I'm WWOOFing right now in Norway and I've been to 7 different WWOOF hosts across Europe. AMA.

>>773032
How much did you save up before going?

How long do hosts usually let you stay?

Any problems with doing it?

>>773041
>How much did you save up before going?

I should specify further that I'm from England and that I've been WWOOFing for more-or-less a year at different places. I only saved up about £1000 (about $1500) because if you're primarily doing WWOOFing, then there isn't much expenditure apart from transportation. As the WWOOF contract states, the host will be looking after all the food and accommodation which is one of the more expensive parts of travelling. The further your host from you, the more you'll have to save up.

A flight to most European destinations from London is in the range of £20-£200. Further afield and you're looking at prices that could exceed £1000. Most WWOOF farms are rural so you'll probably need to get a bus or a train which could cost anywhere from £5-£100.

TL;DR: It depends on where you go, but you shouldn't need a lot apart from transportation.

>How long do hosts usually let you stay?

It depends a lot on the host. Some of them will want WWOOFers to stay for two weeks at most, while others will want them to stay for over six months and sometimes stays for a year are not too uncommon. WWOOF hosts usually state how long they want WWOOFers for on their profile.

There's an average, though, and it's about two weeks to a month. I'd say 80% of WWOOFers I've met have stayed for that duration.

TL;DR: It depends on the host, but most WWOOFers stay for two weeks to a month.

>Any problems with doing it?

Absolutely.

Sometimes the hosts get really tired because of some external event and that causes tension. Sometimes the host you get to is actually a WWOOFer slave-labour camp. Sometimes it's actually other WWOOFers that are the problem, mostly the 'tourist-for-free' types that demand days off all the time and are generally uninterested in the daily activities at the host.

(1/2)

>>773041
>>773088

Problems can arise, but there's no all-encompassing solution so you'll have to deal with each one of them individually.

One thing though, if a WWOOF host ever shouts or gets angry at you for any reason. Leave. It's the biggest red flag and they'll only see you as a faceless worker to be exploited after that. You won't integrate.

After that question and answer it might seem that WWOOFing is not as desirable, but this kind of thing where there's a tense relationship between WWOOFer and host only happens rarely. Out of the seven different WWOOF farms I've been to, only one can be described as 'bad'.

If you have any further questions, just ask.

(2/2)

>>773092
What kind of "safety net" do you have in place in case you need to get back home ASAP?

>>773117
The money I'd saved up, but if I found a host to be bad, I'd just message another one nearby and apologise for the short notice.

Also, not booking a return flight helps for a number of reasons. If you like it where you are, you can stay longer. If you don't, you can go sooner.

>>773012
Me and my friends are WWOOFing for the first time this year