If one year ago you told me I would be living in Italy for free, I think I would have just laughed in your face. I’ve always loved the idea of living in a small Italian town, eating exclusively pizza and pasta, and learning the language with locals. Fast forward to now, I get to live with an Italian family for $0 a day until the end of September. How is this possible you might ask, and the answer is volunteering. If you don’t know already, there are programs where you can volunteer your time for free perks such as accommodation, food, etc, and that's what I’m doing.
Back in May this year I left my job at PGL to travel Europe through the summer. Little did I know, they wouldn’t give me my job back. As much as I wanted to return, I think I knew I needed to move on and learn something else (so really it was a blessing in disguise). This got me thinking… if I could stay in any European country for an extended period, where would I stay? My immediate thought was Italy, obviously (I need to continue feeding my ice cream addiction).
I heard of Worldpackers and Workaway on social media a bunch of times and had even met a few people at hostels who volunteered through those sites. Within 1 hour I had set up an account and reached out to ten different hosts all over Europe. The first one I contacted messaged me back within a day, we face-timed and bam I got the position. It was as simple as that. This ended up being the family I’m staying with now which is located just a 30-minute bus ride from Lake Como.
Now, you may be asking how I can stay in Italy for two months when I only have 90 days in the Schengen area. Well, well, well… I was waiting for you to ask. In the first week of my backpacking trip, I met an Australian girl who was travelling Europe for 5 months. I was so confused about how she was getting around the Schengen area. She explained to me that Australians have bilateral waivers with certain countries in the EU (yes the ones in the Schengen zone) which allow us to stay for an extra 60-90 days in each. This baffled me. How could this be true and no one was talking about it?
The next day I did my own research and realised I could travel to 10+ different countries in the Schengen area without it counting to my 90 days. These include Germany, Italy, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium and more. After further investigation, I established that there were no clear rules guiding travelling Australians on how to navigate these waivers. But, my motivation to continue living in European countries (Other than England) was powerful enough that I wanted to try. I’ve linked the Australian Government website below so you can have a read of it yourself.
Nonetheless, my Host family in Italy took my passport to the police and told them I was staying with them for two months, filled in some paperwork and that was that. The rules will be different based on the country. However, if you are worried about exceeding the 90 day limit, this information might be helpful to you! I would not recommend spending the extra time backpacking these countries, simply because it's difficult for the authorities to track your travel. But, if you volunteer or have a longer stay, it is easier to be allowed extra time. Quick disclaimer: the extra 60-90 days in the waivered countries don’t count as “leaving the Schengen area” so you still need to go to a non-Schengen country for the correct amount of time before getting another 90 days of travel.
Anyways! Moving onto less serious stuff, I live with an Italian family of 5 with kids aged 10, 12 and 14. I “work” 5 days a week for around half a day and then have the afternoons (or mornings depending on the day) and the whole weekend off. The work includes spending time with the kids, helping the family improve their English (even though they are practically fluent) and helping with some chores around the house. However, it mostly feels like I am a part of their family. In exchange, I get my own room + bathroom and 3 meals a day. Did I mention they have a pool, a gym, animals and live in a beautiful area? So yeah, basically it's a sweet deal.
I am not writing about this to brag, I simply want to share this information so you can do it too! Volunteering is not for everyone but if you are interested in travelling long-term, this is something to consider. If you have any questions, my inbox is always open! Thanks for reading, I have linked Workaway below which is the site I'm currently volunteering through.
Thank you, love Amy ♡
Such an inspiration ✨️✨