Bicycle Touring Pro » Lodging

Kindle Readers – Get Free Lodging For Your Travels

Darren Alff — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:40:20 +0000

You can now download The Ultimate Guide To Free Lodging for the Amazon Kindle. Click here for details.

The Ultimate Guide To Free Lodging is a 101-page eBook I created to help you get free hotel rooms, campgrounds and other such accommodations for your travels. If you have a website or blog that revolves around your trip by bike, this information is built especially for you! Inside the book, you will learn how to leverage your readership and get free hotel rooms and other free travel accommodations for your travels.

For more information on The Ultimate Guide To Free Lodging, just click here.

Get The Ultimate Guide To Free Lodging for the Amazon Kindle.

Getting Free Hotel Rooms – A How To Guide

Darren Alff — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:56:15 +0000

Did you know that you can use your bike trip to get free hotel rooms for your travels? And if you run a website or blog about your travels, you stand an even greater chance of getting free lodging.

It’s true! There are thousands of hotels around the world that actually want to give you a free place to stay… if you know how to approach them and say the right things.

And inside “The Ultimate Guide To Free Lodging” I will teach you exactly what you need to say in order to get thousands of dollars worth of free accommodations.

I released “The Ultimate Guide To Free Lodging” well over a year ago and in that time have used the information inside the book to help nearly 100 people receive free hotel rooms and other accommodations for their travels.

This past week, I added a bunch of new content to the book, redesigned the cover, and lowered the price to a super low price of just $27 bucks.

If you are interested in learning how to approach hotels, hostels, and campgrounds and receive free accommodations for your travels, please click here and learn more about “The Ultimate Guide To Free Lodging.”

I’ve priced the guide so low that if you even get one free place to stay while on your travels, the book will have more than paid for itself. And I guarantee that if you take the steps mentioned throughout the book, you will get free lodging of some sort.

Heck! If you don’t get a free place to stay using my secret free lodging techniques… I’ll give you your money back!

Click here to learn more about “The Ultimate Guide To Free Lodging” and pick up your copy now!

Featured photo by Micahel Caven

My Apartment In Vienna, Austria

Darren Alff — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:15:37 +0000

More than six months before arriving in Vienna, Austria, I rented a small one-room apartment from an online listing at Craigslist.org. The price was just 600 Euros (about $800 USD) for a three week rental. According to the listing, the apartment was located in an area of the city just across the street from the city’s famous Wurstelprater amusement park, often simply called “Prater”. The woman I rented the place from said I could pay her in cash upon arrival there and with this strange under-the-table cash arrangement made so many months in advance, I crossed my fingers and prayed that the place actually existed.

After taking a 10-hour night train across the length of Austria, I exited the “Zug” in the early morning hours. I had arranged to meet the female apartment owner at 9 AM, so with less than two hours to make my way across five miles of a busy, unknown city, I loaded up my bike and took off in a flash.

Using my GPS no navigate, I shot through the streets Vienna like a pro. In a narrow side street I met a well-dressed, middle aged man and showed him the address of my apartment building, asking if he knew the best way to get there.

“Just follow me,” the man said. “I’ll direct you through the center.”

The Austrian man had been living in Vienna for nearly his entire life. He was an architect and he said he rode his bike to work each and every day. Following him through a complex network of bike paths and side streets, he pointed me off in the right direction, wished me a wonderful stay in the city, and cycled off in the opposite direction.

Back on my own again, I found myself in the center of downtown Vienna (or Wein as the Austrians call it). Riding over bumpy cobblestone roads and past magnificent white buildings and tall dark churches, I made a mental note of the places I wished to visit during my stay in the city.

Just as I began to get comfortable making my way through the winding streets of Vienna, I saw the Ferris wheel that signaled my apartment was near.

With ten minutes to spare, I cycled through the Prater district and identified the building where my apartment was located. After waiting on a nearby bench to kill some time, I returned to the apartment building and rang the bell. A few seconds later, a tall woman with fuzzy reddish-brown hair opened the front door of the apartment building and asked, “Are you Darren?”

I told her I was and she welcomed me inside.

