11. Follow Up

If you don’t hear back from hosts within 7-14 days, send a follow-up. If you don’t hear back 7 days after that, move on.

It’s likely they aren’t accepting travellers at the moment but didn’t note that in their profile.

How to Write the Perfect Workaway Message (with an example!)

It’s scary to start applying for Workaways. You’re reaching out to total strangers and asking them to take a chance on you.

Since I was already applying for hundreds of jobs, I figured I’d think of my messages as cover letters. That helped me develop a structure that I could edit and repurpose for each host.

• Introduce yourself and the position you want. Tell them your name, where you’re from, your age, how many travellers are in your party, and what volunteer role you want. Do they have specific types of volunteers they need? Then state the role you’re applying for.
• Explain why you want to work for them specifically. What drew you to them? What about the tasks required excites you? Is there a picture or review on their profile that really spoke to you?
• Explain your relevant qualifications and experience. Go into detail on at least 1 experience to really show them your skills.
• Summary of how you can benefit them. Tie together your skills with what they’re asking for. Maybe you don’t know how to build a well, but you’ve had experience learning to build fences in 1 day. That shows you can learn to build the well with a bit of guidance.
• Sign off. Always end your message with a friendly sign off. I usually do ‘All the best’ or ‘Cheers’, followed by my name. This is especially helpful if you go by a nickname so the host knows what to call you. It also shows that you’ve crafted a full message rather than just typing a bunch of sentences and pressing send.

Here is an example I wrote based on a profile I found on Workaway in 2021:

Questions to Ask Hosts

• What is the accommodation for volunteers?
• How do meals work? (i.e. will you be responsible for cooking them yourself, will you eat with the hosts)
• How many hours of work will I be required to do per day? When are my days off?
• What type of work will I be doing?
• Will there be other volunteers there?

Other Programs Like Workaway

Workaway isn’t the only option for travelling the world for free.

Another option is Worldpackers. In fact, it’s quite similar to Workaway in that you can work in exchange for free rent.

When I did my Workaway experience, I found more negative reviews of Worldpackers and it was more expensive, so I ultimately decided to stick with Workaway. But I know some people who really enjoyed their time with them.

There’s WWOOF as well, but it’s primarily for agriculture work. This is more taxing, and typically offers poorer quality accommodations.

I prefer Workaway for the flexibility they offer in terms of types of assignments.

I love Trusted Housesitters for a free homestay when I’m abroad. Now that I have a dog with me and work for myself, it makes more sense to spend my time working for me versus volunteering for accommodations.

My favourite way to travel for free is with Trusted Housesitters!

Wrap Up: My Workaway Review

Pros of the Workaway Program:

• Free/cheap travel
• Place to stay and food to eat for only 25 hours of work, or payment
• Easy to search for opportunities
• Make new friends
• Local cultural immersion
• Helps you see the world
• Gain new skills
• Safety features included

Cons of the Workaway Program:

• Hosts can be slow to reply
• You have to carefully read reviews to determine if they’re legit
• Some will try to bend the rules
• Not in major cities
• Not as free (schedule-wise) as backpacking or travelling. You will have to work
• Sometimes the accommodations will require some roughing it

Overall, I think Workaway is one of the best programs on the market.

Unlike WWOOF that requires serious farm skills, Workaway is accessible for anyone looking to travel on their own terms without blowing their budget.

It allows you to meet new people, explore off-the-beaten-path destinations, and save money. All while you learn more about yourself!

Before Workaway, I never pulled a 6ft fence post out of the ground with my bare hands. I never herded horses along a Croatian highway. I never ran an agility course with a dog.

I learned so much about myself during my stays with Workaway. Probably more than I learned about the world, to be honest!

That’s why I tell everyone to go on a Workaway program trip at least once! You’ll come out the other side a better you.

Have any questions about Workaway? Ask them in the comments!

My favourite way to travel for free is with Trusted Housesitters!

FAQs about the Workaway Program

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• 29 Greatest Ways to Make Money Travelling the World
• Benefits of Travelling Alone: 20 Pros and Cons of Solo Travel
• 6 Guaranteed Ways to Make Travel Friends When You’re Travelling Alone

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