Want to save money and gain new experiences?

Hello! Sarah here! I know it’s been a while, we are back in the United States and jumped into the working world for a few months! Life hasn’t been all that mundane though, we will get to that in a few weeks (about our upcoming plans). 

In this post, I wanted to talk about the last three weeks of our backpacking trip in Europe and answer questions for a lot of people who were asking about this volunteer program.

We decided the last few weeks that we didn’t want to travel to a new destination and find new accommodation every two to three days. We have already been to 15 countries and we were wanting to relax and enjoy the last bit of Europe that we have had left. So we decided to look at different sites to volunteer at certain places such as hostels, hotels, cafes, etc.

waxing a surfboard

Who? And What?

We decided to go with a platform called HelpX.

We heard about HelpX through a Spanish lady that we had met at dinner at Santiago de Compostela.

She was able to go to Ireland and help out with a bed and breakfast for a couple months!

The website HelpX explains it pretty concisely: “HelpX is an online listing of host organic farms, farm stays, hobby farms, lifestyle blocks, homestays, ranches, lodges, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and accommodation. HelpX is provided primarily as a cultural exchange for working holidaymakers, who would like the opportunity during their travels abroad, to stay with local people and gain practical experience. In the typical arrangement, the helper works an average of 4 hours per day and receives free accommodation and meals for their efforts.

This time range can vary considerably depending on the tasks at hand and the host's preferences. Some hosts may require just 2 hours per day for accommodation only, and ask you to provide and cook your own food.

Others may expect 6 hours per day in return for meals, your own room, and sometimes other benefits such as free Internet use, horse riding, kayaking, bikes, local sight-seeing trips, yoga or English lessons, etc. Some will give weekends off, while others might allow you to put in 8 hours one day and later take a full day off. Helpers often live with the host family and are expected to join in and offer a helping hand with day-to-day activities.

Volunteer helpers are required to register for one of two levels of membership, Free or Premier. Helpers must upgrade to Premier membership to take full advantage of all HelpX has to offer. Premier membership costs 20 Euros for 2 years and allows the helper to contact all hosts and read all host reviews. Premier helpers can browse this site and contact hosts directly to see about making arrangements to stay.

Hosts wishing to add a free listing inviting helpers to stay will need to register. Registered hosts may update their details as often as they like and view helper profiles.

We advise both helpers and hosts to ask plenty of questions about each other in order to establish expectations from each party. Helpers should never turn up without prior arrangement.

Helpers can also opt to provide a self-description for hosts to view who may then wish to invite the helper to stay with them. We advise helpers to include in their profile any skills or experience they may have, such as gardening, farming, agriculture, permaculture, fruit-picking; trade skills such as building, carpentry, landscaping, sail boat crewing; working with animals, or an ability to care for and ride horses. Helpers can also look for travel companions.

HelpX (not helpex), operates worldwide including in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe including France.” (HelpX, 2022).

They do have a one-time fee in order to apply to the numerous jobs on their site. It costs just €20 to upgrade to be a premier helper, which lasts for 2 years worldwide for both single and twin memberships. It is definitely worth it even if you are using HelpX only once because you save so much money on accommodation and sometimes meals as well! You can also start chatting with numerous hosts!

the storage room for the boards!

the beautiful surf lodge we volunteered at!

When? And Where?

We really enjoyed Portugal and wanted to spend our last days in the southern coastal region so our search was primarily the towns in this region. We ended up going to Arrifana Surf Lodge - a home away from home surf school that provides the best surf teaching, food, accommodation, and yoga classes. All we have to say on location is be spontaneous! We got a 3 days notice that this surf lodge needed some help and we were able to get on a plane and leave early to get to the town of Arrifana.

We stayed for about 20 days, Sarah and Aldo (the owners of Arrifana Surf Lodge, stated some volunteers stay the entire surf season!)

What was our experience like?

We got to Aljezur (the central town of this area) and Sarah picked us up. at this particular HelpX, we did get groceries included in our volunteer stay so we went to the grocery store and got some needed food items for our stay.

We got a tour of the surf lodge and a list of duties that she wanted to be done throughout our stay. Sarah expected 2 hours of work a day and then for the rest of the day we were able to go to the beach, attend a surf lesson (surf equipment included!), or walk around town and explore different restaurants and cafes.

We were able to surf about 4 days a week (Oliver got injured attempting to skimboard so he couldn’t surf after the first week).

We made some cool friends along the way. We got to host a super cool couple from Southern Germany, and many single surfers from The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain. Because we were there in low season/winter the surf lodge wasn’t packed but we weren’t alone all the time. We often cooked lunch and dinner together and shared good conversations over great meals.

I was super excited I got to try a new sport and I have so much respect for people on these waters! So many unknowns but they enjoy every minute of it and riding waves take a lot in you, so all that to say… surfers are cool. 🏄

Arrifana Aldo's Surf School

Oliver and I will DEFINITELY do another HelpX in the near future or even go back to Arrifana Surf Lodge (we enjoyed it, 10/10). We definitely recommend volunteering in a different country, not for free accommodation and food, but for the experience, it gives you and the people you need along the way.

Click here to get you to HelpX

Click here to check out Arrifana Surf Lodge. If you ever want to learn surfing, seriously, GO HERE. THIS IS THE PLACE.