Here is how you can create an Authentic Travel experience while abroad.
Looking for that Authentic Travel Experience, can often be hard with so much tourism and the beaten tracks that everyone raves and talks about. But do you have to follow the same path as everyone else? Certainly not. However with the help of websites like Help Exchange (helpx.com) it is a lot easier than you may think.
HelpX is an online listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, 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 holiday makers 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.
— quote from the Help Exchange Website.
It does not matter what age you are just a minimum of 18 years, Help Exchange is for any age group, despite of what you might think or have heard. Not all of us can travel when we are young, and just because we are a little older does not matter you can’t anymore. You just have to create your own Authentic Travel Experience.
In the end that will make a place, a country or a moment special and one that you will always remember. In the first place it does not matter if those moments are positive or negative, the most important part is that it happened. That a memory was created. Well remember those moments that where not planned. Well remember that one time we stumbled onto a Carnival and had a totally good time, or well remember the time we saw the most beautiful sunset. What ever it is those little and small moments make travelling so special, unique and amazing.
Why crave the authentic experience in New Zealand?
In short because some experiences will define what you make of the next. Never would I have though I would spend some time on a Island north of Auckland. Little did I know before that it even existed.
This process of why New Zealand is the perfect country to try, can be described in 4 steps:
1. The first reason starts with: Why go to New Zealand at all? Simple I was reaching the 30 year old mark faster than I intended and it was the only Work and Holiday Visa I had not done over the years (other than Europe or China). The second factor was that 25 years earlier I had already been to New Zealand, when my parents went on a 6month trip with 2 year old me.
The Question that was popping up in my head was, would I remember anything?
The short answer to that is : Hell No, not a single thing. At two years old I was just plain way to young. Besides that New Zealand has changed a lot in the 26 years. My Dad for example remembered Nelson as a town, which is definitely not the case anymore.
2. In the beginning it all starts with the safe factor. As a woman traveling alone no matter what age, staying at an unknowns person is always daunting. No matter how many times you have done it or how long you have traveled. Each and every time is a unique experience.
3. New Zealand in my mind had a similar Lifestyle the customs and traditions are very “Western”. Gosh that sounds horrible writing that. But it is easier to take steps out of our comfort zone, when some factors are the same. Especially because it will bring some inner confidence to do it in South America.
4. One I had tested in a “safe” country, and to see if I would like it. I wanted to do the exact same thing in South America. The continent that I would travel to next. While the New Zealand culture was still similar to the “Western” World, South America was on a whole new level. It was a culture I wanted to experience and learn more about. So in all it just made sense to try it in a Country where the “culture” shock might not be as high as elsewhere.
Creating an Authentic Travel experience starts with staying in a place longer and living an breathing the place you are in. Explore of the beaten Track and meeting Locals. Between all the organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats I guarantee there is somthing for you there as well.
Before you start looking for something or somewhere for that matter, write down what you are looking for. What do you want? Make a small list with thing that you would like. (stay by the water, farm work, meet lots of other travellers, certain jobs you would like to do etc.)
On the list was staying by the water, no farm and a family, no hostel work. – I choose these specifically because I wanted to create my “perfect” authentic travel experience. But everything always comes different than planned. Although I had not planed staying at a Farm, it may have turned out to one of the most unique experiences. Who does like chasing Cows?
As I started to browse around helpx.net the choices where endless. There where a lot of farm and hostels, but picking between all the choices definitely took some time.
In the end I had emailed two places and planed my stays according to my plans. One was by the Water just an hour from Auckland, the other a Family who lived in a beautiful Victorian House. The moment I saw that I was in love, it was like every girls fairytale home. Or it was mine anyways.
Both of these turned into amazing experiences, completely different from one another, but both special in their own unique way. Both are experiences that I will not forget so quickly.
Have you tried Help X? What where you experiences like? Did you find it to be an authentic travel experience?
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