“Bring your bike,” the woman told me. “It’s not safe to leave it out here.”

That definitely wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I could tell the building was far from new, but hearing that the area was unsafe as well made me a bit nervous.

My main fear at this point was that the apartment didn’t exist at all. The woman knew I was carrying at least 600 Euros and I feared that I would be led inside the building, attacked by numerous individuals and robbed of everything I had. But that never happend.

Following the woman’s orders, I brought my bike inside and found myself standing inside a tall, dark hallway. Ahead of me were two large doors that led to an outdoor courtyard. To my right were a row of bicycles parked along the wall. And to my left were a series of small trash cans and phone books that has been stacked up on the floor.

Walking out through the second set of double-doors, we entered a large outdoor coutyard. It was dark and cold… and deathly quiet. Before walking up a small set of stairs and into another set of doors, I made note of the fact that some of the windows on the first floor had bars over them. This place was getting scarier by the second.

Now inside the second-half of the building, we walked across broken tile floors, over a series of small carpets that looked as though they might be 100 years old, and made our way to the right, to the very first door on the right-hand side, where I was walked into the apartment that would be my home for the next three weeks.

I found it odd that there was a drinking fountain in the hallway of the apartment building. After seeing the inside of my apartment, however, it was easy to tell that this building was not originally designed as an apartment complex. My guess is that this building used to be a school or a hospital or some kind of industrial office building.

If you recognize this building and you know what it used to be used for, please get it contact with me and let me know. I’d be extremely interested in finding out the history of this particular Austrian structure.

Inside the apartment, we walked immediately into the kitchen. But this wasn’t an ordinary kitchen. This was the strangest kitchen I had ever seen! On the right side of the room was a small sink, a stove-top with two burners and a cabinet filled with pots, pans, and various utensils. Directly behind the kitchen sink was the shower, no more than two feet away. And on the other side of the room was a bookshelf, another small sink and a mirror. To the left of the bookshelf was a large white door, that revealed a small closet type room containing a toilet and nothing more. It was a kitchen and a bathroom all rolled into one!

Walking through the kitchen/bathroom, we entered the main bedroom/living room area. On the right side of the room was a small dresser on top of which sat a tiny TV and various electrical devices. Behind the TV was a small table with two chairs. This is where I would sit most of the time in the apartment while doing my work and updating this website.

There were two windows that looked out of the apartment and into the courtyard below. One window had bars over it… and that worried me just a little.

On the other side of the room was a couch and a small coffee table. I often times sat here and watched TV while eating bread with cheese and vegetable soup.

And to the left of the couch was a large bed with an orange headboard and a blue quilted bedspread. A modern radio sat on a bookshelf directly over the head of the bed. I’m not a big radio person, but I used this radio a lot while staying in Vienna. I remember that the radio station I was listening to played ABBA and Michael Jackson over and over ad over again.

Finally, to the left of the door that led back into the kitchen/bathroom was a small closet, which is where I eventually stored my clothes and the rest of my travel gear during my stay in the city.

My apartment in the Prater district of Vienna, Austria was not the nicest place I have ever stayed in my life, but after a couple weeks in the city it did begin to feel like home. There was a supermarket just a couple blocks away and walking to get food became a daily part of my life in the city. Several strip clubs were also in the area, and while I never visited these establishments, it started to become normal for me to see their lights casting a neon glow onto the streets at night.

After three weeks in the city, I really began to enjoy myself in the city’s Prater district. It was just a short bike ride to the Danube river, a brief 30-minute walk into downtown Vienna, and the Prater amusement park was right across the street.

My apartment in Vienna, Austria took some getting used to and it turned out to be a safe and reliable home for my three weeks in the city. If I were to go back to Vienna today, I would happily rent the same apartment, walk the same streets and feel more comfortable than ever in my second German speaking home.

The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint – New & Improved!

Darren Alff — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:43:04 +0000

After two years of hard work, I am proud to announce the new and improved version of “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” – my ebook about modern bicycle touring.

The first version of the “Blueprint” was released well over a year ago and has since that time consistently remained one of the most popular items here at Bicycle Touring Pro. Hundreds of copies have been sold and the information inside the “Blueprint” is responsible for successfully launching countless first-time travelers into the world of long-distance bike touring.

