Another regional specialty for the lovers of Free Travel is a great trick to travel parts of Australia, New Zealand or US not only for free but also in Comfort and style.
There is a great website called Standby Relocs which offers unbelievable deals on a weekly basis in Australia, New Zealand and parts of the US.
So how does it work and how is it free? First off there is a charge to ensure that Stanby Relocs has a contract with the person renting the vehicle. This is usually $1 or $5 a day. However depending on the vehicle and the route they actually give you money for your journey. An example from today is that they will give you $210 to go from Adelaide to Perth. They are charging $5 a day and have a time limit of 6 days. Therefore if you can get from Adelaide to Perth for $180 in fuel, it is totally FREE!
What do you get and how does it work? This is the real beauty of this scheme. It is not some crappy car you get but usually a fully equipped camper van that others are renting for $130 a day. It works because tourist regions are seasonal and is seasonality forms part of the camper rental companies fleet management strategy. Rather than have vehicles in each location sitting around dormant in the off seasons, which is expensive and a waste of a depreciating asset, they move their vehicles around in the seasons to cater for demand. If YOU don't take the camper they have to PAY someone to take it for them. Not just fuel money but fuel money plus a wage and then it gets expensive for these companies.
I have used this scheme on numerous routes around Australia and NZ and looking forward to getting to the States to do a San Fran to Vegas run in a nice new fully equipped camper on someone else's tab. The campers usually have a big bed, cooker, shower and sometimes toilet inside. It is luxury camping and you can use all the facilities the same as a full price renter!
Like most things FREE there is compromise involved. I say most things because the original post in this blog had what is still the best free travel out there without compromise. The compromise here is that you cant choose the route you want, when you want. However if you follow the pattern over one year - you will find it is similar every year. For example now is the time that they are moving campers from the mainland of Australia to Tasmania for the Summer. At the end of Summer (April/May) they move them back again. Wet season is starting in the North of Australia so campers from Cairns and Darwin are heading south for the dryer Summer in the South. I get the Standby Relocs newsletter every week and have done for 4 years. I can now look back to see the pattern and travel for free in Australia, New Zealand or the West Coast of the States by timing my arrival time and arrival city accordingly. Get in touch if you want to know more about these patterns and happy FREE camping!
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