No water though and a walk to the usual offices and yet a B&B price but no B.

There is an element of 'chancing it' I reckon. :cool4:

Hospitality Club
I travelled very safely with my 16 year old daughter and met some amazing people through the Hospitality Club.

They have now joined forces with Airbnb.com

That sounds excellent. And you've actually used this? And it really works as it's supposed to?

Yes and yes.
The only thing I found was that because you are "freeloading", you don't feel like you can stay more than 2 or 3 days...
I thought that it would be great if you could stay with locals and get all that lovely local knowledge but pay a small amount of money and book in for the length of time you needed/wanted.

Then I found Airbnb which does exactly that!
I have used both HC and Airbnb as both a guest and a host. Have never had a bad experience.

Thanks I'm so going to get involved in this, I think.

Can I ask which countries you've stayed in and how easy it is to set up etc? I can PM you if you prefer. I'm really keen on finding out more from someone who has been there and done it

With my daughter in 2006 we stayed in Germany, Switzerland, Holland and Ireland using the HC scheme. I posted an itinerary of our trip and I actually had people emailing me offering accom. Mostly families who wanted their children to have exposure to my daughter to practice their English with... It was very easy to set up - a bunch of emails back and forth - just like any other friends.

One lady in Switzerland that I met on '06, I stayed with her again just last week. We have been good friends and sent each other emails and calendars etc since '06.

As a host (I have a house 1km from Sydney Central) I used Airbnb as the booking system and calendar system are so easy to use - and I also got a little cash which helped with my travels.
I met some wonderful people - some I still have contact with. I was very clear with my "house rules" and no-one abused my trust.

I'm a fan of couchsurfing (CouchSurfing – The world’s largest travel community) myself. I like the verification system.

But all things that make meeting people around the world are good :-)

any one going through cornwall wants to stop on a beautiful farm for free give me a shout! i truly believe these things are a bit ruined by the exchange of money. met a guy on an xt660z last week looked like he was knackered and needed a place to camp. i offered, he accepted. made a good connection, had a nice evening, job done.

being open to experience and freely helpful to others is a satisfying experience that is quickly ruined by the exchange of money, it becomes a diferent situation alltogether. I have asked for and rarely been refused permission to camp from all sorts of folks, very rarely have i been asked to pay and i always offer something inexchange.

much more fun

That's a very kind offer Bluebus, and I may well take you up on it some time. Know exactly how you feel and your words have real resonance

We've put a few people up over the last 6 or 7 years and it's all been good. When we went to the UK last year Bruce put us up and even moved his daughter out for the 2 nights we stayed. It was abosolutely great as we got showed around Liverpool and saw trhings only a local could show us including the nearby IKEA store!
Anybody who is coming to Mexico City can contact us so that we can try to arrange something.

People may camp in my garden, for free.
If they send an message.
Because I just like to meet people...

This I like, I'm going to Ireland at the start of next month and this is ideal for me.