Homestay or staying with family
A room in someone's home, with the people who live there.
What it is
Staying with a host family, or with friends and relatives, is the one option that is not a transaction. You get a room in a home that carries on around you: meals at their times, a bathroom on their schedule, and a much closer view of how people actually live there. What you owe in return is not money.
- A room in a real home, usually with the run of the kitchen
- Laundry, in practice, because it is a home
- Meals with the household, formally or informally
- Company, and someone to explain the place to you
- Coming and going without anyone noticing
- A bathroom to yourself, in most homes
- Any of the anonymity a hotel gives you
What this means for your bag
The list is short, and one item on it is not for you.
A gift from home
The one thing you genuinely need to remember. Something small and specific from where you live beats anything bought at the airport.
Very few clothes
There is a washing machine and you will be welcome to use it. Pack for a few days no matter how long you are staying.
Your own toiletries
Bring what you use rather than working through your host's. It is a small courtesy that gets noticed.
Free, or close to it, when you are staying with people you know. Arranged homestays through a school or a programme charge a weekly rate that usually includes some meals.
- A gift, and your share of a few meals out — budget for it anyway
- Meals, where a programme homestay charges for them separately
- Local transport, since homes are rarely in the tourist centre
- Are learning the language, or want to
- Have people to stay with and a reason to see them
- Would rather understand a place than tour it
There is no booking site for this one. It is arranged directly with the people you are staying with.
Questions people ask about this
A stay in a local family's home, with the family. It is a normal arrangement for language students and exchange programmes, and it is also simply what staying with friends abroad is. Meals and laundry are usually part of it in a way no paid accommodation replicates.
Something small from where you live — a local food, a drink, something from your city. Specific beats expensive by a wide margin. If there are children in the house, something for them lands better than anything else you could carry.
Less than for any other kind of stay. You will have laundry, so pack three or four days of clothes regardless of trip length, and leave the space for what you take home.
The calculator already asks where you're staying. Start with this answer filled in and it will size the list around shared bathrooms, kitchens and laundry.