Hi jlittle, and welcome to the HUBB! Thanks for the info on place2stay.net. To add to your comments, I note that they do require registration in order to search their database. Registration requires you to provide your first and last name, gender, city and country, and e-mail address. Since the registration form is not secure (no little padlock at the bottom), the information you provide can potentially be seen by others.
Also, from their site: "Please note that by registering to this site in addition to having access to all the available hosts, you become a potential host yourself and other members can request to stay with you. However, you are not obliged to provide accommodation if you do not wish to."
In response to your question about how to reduce costs, Horizons Unlimited has a worldwide community of motorcycle travellers.
By joining the Community in their area, people at home that are willing to help travellers on the road will receive e-mails on occasion from travellers looking for information on the area, help to solve a problem, or a place to stay and visit. They can choose to ignore the message, in the hope that someone else in the area is willing and able to help, or can respond directly to the request.
I should point out that the Community works on a mailing list basis, so individual members of the Community are completely anonymous until they choose to respond to a traveller's query. Only Grant and myself know the e-mail addresses of Community members.
There are currently 215 Horizons Unlimited communities in 63 countries. See
the Community page for more details and to contact a Community.
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Susan Johnson
"It matters not what goal you
seek
Its secret
here reposes:
You've got to dig from week to week
To get Results or Roses."
Edgar Guest
'One world, two wheels'
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com