The idea of workaway.info is simple and awesome at the same time!
A few hours honest help in exchange for food and accomodation (and the opportunity to learn many new things and to meet lovely people all over the world)!
You sign in, either as a host or as a volunteer, alias workawayer to create an individual profile.
Hosts tell about who they are, what they do and what type of help is needed at their place.
That can be everything: gardening, building, babysitting or child care, elderly care, cooking or shopping, general maintenance, farming, help with eco project, help in the house, animal care, helping with tourists, charity work, language practise, art project, help with computers or internet, teaching and more.
In addition they write which language(s) they speak, how many hours volunteers would have to work per day, they tell about the workawayers' accomodation, the environment and what you could do in your free time (two days of the week are usually free) and then they add a photos, so volunteers can see what the place looks like.
As a workawayer you create a profile with a few informations about you. Name, age, spoken language(s), what you do in you sparetime and you can also add photos, if you want to, but most importantly: the type of help you could offer and what special skills you have got.
As soon as you read a host's profile that sounds perfect to you, you are able to write a kind of 'application' to the host, who then will take a look on your profile and decides, if they want to host you.
If you're not sure, which host you should choose, the feedbacks from other volunteers at the end of each host-profile will help you (if they have already hosted someone, but you will be surprised how many people spend their holidays with workaway-stays)!
Of course you're also allowed to leave a feedback on a host's profile after staying with them.
In September/Oktober 2014 I had my first workaway experience! (:
I've been to Lower Saxony in northern Germany for three and a half weeks.
I stayed with a family, the 'Lufts', who live almost self-sustainable and it was such a great experience, that I din't want to leave.
The Lufts are very lovely and especially funny people and I can absolutely recommend to stay there, if you are interested in real self-sufficient living!
Bye. (: