When you get to where you want to be you next worry is food & board. Even though youth hostels and street vendors or supermarkets are a low budget option, if you really like to stay somewhere free of charge and also be fed, there are mainly 2 alternatives: One choice is that you are willing to work locally. For example farms will host you, provided you help with the work a number of hours every day. Another option is to work as an au-pair: for twenty - 30 hours every week of baby sitting you receive food & board, sometimes a car, and all of that not just for free: you get paid. If you don't want to work, a private student exchange program will be your best choice to travel for free. Your host family will provide you with food & board for free. In return you later host their teenager at your home. Of all student exchange programs only a few offer a private student exchange. The concept is easy: I visit you - you visit me. Such a foreign exchange student program even allows family hopping and multiple country visits. For example you can tour all of Europe and stay with families in Paris, London, Rome, Berlin, Munich Barcelona, or Madrid for free.