| |
PERSONAL GROWTH :
HOW TO TRAVEL FOR FREE |
J.R.
Rashing
Phila, PA |
Last year I made a bet with a friend. The bet was that I could travel from Philadelphia to Los Angeles without paying a dime for transportation. I won the bet.
Here's how I did it. I had a room mate at school who was a train nut. A "Foamer" they call them, because they foam at the mouth at the sound of a train. I remember a conversation he had with a buddy of his about how the railroads have to run complete trains of empty containers back across the country because there is more stuff coming from China and Japan going West to East than there is stuff going back to the West Coast.
So I called him up and asked him what I would have to do to hitch a ride in one of those containers. He went all agro on me, talking about how dangerous these trains were and the fact that the Feds watch the train yards like hawks.
When I told him about the bet and that I would split the $1000 with him if I made it, he got a little more co-operative. He told me that the container trains for Long Beach, CA left from the Meadows yards in a place called Kearny, NJ. He said they ran as a single unit and didn't even stop to change locomotives.
He said to look for the train with the yellow and red diesels that said "Union Pacific" and that train would more than likely be running streight through to the West Coast. He said I would know which train was leaving by the fact that they don't couple up the locomotives until the train is ready to leave.
So I went to Kearny one night so I could sneak into the freight yards without being seen and I hid out in between some oil drums near where they gas up the diesels.
I must have been waiting around for five or six hours waiting for these big yellow diesels to pull out. When they finally did I followed them through the yards and climbed on the container train they hooked up to.
My train guy had told me how to open a container, so I slipped inside one and wrapped up in a blanket I brought for the trip. I had enough food and water in my back pack to last for the four day trip to Long Beach.
He showed me how to string up a rope hammock in the container so the rough ride wouldn't jar my insides to jelly and I rolled with it. It was freezing cold at night and boiling hot going across the arizona desert.
After the second day I had to stuff paper in my ears to keep the noise from driving me nuts. But I did it. Coast to coast for zero dollars and cents.
I would not advise anybody out here with a brain cell working to ever follow my lead. I found out later I could have gotten 20 years if I had been caught by the Feds. BTW that buddy of mine still owes me that grand. |
| FEEDBACK: This is one of the stupidest stunts I've ever heard of. Hundreds of people die each year trying to "Ride the Rails." I work for the railroad. If found you on one of my trains I'd put you off in the middle of nowhere and let you walk back to wherever you came from. E.F. Valpariso, IN. |
D. Astor
Muncie,
IN
|
To travel for free almost anywhere in the undeveloped world what you need to do is be friends with a couple of girls, and get stuff for free by association. Don't be fooled - this is an art form. If you appear too friendly, then locals will assume you're the boyfriend of one of the girls and suddenly, no one wants to give them anything for free. For that reason, it never works if you try it with one girl. Of course, it doesn't work with a group of more than two girls because they spend the day deciding which sarong goes with which pair of sandals and you never leave the hotel. I call it "Operation Three's Company: and it requires two other girls and a suitably ambiguous relationship. If you make the relationship too ambiguous, you become known as the "gay friend of the cute girls" which is a non de plume that haunts me to this day in South Africa.
The effect with "Three's Company" is to lure the "giver of free travel" into a false sense of security where he starts offering free trips to the girls, and half-way through, realises that he is going to have to extend the offer to you as well, otherwise, there is no way they are going to accept.
The best example also happened in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We were having a great afternoon sitting around a table by the pool drinking cocktails. With us was a local Zimbabwean big-game hunter. He took people out on safari and charged them. After a few drinks, he offered to take my friend, Kylie, on a safari for free. She accepted. His eyes then moved around the table until they alighted on Teresa. Would she also like to go on a free safari tomorrow? Of course she would. His eyes continued their journey of discovery around the table until they came upon me. Then he stopped. You could see him thinking.
"Don't want to offer him a free safari. But he's friends with Kylie and Teresa. Will they go on safari with me tomorrow if I don't invite him? Probably not. Which is better - safari with two girls and one other guy, or no safari with no girls and no guy. Probably the first. I think he might be gay."
