People ask us how we can afford to travel so much. Undoubtedly, the
major expense is gas. That’s an expense that can’t be avoided. We bring healthy
foods along with us, mostly organic fruits, vegetables, yogurt ad other snacks
that we’re able to purchase at local grocery stores. We try to eat only one
meal a day in restaurants while we are on the road.
When travelling, our first choice is to stay overnight with friends and
family. We use our travel to visit people we want to see along the way. When we
need to stay overnight and there is no one we know, we use our membership to The
Affordable Travel Club.
Each year we pay our fees of $70.00. We then receive an online
catalogue of people throughout the world (mainly the U.S. and Canada) who have
also joined. These people are mostly retired seniors who love travel and love
meeting new people. They usually live in quite luxurious homes sometimes right
in the heart of a city, and sometimes in remote areas deeply surrounded by
wild. For $20.00 a night for the two of us, we meet delightful, similarly-minded
people and stay in beautiful private accommodations sharing delicious homemade
breakfasts with our hosts. I call it “Couchsurfing for the Over 50 Crowd”.
First we contact the people in the area we would like to stay. Sometimes they are unavailable or
travelling themselves.
Occasionally, they invite us to stay even though they are not there!
As we plan our trips, we make contact with members to request a stay
for a night or two. Sometimes the accommodations are not available. Many of the
people travel too. Sometimes the hosts invite us to stay even though they are
not there. Recently I attended a conference in Santa Rosa California, and, not
wanting to have the exorbitant expense of a hotel, I chose an Affordable Travel
home. For 6 nights I stayed in a gorgeous house in the suburbs of Santa Rosa.
The hosts were in England at the time and I had the entire house to myself. How
wonderful to leave the conference each day and come ‘home’ to a beautiful
house, with kitchen facilities and the comforts of solitude and quiet.
ATC is a traveller’s community. Each person on the list is screened and
a clear description of each person is given. Our listing reads like this:
Canada - Gabriola, BC (5 km E. of Nanaimo - Vancouver Is.)
GELLMAN, Paul & BLOCK, Amy., Gabriola Island, CANADA. - Musician/IT
Consultant & Ed. Consultant. Int: music, yoga, learning. Cabin, Yurt, acc:
2, bed: double, shared bath, smoking outside. Guide. Gabriola Island is one of
the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia. (Dec10)
Other than the nights we spent with friends or family on this trip
along the western coast of the United States, we stayed in Affordable Travel
homes. In Oregon two of the houses we stayed in were right on the Pacific Ocean.
One of the houses was a stunning condominium built on the waterfront. Our
upstairs bedroom overlooking the cliffs allowed us to hear the crashing of
waves against the shores.
Some of the people we meet through ATC are fantastic!
In Eugene, Oregon we met an incredibly interesting couple. They directed
us to wonderful places to go. We even participated in a drop-in yoga class and
attended Shabbat service in a nearby egalitarian synagogue. After our
experience at the synagogue we went ‘home’ to an interesting conversation with
our hosts, one of whom is a non-practising Jew.
In Morro Bay we stayed with Bill and Toni, retired teachers who are active
grandparents to a 6 year-old granddaughter. We stayed for two days, which gave
us a chance to hang out some. Morro Bay is a small town built along the coast. The
entire town is centred around Morro Rock, a huge formation that stands majestically
above the water. On our first night, we walked to the local taqueria with Toni
and Bill, and ate delicious (and enormous) seafood tacos.
It adds so much to our trip to share time with the people in the areas
we visit. I’m sure we see things we would never know about, and eat in local,
lesser-known restaurants. Sometimes, we even buy groceries and cook together
while chatting and drinking wine. Years ago, while travelling through Arizona,
we stayed with ATC people in Sedona, and we became such good friends that we
stayed over a week!
Stopping in Depoe Bay, Oregon, our host suggested we meet them at a
local restaurant before venturing on to our condo on the water. They have two
apartments there and offered us one of them. As I approach the table where they
were sitting, I think: “How interesting to have dinner with these people. Paul
and I have just spent all day driving together. What a nice opportunity to
connect with others too.”
The Affordable Travel Club has been such an inspiration to our travels.
We can afford to stay over now even when we don’t have friends or family. We
love meeting new people while we are travelling. Even Europe seems manageable
now. I never would have considered travel in Europe because of the high costs
of accommodations. Now it seems possible.
I like the idea of sharing our home with others too, and, as Affordable
Travel Members, that is part of our responsibility. In the 3 years we’ve been
members, however, we’ve had only 2 requests to stay in our home in Toronto, and
both times we were not there and our house was not available. Now, living in a
yurt in B.C. it will be interesting to see how many people want to come to
visit.
Our friends in Toronto, Harriet and Morty told us about ATC three years
ago. It has changed the way we travel! There is no doubt that meeting new people
along the way makes the trip way more interesting. Thank you for the tip!
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