For travellers interested in organic farming and looking for a unique travel experience, the organisation known as WWOOF is exactly what you are looking for.

 

This world-wide program has hosts in countries from Australia to Cameroon, and offers an amazing experience volunteering on organic farms in return for food and a place to sleep.

 

The organic farmers hosting volunteers live sustainable life-styles and wish to share their knowledge with anyone willing to learn.

 

WWOOFING in another country offers travellers a multi-faceted experience. Not only will you learn about sustainable practices and organic farming, but you will be immersed in the local culture and language too.

 

Instead of just sightseeing, you will be working alongside locals and sharing thoughts and ideas about lifestyle and living with as little impact on the environment as possible.

 

The rewards are huge - new friends and unique experiences, deeper cultural understanding and connection.

 

Check it all out at http://www.wwoofinternational.org/

 

Hostels come in an amazing variety and not all are created equal. Here are some of those on the fringe encountered on my travels…

 

After checking into a hostel in Taipei once with my girlfriend I noticed that the windows, and three of the walls, were exclusively papered with porn. “Hmmm, did you request this room?” she asked me. And the fourth wall? Water from the bathroom above us cascaded down it into the room below. “Water feature” I told her.

 

I slept at another classic in Bogota, Colombia. Upon checking in the clerk asked me if there was anything I needed. “I’m good” I said, I had arrived really late and was going to bed. “No, I mean, is there anything I can get for you” he replied. That would explain why I was the only one at the hostel who ever seemed to get any sleep!

 

In Venezuela hostels can be quite expensive and I headed to the cheapest one I could find. It was old and drab, as expected, but it had a bed and a relatively clean bathroom which was all I needed. What I didn’t expect, however, was that on weekends it would double as a seedy pay by the hour love hotel. I had rooms on three sides of me. And the walls were paper thin. Use your imagination.

 

When I arrived in Burma it was night time and I had only the one hostel name written down on a scrap of paper. I took a taxi, and because the power was out in Rangoon that night driving in was quite an eerie experience. We wound our way down some uninviting back streets, and just as I convinced myself that I was about to be robbed we stopped and the driver pointed to a dark and unoccupied looking building. Sure enough, it was the hostel. After walking around in the dark for awhile I found another human, who merely handed me some sheets, gave me a key and a candle and pointed up the stairs. I then had to navigate my way to the 4^th floor using only the small candle and find my room! The next day, I discover that I am one of only a few guests. Why didn’t they give me a room on the ground floor?!

 

Years ago in Cuba I stayed at a particular in Havana. The family was very nice, as was my room. I was planning to leave the next day in the afternoon for Santiago de Cuba, and they said I could leave my backpack there while I did my thing in the city. When I returned before heading back to the bus station, however, they charged me for another night, saying that I “used” the room after 12 noon, the check out time! To make matters worse, they had offered to tee up some accommodation in Santiago de Cuba for me, and did so despite me turning down the offer. Subsequently, when I arrived at the bus station two people in the crowd were holding up signs for me and shouting my name! They knew the other was there too, but didn’t bother sorting it out, instead competing to see who could entice me to choose them by screaming out my name the loudest. This was very amusing for all of my fellow passengers and onlookers. Fortunately I picked the right one, and stayed in the room I had actually booked!

 

Not all hostels are awful because of their dodgy staff, clientele or structural inadequacies, however. In Rio de Janeiro there is a very popular hostel near Ipanema beach which attracts a lot of backpackers and is appropriately pricy. The facilities are fine, but like another hostel I stayed at in Rio treated travellers with some disdain and had an exhaustive list of rules on the wall, complete with threats of expulsion! Another arrogant notice read something like “Cariocas (the people of Rio) are not impressed by drunk foreigners walking around the streets.” Rio is a very friendly city and I’m sure most locals would be embarrassed by such mindless drivel.

 

Do you have a funny story about a hostel you have stayed in? Or a horrible one?! Send it in to Peak Backpacking now!

Most young backpackers are travelling on tight budgets, stretching their meagre funds so as to travel for as long a time as financially possible.

 

Some take it to extremes though. Like the hippy couple I had the opportunity to meet in Cusco, Peru.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all in for cooking some meals at the hostel, staying in dormitories and making the most out of happy hour at the local, but there has to be a balance between scrimping and getting the most out of your travels…

 

Now back to the hippies. I call them hippies because they were wearing tie-died clothes, filthy dreadlocks and spent most of their time abroad volunteering on farms for free board and food. Although I suspect that was mostly to reduce their costs, considering what transpired next!

 

While in the area we were all, naturally, planning on going to Machu Picchu to see the world rated Inca ruins. It’s not cheap getting there though, and a group of five people, consisting of me, the hippies and two others, decided to skip the expensive train to the Machu Picchu base camp and get their more cheaply while seeing some of the surrounding area.

 

It was a nice little adventure too – a serious of minibus rides through cool terrain, walking through a local indigenous village, crossing a large river in a flying fox type arrangement, and walking along the train tracks through the forest for a couple of hours. And some extra cash in our threadbare pockets!

