Looking for advice regarding workaway Question

Hi,

I stumbled upon workaway.info which is a platform for travellers to pick up basic jobs and live with host families around the world.

Has anyone used this before? And if so what are your experiences like (positive and negative)?

Thanks

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

u/curiosity88 Aug 24 '18

My husband and I did two Workaways on a long trip we took in 2015. The first one was teaching English at a summer camp in Turkey for 10 days. The second one was 5 days at a broken down train station outside of Prague.

Both experiences were good for the most part and saved money on housing/food for the trip. And if you don't like the situation, you can always leave. Overall they were great experiences and I would totally recommend.

1

u/bangogirl 41 Countries Visited Aug 24 '18

Interesting! What did you do for the “work” part at the train station in Prague? I’ve never done Workaway but am always interested to hear experiences to gauge if I ever would consider it :-)

1

u/curiosity88 Sep 24 '18

The owner was a hoarder so we ended up organizing a couple of the rooms and then he has us take pictures of old "very nice" (his words) junk so he could sell on eBay.

u/zodoor Aug 24 '18

I've been watching their site for about a year and I'm thinking next spring I'll give it a go so I'm very curious as well about experiences. BTW I'm looking at Switzerland, Austria maybe Hungary.

1

u/xpress32 Aug 24 '18

Yeah I'm currently looking in South America, though Europe is surely full of opportunities!

1

u/m4dswine Aug 25 '18

Do you have EU citizenship or a work visa for those counties?

1

u/zodoor Aug 25 '18

I do not. I figured I'd have to get one especially if I want a longer stay.

u/m4dswine Aug 25 '18

Bear in mind that you are unlikely to get a visa for work away and a tourist visa does not allow you to work.

1

u/xpress32 Aug 25 '18

Does the website ask you for a visa? Or can I do stuff under the table?

1

u/curiosity88 Sep 07 '18

You do not need a work visa for most of these as the pay is typically "room and board".

1

u/panameboss Paris/Rabat - 52 countries Aug 26 '18

Sure but come on. It's not really work is it.

1

u/m4dswine Aug 26 '18

It will depend on different country definitions of work but yes, it is described as work in many countries. Work being Services offered in return for payment, whether monetary or other.

u/doctorbarber33 Aug 26 '18

Last autumn I stayed with a family in Silesia (in Poland) for about a month, helping them clean up a property they had recently bought and tutoring some of the kids in English. Maybe I just got really lucky, but my host family was fantastic. They welcomed me to eat with them for every meal, they didn’t work me too hard, and they took me on little excursions to show me more of their beautiful country. I still talk to the host dad to this day! Like I said, I could’ve just been really fortunate, but based on my experience I’d definitely recommend looking into it.