The new and improved version of “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” not only has a new cover (which more accurately portrays the young, modern, lifestyle driven type of bike travel I aim to promote even more here at Bicycle Touring Pro), but it also contains of a lot more information. This new version of the book is 160 full pages long, which if printed out in traditional 6″x9″ book format would be more than 300 pages in length.

What makes “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” different than other bicycle touring books?

1) Well, first of all, the content is super easy to understand. You don’t have to be a cycling freak to know what I am talking about inside the book. I keep the book very down to earth and it is written from front to back as though I were simply talking to a very good friend who happens to be planning his or her first bicycle touring adventure.

2) Secondly, “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” contains all of the information I wish I knew when I conducted my first trip by bike. When I first started bike touring at the age of 17, I knew absolutely nothing about bike travel. I made it all up as I went along and learned the hard way about the best and worst ways to do certain things. Over the last ten years I have developed some strategies that make life on the back of a bicycle that much easier… and it is this information that I have chronicled inside the “Blueprint.” My goal here is for your to read the book, digest the information, and learn from my mistakes (so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did) so you can get out there and simply enjoy the ride!

3) The “Blueprint” is also quite unique in that it has been purposely written for the modern bicycle traveler. Unlike a lot of other bicycle touring books, my information is not about 1970′s bike touring! No! The information inside “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” is what I believe to be the most modern and technologically advanced information on bike touring you can find. If you plan to travel with a cell phone, digital camera, laptop computer, or other such electronic device… this book has been written exclusively for you!

4) “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” is also different from other bicycle touring books in that I do not encourage my readers to dress in tight, revealing Lycra bike shorts or wear flashy neon colored racing jerseys. Instead, I recommend quite the opposite! As part of my efforts to promote “modern bicycle travel”, the “Blueprint” walks you through my thought process when it comes to colors, clothing, and gear selection for the 21st century bicycle traveler. If you want to travel in style and blend in with the people around you – no matter where you go to in the world, then this book is for you! But if you want to look like a superhero from the 1970′s, the information inside the “Blueprint” is likely not up your alley.

5) And finally, the information inside “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” is just plain good stuff – because it is based off of my own 10 years of long-distance, self-supported bicycle touring experience. It consists of just about everything I have learned about bike touring over the past ten years… and maybe even a little more.

Plus, the new version of “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” comes with the following three bonuses:

Video & Article Links – Throughout the eBook are links to special bicycle touring articles and videos made just for you. These articles and videos give you even more information on bicycle travel and walk you through the process of planning, preparing for, and executing your first bicycle adventure.

Free Lifetime Upgrades – As new information is added to “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” over time, you will receive these updates free of charge. If you purchased a copy of the “Blueprint” in the past, you should have already received your free upgrade. But for those of you who decide to purchase at some time in the future, just know that when I do add new content to the book, you too will get this new information at absolutely no charge! This alone is a HUGE value.

Free Bicycle Touring Audio Interviews – You will also get an MP3 audio copy of every single bicycle touring interview I have ever conducted on my website here at BicycleTouringPro.com. These are interviews I have conducted over the past three years with some of the most experienced bicycle tourists, world travels and just plain amazing people from all across the globe. Not only will you get access to every interview I have ever conducted on my website, but every time I release a new interview you will be notified via email and the new MP3 interview will be sent to you – for free of charge! This alone is a $25 value! Best of all, these MP3 audio files can be downloaded to your computer, added to your favorite MP3 device, or burned to a CD so you can listen to them in the car or while out on your bike.

But that’s not all! There’s more!

When you order a copy of “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint,” 10% of your order will be donated to the “Bicycle Travel Network Scholarship Fund,” which is a travel grant used to help young, first time bicycle travelers get out on the road and explore the world on the back of a bicycle.

You can read more about the “Bicycle Travel Network” at www.bicycletravelnetwork.com, but basically, the money raised on the site goes back to young people who are heading out on their first bicycle touring adventures. The money raised helps these young first-time bike travelers pay for food, lodging, equipment and other such expenses that often times prevent young people from taking bicycle trips at all. So, when you buy a copy of “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint” you are also making a small donation to the “Bicycle Travel Network” and helping young people from around the world get their start in the wonderful world of bicycle travel.

