Once you get wherever you're going, traditionally another major cost arises: accommodation. Not any more. If you love being outdoors whatever the season (I've often woken up on urban football pitches at 6am only to find my water bottle frozen), there is always a bivi bag or the tried and trusted tent.
If that all seems a bit too risky for you, a new department of the gift economy has come to the rescue. CouchSurfing and The Hospitality Club have millions of members all over the world, all waiting to let you stay on their couch for free. Not only do you save yourself the cost of a hotel, you also get the opportunity to make a new friend, learn more about the real local culture, and get to use their kitchen facilities instead of paying for expensive meals in homogenised restaurants.
These projects are based on the same pay-it-forward economics that I founded Freeconomy on: they depend on you letting a traveller stay on your couch when your turn to be provider comes around. The person you help may never help you in return, but whenever you need it, you'll find someone you've never helped before on hand. It's an organic flow of giving and receiving that entire eco-systems are based on.
None of this is complicated. Like with many of the world's problems, the answers are already available; they just need to start being applied. All it requires is a rebirth of trust in people and a willingness to open the doors of fear to humanity again. You may even enjoy it.
• Mark Boyle is the founder of the Freeconomy Community and has lived without money for the past 18 months. His book, The Moneyless Man, is out now, published by Oneworld - sales from the book will go to a charitable trust for the Freeconomy Community. Read his article in full in The Guardian.
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