The Affordable Travel Club was started by a couple in Gig Harbor, Washington, in the ‘nineties by a couple who wanted to visit friends when they got to a new place, rather than see it from a hotel.
Friends and friends of friends joined, and it spread so that now there are more than 2,500 families in more than 50 countries. More than three-quarters are in the U.S. or Canada, though.
It works like this. You look up a catalog to see if any AFC people live in the city you’re planning to visit. If so, call or write them and ask if you can stay. It’s as simple as that. Two days is the typical stay, but that’s up to you and your hosts.
A couple pays $20 a night ($30 outside the US and Canada), and hosts supply a breakfast. AFC is not supposed to be a substitute for a hotel by people trying to save money. It’s expected that you’ll spend some time together and become friends.
I first heard of AFC from my sister. She had joined before taking a vacation in Australia. She said she and her husband traveled all the way up the east coast of Australia staying with AFC members every night, and had a marvelous time. The hosts were cheerful and insisted they stay extra days so they could show them around the area.
When my wife and I returned from Madagascar we stopped off in Paris for a few days and stayed with an AFC couple in the Central Paris at a small fraction of what a hotel would have cost us, and we were within walking distance of Blvd. St. Michael and the Seine.
It costs about $80 for a family to join ATC for a year, and that includes both a print and online catalog. People in foreign countries can join free.