 

The whole trip took around 48 hours, after which we slept in a hostel and then woke up early to walk up to the gates of Machu Picchu, hoping to get in early before the tour buses arrived (a very naïve wish, that was!).

 

But then… to my shock and mirth… the hippies balked at the $40 cover charge and… no it’s true… decided to abandon their plans to see Machu Picchu!

 

You may think I am joking, but no, I am absolutely serious. They walked back down the mountain, and then I assume spent the next 48 hours taking the exhausting trip back to Cusco!

 

No-one could believe it – they had just stood outside the gates to one of their most coveted destinations after spending 48 hours getting there, and then walked away over an amount of money that would mean nothing to them a few months later! Why were they travelling I had to ask myself? They were travelling for quite a long time, but rarely got out to meet any local people (they would always stay in and just cook the cheapest possible non-meal at the hostel) and gave up seeing and doing many of the things they wanted to do. And for what – telling their friends back home how cheaply they did South America?

 

While travelling I sometimes worry that a particular event will eat up too much of my budget, but have learnt to think about it in terms of possible regret versus financial outlay. Meals in Peru might be had for $5, but when you are earning an income back in the real world the $40 entry fee for Machu Picchu is nothing. The pangs of regret, however, will be severe. And probably experienced when taking 100 big ones from the ATM - just to finance your Friday night out back home!

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, studying a language is among the best ways to engage with a different culture. It is not all smooth sailing however, and I have had countless frustrating, confusing, and out-right hilarious experiences while failing to master one language or another – entertaining after the event, anyway!

 

Many years ago, overly confident in my conversational Japanese abilities, I accepted an invitation to dine with a female companion at a nice restaurant. I thought it would be an excellent chance to practice my conversational Japanese skills, eat a good meal, and share the company of a very attractive girl…

 

Throughout the meal all was going well – I deliberately took the conversational reigns and steered it in directions where my language ability was strongest – talking about my past travels and studies, for example. I was putting quite a few drinks down too. I was a younger man in those days, and had actually developed a language theory revolving around alcohol consumption and second language fluency – though probably while at a bar. Naturally, I considered this occasion to be an excellent one at which to perform a rigorous field-test of the theory prior to scientific publication, and embarked on a mission to prove it’s academic worth.

 

My date was in the bathroom and I was debating which publication to submit to first when disaster struck. The bill arrived, and upon checking my wallet realised that I only had about 32 yen left…

 

The range of possible reactions to my faux pas was not very palatable – I was going to either look stingy, destitute, or manipulative. At least that is what I thought in my abrupt panic! I quickly decided what to do before she returned to the table: Apologise, tell her I was embarrassed, shoot off to the nearest ATM and get back within record time. No problem.

 

It would have been no problem, that is, if the Japanese words for embarrassed (hazukashi) and nostalgic (natsukashi) hadn’t sounded so similar!

 

After telling her how nostalgic it was to not have any money when the bill arrived she looked confused – so I phrased it slightly differently and explained to her how nostalgic it was a few more times, just to make sure she fully understood!

 

She had a strange look on her face but I pressed on, completely confident that I had explained myself perfectly. And when I got to the door and asked the doorman for directions to the nearest ATM, I repeated the story a couple more times (as he, too, reacted strangely), just for good measure!

 

I got back, paid, and that was that. Until the next day, when while eating a cheap meal at Yoshinoya, the truth of what I had said suddenly hit home – crunch!

 

I felt like what they must have thought of me the night before – a complete tool. At least that explained why she never called me back!

Especially for those embarking on long journeys, say a month or more, learning the local language is a fantastic way to deepen your cultural understanding and deepen your travel experience.

 

Not only will you be able to get travel information from sources not available to mono-lingual travellers, you can connect with a much larger segment of the local population, i.e. people outside of the travel industry and services.

 

Speaking the local language gives you insights into social and political issues that you would otherwise miss, and gives you the opportunity to talk to the kind of people that many backpackers don’t come into contact with.

 

In many places, studying the language is remarkably cheap and easy, not to mention fun! In Latin America Spanish lessons can cost as little as $5 per hour for private teachers. I once studied with an excellent teacher, Paola, in Ecuador for four hours a day over a three week period, meeting in a local library.

 

Another time I took a four week course at the Spanish school Iowa Institute, in the great little mountain town of Merida, Venezuela. Including textbooks, professional instruction and 4 contact hours a day, it only cost $160 per week. The benefits extended well beyond simply learning Spanish, however. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to our teacher’s wider circle of friends and meet many interesting people, and of course, had the Spanish ability to speak with them! This in turn led to countless conversations, nights out on the town, and even weekend trips that I would never have had the opportunity to experience otherwise. I spent an entire year in South America around that time, but the one month I spent at the school is one of the stand-out memories of the journey (of which, admittedly, there are many!).

 

Other countries are not as cheap, but even in Japan you can find private lessons in cafes for as little as $20 per hour with online services such as Benkyo Nihongo. This type of thing is great for getting the basics together, even for a short trip!

 

The advantages of knowing the local language when you travel are enormous. It really is the gateway to a more fulfilling experience and the way to broaden the scope of your travel activities and understanding of the cultures you visit. Get a teacher and start learning!