Helpx.net

[Simon]

So I have hosted couch surfers for years now. Fabulous experience.

Then my sister tells me about helpx.net. Same principle but the visitors perform chores in exchange for a bed. 2 hours for a night and another 2 hours if you feed them is typical. Childcare is closed for summer so she has a French couple helping with her boy while she works. They are very sweet and are sitting him and also running mum around. Certainly earning their room and board.

So my student house has an empty double room over the summer. I posted a hosting ad and immediately got a lovely young couple from Chicago. He is a landscape gardener and she is an English teacher. They have been working in Korea where she was teaching and he was maintaining a hedge maze ....

Day one and they have done an awesome amount of yardwork. They hope to stay a week which means 14 hours labour for me. I will have them over for a BBQ and take them for a sail on the lake.

Just been contacted by a guy who is a builder and I got a vanity that needs replacing ..... Rooms are empty until semester starts so win/win all around.

I love travelling and travellers

Reckon you might like this Lizzie, similar concept to WWOOFing.

 

[chindonly]

Great concept. It would also be a fantastic way for them to interact with real locals, rather than just do the tourist things.

Probably wouldn't have strangers minding the kids though.... you never know!

 

[laurieload]

That's fantastic, thanks for sharing. I often advertise for workers in hostels and over Christmas we were lucky enough to meet a french electrician/tiler and his Italian gf who spent two weeks retiling an outdoor area and completely redoing a bathroom in exchange for free accommodation, beer, whiskey and food, and $1000 cash. Fantastic people, and they did a great job.

Apparently things are very bad in Europe so a lot of tradies are coming to Australia to surf and pick fruit for a year or so. This site might be a great way to find them between picking jobs.