Free travel passes

Can't afford a break? Think again. From transatlantic yachting to US road trips to villa-minding in Tuscany, there are plenty of ways to holiday on the cheap, writes SANDRA O'CONNELL

LEAD A TOUR

Just because you’re not in a position to fork out for a guided tour holiday, doesn’t mean you can’t go on one – if you’re prepared to lead one that is.

UK specialist walking holiday company HF Holidays regularly looks for people to guide its treks. Leaders are provided with accommodation, meals and the chance to explore Europe. In return they must share their passion for a region (you can swot up in advance) with the holidaymakers accompanying them. How hard could that be?

The company is also currently looking for people with special skills such as gardening, music and bridge for its activity holidays, as well as people with an interest in the natural world, and city breaks and culture. There is an assessment date for applicants next month.

Alternatively, if you are available for six months, you could sign up for its walking leader apprenticeship course. It runs from May to October and during that time you'll visit the most scenic parts of the UK, with accommodation and travel expenses included. hfholidays.co.uk

WWOOFERS WIN

This one takes a little more work. World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (Wwoof) is an international network of organisations linking organic farms with people who’d like to learn about nature, spend time outdoors and eat healthily. If you are willing to provide labour, in return you’ll get free board and lodgings and the chance to explore far flung parts of the world. And they are far flung, more than 50 countries across all continents now have Wwoofer networks, so the biggest outlay here is the time it will take to choose.

[ wwoof.org ]

DELIVER CARS

Star in your own road movie by delivering cars across America for free. Car hire companies move tranches of vehicles from state to state, mainly to meet demand from holiday makers moving from the north to the south of the country in winter time, and back up again in spring.

Corporate relocations and military transfers mean individuals too often look for people to transfer their car for them.

Drivers typically have to be over 23, have a valid driver’s licence and, for Irish people, a passport and valid exit visa.

Auto Driveaway, one of the best known car relocation companies in the US, is currently in need of drivers to take cars from Seattle to Minneapolis, San Diego to Burlington, and New York to Pasadena. Agree the days and miles allowed, and away you go. autodriveaway.com

CREW YACHTS

Just like cars, boats often have to be relocated, except that these go right round the world. Anyone who did sail training as a kid and thought no more about it, or indeed, anyone willing to do a preparatory course now, will find it pays dividends on the free travel front.

Crewseekers International brings together yacht owners and crew members. According to its website, winter sees an annual westbound Transatlantic migration of yachts heading for warmer weather and fairer winds in the Caribbean and Pacific, traffic which goes back in the opposite direction later on.

It has plenty of sailing opportunities at the moment, including a requirement for a crew to take a boat from North Carolina to the Florida Keys – 30 days sailing on a brand new boat. There's a Caribbean cruiser in search of crew to take it from Grenada to Antigua, and a 72ft classic shape ketch to be moved from Lanzarote to Brazil. Normally it's up to you to get to the boat and home again, but in some cases the owner will even pay your fare. crewseekers.net

VOLUNTEER

Recent years have seen a rise in so called voluntourism, where people pay – sometimes quite a lot – to be able to do worthwhile work overseas. However there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer the old fashioned way, for free.

If you can commit the time – from six months to two years is typical – check out Voluntary Service Overseas. At the moment it has a variety of vacancies on its website including everything from radio producers required for Nepal, to IT trainers for Ethiopia and livestock advisors for Tajikistan. The package includes a living allowance, flights and travel insurance, plus support. vso.ie

TEFL

Teaching English as a foreign language is an old reliable when it comes to generating travel opportunities, and these days you can get your TEFL qualification online from companies such as i-to-i in Waterford. It is currently offering a 40-hour online course at a discounted price of €149 (a €50 discount). Get your internationally recognised qualification and the world’s your classroom. TEFL teachers can expect anything from €1,400 a month in Spain for 25 hours teaching a week, to €330 in China.

The company has a jobs placement service, with jobs offering up to €1,900 a month and free accommodation. onlinetefl.com

COUCH SURF

Internet sites such as Couch Surfing can find people willing to provide you with a free bed – or a couch – for the night, wherever in the world you are.

The online travel community is made up of members in more than 100 countries. The idea is that once you make friends online, you can invite people to stay with you and, more importantly, they’ll put you up when you fetch up in their neck of the woods. You might never have to pay for accommodation again.

You’ll also get insider travel advice from a native of wherever you’re visiting. It’s free to join too.

Check out Global Freeloaders, Belodged and, the oldest of them all, Hospitality Club – which predates the internet – for variations on the same theme.

couchsurfing.org, globalfreeloaders.com, belodged.com, hospitalityclub.org

HOUSE SWAP

If you’ve a roof over your head, use it to bag free accommodation overseas. Swap with a family in Ireland and all it will cost you is petrol. Home swaps have always been beloved of teachers and academics (they have their own exchange sites), and the recession has led to a surge in interest from the rest of us too.

With house swapping, you simply choose where you want to go, find a suitable house, and ask if the owners would like to stay in yours. In many cases, cars are swapped too, so you don’t have to fork out for car hire.

You'll increase your chances of swapping if you keep a relatively open mind about where you want to go – south of France, say, rather than just Nice. And because you don't have to worry about accommodation costs, you can stay as long as you (and they) like. homelink.ie, intervac-homeexchange.com, lovehomeswap.com

HOUSE SIT

With this one, you don’t even have to have a house to swap. Some people are willing to let total strangers stay in their home, for the sake of keeping plants watered and pets fed. A quick trawl of the website turns up an eight-week stay feeding horses and walking dogs in Colorado, or a shorter stint minding puppies in a house (with a pool) in Brisbane.

Stays range from two weeks upwards, including, from Mindmyhouse.com, a six-month stay in northern Tuscany, in a house that is currently for sale, and which comes with a vineyard, pool and woodland. All you have to do is show buyers around and cut the grass. housesitworld.com,

trustedhousesitters.com, housecarers.com, mindmyhouse.com

WIN A HOLIDAY

Simply by Googling “win a holiday”, you’ll find dozens of competitions which cost nothing to enter. The tourist websites of various countries regularly run free holiday draws, often in return for simple questionnaire filling, or even just for the opportunity to get your email info on their data base. Then there are specialist competition websites that will alert you to all current competitions, the requirements and closing dates. You may have to go out and buy the packet of soap powder or magazine from which it emanates, but in most cases you don’t even have to do that.

competitorscompanion.com, theprizefinder.com

CRUISE EXPERT

In the news for all the wrong reasons right now, due to the Costa Concordia, the fact remains that cruising is still reckoned to be the fastest growing holiday sector. What's more, every cruise line worth its sea-salt is in need of people to run their guest enrichment programmes.

If you have the skills, which could be anything from ballroom dancing to bridge, the chances are there’s a cruise which could use your services.

In some cases, the only skill you need have is to be alive – in response to a perennial shortage of older men (able and willing to take a turn around a ship’s ballroom) many cruises run a “gentlemen hosts” programme to address the gender imbalance.

In other cases if you can devise a decent lecture – anything from 1960s French film to the history of astronomy – and are happy to spend an hour a day delivering it, you could get your cruise for free, and your partner too.

Apply directly to the entertainments officer of the cruise line or, increasingly, to one of the specialist third parties listed below.

sixthstar.com, toseawithz.com, compassspeakers.com