Sleeping on the way

Travelling by land and sea often involves looking for a place to stay on the way. Hosting networks involve staying with a host without payment, with the purpose of building connections, and with trust built through a reference system.  While www.couchsurfing.com may be the most well known, www.trustroots.org is an alternative.  There are also specialised hosting networks, for example if you are cycling, warmshowers.org is a great way of finding a host who shares your interest in cycling too.  There are also special sub-communities within couchsurfing and trustroots (called circles in Trustroots), for example trustroots has a hitchhikers circle, a cyclists circle etc.  Contributors to this guide have hosted, and been hosted by, many people over the years using these platforms (Elaine, Darach).

If planning on staying with hosts, bringing a sleeping bag can be a good idea, to avoid unnecessary laundry by your hosts.

From Elaine: I have previously brought an inflatable mattress with me on these journeys so I can catch some comfortable rest at ferry terminals such as Holyhead if I am there for a few hours in the middle of the night.  Ferry terminals and train stations often don’t have the sorts of seats which are comfortable to stretch out on or sleep on (although the ferries themselves do).

Eating on the way

This is not unique to this form of travel, but to minimise packaging waste, it is a good idea to travel with your own cup, cutlery and lunch boxes (some collapse to small sizes or stack like Russian dolls when not in use).  Fill them with food before you leave on your journey, after eating you can wash them out at sinks on the journey, and fill them up again with food you get along the way – you can get food without causing packaging waste this way.  You can also use them to keep leftovers from one meal to eat later, avoiding food waste, take-away containers and packaging waste.