So, there it is! The new and improved version of “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint!” Get it here —>

To learn more about the book and to read up on all the juicy content that can be found within it, just head on over to: http://bicycletouringpro.com/blog/the-bicycle-travelers-blueprint/

And as always, if you have any questions for me – whether it be about “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint,” modern bicycle touring, world travel, or lifestyle design… don’t be afraid to ask! Leave a comment below or get in touch with me on your favorite social networking website (Facebook? Twitter? YouTube?).

Until next time, thanks for reading… and have a great day!

Featured photo by antwerpenR

Living In Luzern, Switzerland

Darren Alff — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:41:54 +0000

When I made plans in late 2008 to travel to Switzerland and live there for at least a month or two, I began my adventure by first seeking out an apartment that I could call home for the first leg of my trip. I didn’t really care where the apartment was located, but it needed to have Internet access and it needed to be within my budget. I preferred that it be in a somewhat large and historical city, but other than those few things, I was open to just about anything I could find.

I started my search on Craigslist.org, but was unsuccessful in finding anything in my price range. Then I started searching on Google. Once again, no luck finding an affordable apartment with Internet access in any type of major city.

It was then that I had the idea to search on Google.ch – the Swiss version of Google.com. It was there that I found an entirely German website (sadly, I can’t remember what is was) that had short term apartment rental listings. Scrolling through the list of apartments (and looking mainly at the prices), I found one in my price range and then used Google Language Tools in order to read the details of the apartment (My German at the time was not nearly as good as it is now, so I needed some extra help). From what I could tell, the apartment looked great, so I sent off an email and heard back a short time later from a girl named Stephanie.

Stephanie and I exchanged a number of emails. I asked about the location of the apartment, the Internet access and the price. She wouldn’t budge on the price and she wanted to find someone who could rent the place for two whole months, but after a bit of deep thought I made the leap and told Stephanie I wanted to reserve her flat (afterall, the apartment was practically the same price as what I pay for the mortgage on my condo here at home, so it wasn’t like I was going crazy or anything). I crossed my fingers, praying that this wasn’t some kind of Internet scam and wired Stephanie approximately $3,000 USD ($1,200 per month x 2 months + another $1,200 for the deposit).

A few months later I flew into Zurich, Switzerland, boarded a train bound for Luzern, and walked with my bicycle and all of my humanly possessions the short distance (less than a mile) from the train station to my new home in downtown Luzern.

I arrived in Luzern on New Year’s Eve (2008), just a few hours before ringing in the New Year. It was dark when I emerged from the train station and snow had just started to fall from the sky.

I remember walking across the bridge that leads from one side of Lake Luzern to the other and thinking to myself, “I hope this apartment actually exists. Otherwise, I’m screwed!”

I had used Google Earth to map out the location of the apartment in advance, so it was incredibly easy for me to find once I arrived in Luzern that night. I walked almost exactly to the front entrance, inserted the key (which Stephanie had mailed to me in advance), walked up the stairs to the second story, went through two more doors, and found myself inside my new home!

Instantly upon my arrival I knew that I was going to like it here. The place was modern, clean, warm and welcoming.

Decorated almost entirely in IKEA products, the apartment obviously belonged to a girl – probably someone around my same sage (25). The photos below show nearly every inch of my Swiss apartment.

When I walked into the living room/kitchen area, I found a note that Stephanie had left for me, along with a number of maps for the surrounding areas.

Here is what Stephanie’s note said:

Hello Daren!

Welcome to Luzern, and welcome to my flat. Please feel at home. Please feel free to use anything you want.

- There is an Internet connection next to the sofa for you to use.

- Feel free to use the food in the cupboards.

- The rubbish has to be put in the grey bags under the sink. When it is full it has to be put outside the door on the street only on Monday or Thursday before 8:00 am. If you need more rubbish bags they can be bought in the Migros on the till.