One other rule if you're playing "Three's Company." Don't fall for one of the girls. You have a job to do - it's to deflect the advances of the "giver of free travel " who is always a bloke, and always wants to make out with one of the girls. By being sufficiently ambiguous about your relationship with the girls, you are supposed to leave the impression that you are perhaps the boyfriend of one of the girls (without making it clear which one). And if things progress and your local guide does make a pass, the passee can immediately pretend that you are her boyfriend, stopping the advance in its tracks. This can backfire if, when she starts pretending you're her boyfriend, you start believing it, and make a pass back at her. Remember your objective is traveling for free not getting a free ride. |
FEEDBACK: This really works. I travelled by private jet from London to Cairo and back with two young Arab sheiks on the same scam. They were perfect gentlemen to my girl friend and I but I think one of them was more attracted to my brother than either of us. S.W. Princeton NJ
This sounds like a great premise for a reality TV show. N.R. San Francisco, CA
|
N.T.
Jasper
Burbank, CA |
If you are a school teacher and you recruit six paying student participants, you don't pay anything for your own trip. If you fet another six, and a spouse, colleague, or friend can travel for free. This is one of the greatest benifits that I have discovered about teaching and a real way to take advantage of the liberal vacation time afforded by most teaching positions.
For every six full-paying participants, you earn a free spot on your tour for whomever you choose. The first time you become a Group Leader you'll get your first free place with only five paying participants. There are a number of travel services that organize teacher-lead tours. I use www.acis.com and I have been quite pleased by their efficiency and willingness to help me orgaize my student trips. |
| FEEDBACK: I just passed out a notice to my students that I was planning an Art Tour to Paris and within a week I had signed up 14 students and parents. Amazing. I had no idea. I have always wanted to go to Paris and now my husband and I are going absolutely FREE! Amazing. C.Y. Arlington, VA |
Z.A.
Torak
Boston, MA |
I got myself the perfect job for a student who couldn't afford to travel for Spring Break. Getting a job as a College Campus Representative for StudentCity.comallowed me to hook up my fellow sutdents with transpo to all the great Spring Break destinations and tag along for free to whichever one I wanted to go to.
In addition to getting privileges like kicking it with celebrities at on-site VIP parties, and a VIP Rope Rooms at clubs, I got pretty heafty commissions on hotels and stuff, so I started making big bucks on the side. SWEET! Earning cash and get treated like a Rock Star. Now, that's a job I can live with!" |
| FEEDBACK: THESE CREEPS ARE ALL OVER MY CAMPUS. THEY EVEN FOLLOW YOU INTO THE BATHROOM WITH THEIR TACKY POSTCARD PITCHES. THEY NEED TO GET A LIFE AND STOP TRYING TO LEACH OFF THEIR FELLOW STUDENTS. Name witheld |
|
|
 |
EXPERT OPINIONS |
 |
To travel for free all you need to do is to become a travel |
| agent. One of the benefits of becoming a travel agent are the "fam trips." A fam trip is travel industry jargon that stands for "Familiarization Trip". Fam trips are highly discounted vacations that travel agents go on to familiarize themselves with resorts and cruise lines. Fam trips can be as low as $100 for an all inclusive vacation, and sometimes they're absolutely free. These trips are generally discounted between 50 to 90 percent off of what non-travel agents pay.
You can become a home-based Independent Travel Agent and you’ll receive the same benefits as travel agents that sit in a travel agency 8 hours a day even if all you do is help your friends and family take trips.
All you have to do to become a travel agent is to fill out a simple application form.
Soon thereafter, you'll receive your agent identification card and your travel agent training. As a new agent you'll immediately be eligible for discounts and upgrades on hotel rooms, car rentals and cruise ships. For more information click here.
Bobby White
Travel Agent
Detroit, MI
|
|
 |
For fifteen years between 1959 and 1990, I
wrote a |
series of travel articles for a variety of low-paying magazines that used travel articles (motorhome, general interest, senior, motorcycle, etc.) I'm passing this tip on to anyone who has the initiative to act on it. It's a good opening for beginning writers interested in entering the travel field.
There are hundreds of low-paying magazines listed in Writer's Market and other directories and on the E-Mail Publisher disk that are starving for articles like this. Another source of sales in newspapers, not only here in the U.S. but in foreign countries reaching people who might be planning a trip to U.S. So, you can send something like this to hundreds of magazines and newspapers and maybe wind up with multiple sales. Those $50 here and $100 there can really add up.
Once you start collecting clippings of your articals you put them together in a clip book, duplicate a hundred of them at a place like Kinkos and then send them out to the Tourist Boards of the places you would most like to visit.
Within a few monts of doing this the invitations and airline tickets started to arrive in my mailbox.
Here is an important tip. If you live in Oberlin, Ohio nobody is going to respond. Get a mail forwarding address in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Happy Trails.
Susan Stewart
Freelance Travel Writer
New York, NY |
|
 |
If you have a burning desire to see the Pyramids... or go on an |
| African Safari... or snorkel the Great Barrier Reef of the South Pacific... and don't have the cash, don't worry.
There's a good chance that you can travel for free to just about anywhere in the world your heart desires just by locating a group of like-minded folks and convincing them to go with you.
And if you are really good at convincing a lot of fellow travelers to join you -- and have chosen the right travel company -- you could also earn up to $10,000 a trip for your efforts.
Not bad for doing something you passionately enjoy doing, and meeting a whole bunch of people who enjoy the same kind of traveling you do.
There are dozens upon dozens of travel companies who are actively seeking individuals to help them organize tours -- or promote existing ones.
Age is no consideration. Whether you are 16 or 70, there is a tour or tour group that is bound to suit your travel interests.
Teachers are actively courted to promote tours to their students... and even given handsome cash stipends to boot. For more information click here.
Gloria Espanoza
Tour Director
Coral Gables, FL
|
|
 |
Home exchange is a great way to cut the cost of travel. |
Home exchangers trade their homes, condominiums or apartments at a time that is convenient to both parties, but these are not the only types of accommodations that one gets to choose from. For example, one exchanger traded his home for a 40-foot yacht. Another couple swapped their villa in Italy for a RV in Oregon because they had always wanted to tour the U.S. in true nomadic style. Often, home exchangers will include their automobiles as part of the package.
If the idea of home exchange is unfamiliar to you, or even a bit frightening, rest assured -- there are 250,000+ successful home exchanges every year. Swapping homes can bring many unexpected rewards. Just consider the following benefits:
* You get a much closer look at other cultures. You get a "feel" for the places you visit.
* The connections you make with your home exchange partners can turn into lifelong friendships.
* If you're doing a home exchange, your home is being cared for while you're away.
* More flexibility and freedom. You can prepare meals at home, and come and go as you please.
* It's a free place to stay.
* You've got more privacy.
For more information click here.
Zack Colby.
Sales Manager
Pittsburgh, PA
|
|
| |
|
|
ARE YOU AN EXPERT? |
To provide our community
with your expert knowlege
please click here |
SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW |
To share your experience
with our community
please click here. |
| BE A PAL |
To suggest a question
to be answered
please click here.
SPONSOR
CONTRIBUTORS
|
 |
Barb Bevchek,
Tour Manager
Fantazzzmia |
You may not know this but it is possible to travel anywhere in the world without having to spend one penny of your own money? This is how many people get to travel to exotic locations once, twice or many times a year.
If you have an intimate knowledge of an area and are willing to act as a guide, then you are already halfway to where you want to go. When people travel as a group, the travel agents, airlines and cruise lines offer discounts. The amount of the discount varies according to the size of the group. For example, if you want to organize a group of people to take a cruise and you can get at least 8 staterooms booked, then you can have a stateroom free. Since this is the most expensive part of the trip, you won’t mind paying for the side trips and the entertainment aboard the ship.
There are also many resorts and airlines that provide free flights and accommodations, if you bring a group of people to the resort. These businesses provide this service in order to increase their business. You can get a free all-inclusive vacation, just for organizing the trip.
You are probably wondering how to go about getting this type of travel. Travel agencies, resorts, and airlines – anyone dealing with the travel industry has sales on during the off-season to bring up the amount of traffic that they go through. Look at the deals and contact a travel agency to see the dates for the sales and if there are any restrictions.
Then you can start looking for people who want to take a trip, but don’t want to go alone. Put up signs in places where there are lots of people, such as malls and grocery stores. A notice on the bulletin board of your office building just might give you a list of people who want an exciting vacation. Once you have the details of which people want to travel, then you can contact the travel agent for the total price.
If the cost of your fare is not included with the trip because your group is not large enough, then you can divide the cost by the number of guests so that your fare is covered. This is not illegal because you are performing a service by organizing the trip and making all the travel and accommodation arrangements, so you could consider this your fee. Collect the money from the group members and have their tickets prepared. Make sure the hotel or resort reservations are made and that the members have all their travel documents in place.
Arrange a meeting before you leave so you can brief the group on what to expect when they arrive and what kind of clothing they should bring. Warn them about any potential dangers and recommend how they should deal with bringing money with them.
Arrange to meet at the airport and help them with checking in. Do the same thing when you land and help them check in at the resort. Then you are free to enjoy for vacation, just as the group members are. More than likely you will meet up during the trip and have a lot of fun times together. |
|
|
| TODAY'S QUESTION: HOW DO YOU WIN BACK A LOST LOVER? |
OUR SPONSOR |
|
|
 |
|
|