- You can use the washing machine which is next to door (on the left) when you come out of the flat. The machine accepts only 1 Fr. coins which you put in the meter on the left. Make sure you have enough money in it otherwise it will stop washing. It takes two one franc coins.

- There is a tourist information in the railway station for your activities in the region or have a look at www.myswitzerland.com

If you have any questions please call my boyfriend ___________ or my mum who has a spare key ___________.

Enjoy your stay in Luzern!

- Stefi -

P.S. – Can you water the plants once a week?

- You can also use my computer. Login ____________

The plant you see here on the far left side of the bookcase did not survive my stay. I tried my best to keep it alive, but I could not… and I felt really bad about killing Stephanie’s plant while she was away. I left her a note when I left the apartment, telling her how sorry I was. She email me back a few days later and said it was no big deal. I hope that that is true!

The gray cylinder on the left side of this photo had a note on it, asking me not to look inside. I imagine this strange circular closet contained Stephanie’s clothes or other personal items, but I never did look inside, so I guess I’ll never know.

The photo above shows the entrance to my Swiss apartment. You would insert a key to get past the glass door on the ground level, then climb the stairs on the left and enter the first door on the left-hand side (with the same key). Once inside the building, I’d walk straight forward and enter the apartment through the door directly in front of me.

It often times smelled like smoke inside the apartment building hallway and I occasionally heard my neighbor to the left of me entertaining guests. But other than that, the apartment was quiet, comfortable, and homey.

One of the neatest things about my apartment in Luzern was that it was located directly above a Heini bakery and directly across from a large Migros supermarket. I never actually ate at the bakery, but finding food was never a problem.

The apartment I stayed in had windows directly to the left and the right of the red HEINI sign shown in the photos above and below.

I would often times open the windows and just sit and stare at the people walking past. Most people paid no attention to me. In fact, most never bothered to look up and see me sitting there. Some did see me however, and they usually just waved as they slowly ambled past.

One of my favorite things about my apartment in Luzern was that I could sit in the apartment, working or eating, remain toasty warm, and I still felt like a part of the city because I was able to look down on all of the people walking by.

The photo above shows my view of the Migros supermarket that was situated directly across the street from me. This photo was taken during the Fasnacht carnival, which is why the people here are dressed up in costume.

This photo was taken while riding a large conveyor belt down to the bottom floor of the Migros supermarket. The supermarket had three main levels and you rode a slightly slanted conveyor belt to get from one level to the next. Because the conveyor belt was flat, unlike an escalator that has stairs on it, you could push your cart up or down the ramp, which made me nervous the first few times I saw others do it.

The photos below show me working inside my flat in downtown Luzern. I spent a lot of time sitting at this table, but it was probably one of the more enjoyable places I have ever worked. From that spot inside the apartment I was not only able to get a lot of work done, but I was also able to stare out the window to my right and watch as hundred and thousands of people walked past.

My typical day in Luzern consisted of me sleeping in until about 9 or 10 am. I would then get up, check my email and do an hour or two’s worth of work. While working I would eat and stare out the window as people walked by. Then I’d head out into the streets myself. I would walk around, ride my bike, or simply go and visit nearby stores. Around 4 PM I’d return to the apartment and spend a few more hours at the computer. I’d eat around 8 or 9 PM and then return to the streets for another hour or so, just to take a break from work and see what, if any, activities were going on that night.

While living in Luzern, I took several side trips to other cities and neighboring areas. I went skiing with my friend Rich Palantino and even took a train to Liechtenstein.

After two months of life in Switzerland, however, it was finally time to say goodbye. On the 28th of February (2009) I packed up my things, locked the door to my second story apartment and said goodbye forever.

I’d love to go back to Luzern one day (especially in the summer when the grass is green and the air is warm) and I will always consider this famous Swiss city as one of the few places in the world where I have ever truly felt at home.

Bicycle Touring Pro » Lodging

Kindle Readers – Get Free Lodging For Your Travels

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Getting Free Hotel Rooms – A How To Guide

Featured photo by Micahel Caven

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My Apartment In Vienna, Austria

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The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint – New & Improved!

Featured photo by antwerpenR

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Living In Luzern, Switzerland

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