France Archives - LetMeStayForADay.com - The Ultimate Journey: Traveling the World for Free

Saint Ouen -> London (UK)

Posted on May 26, 2001

I visited the flea market in Paris, drank beers in Brussels and then got all the way to London, in one day. Oh boy! There I was, firmly sleeping in Samuel and…

Paris -> Saint Ouen

Posted on May 25, 2001

About sleeping in until after noon (oops) and having to rush to the Eiffel Tower for a TV report (and get wet in the fountain), missing the appointment with my next host,…

Paris (day 2)

Posted on May 24, 2001

Today I moved on, but stayed in the same city, meeting the Austrian Walter and his remarkable friends to remember, and visiting the grand opening of an contemporary art gallery. Again I…

Versailles -> Paris

Posted on May 23, 2001

Today I got from Versailles to Paris for a photo shoot down at at the Sacré-Cœur, met my host Jeanne for tonight and experienced Paris by night. Thanks to this sponsor deal…

Lille -> Versailles

Posted on May 22, 2001

Today I got 205 kilometres into France, hanging out with a crazy Australian lady and her little kid while the sun is burning me ’till the bones. Oh, but the Castle! As…

Menen -> Lille (France)

Posted on May 21, 2001

Today I crossed the French border by train and arrived in the picturesque city of Textiles: Lille! I still had one train ticket left with the Go Pass I got from Karen…

Hi there, my name is Ramon Stoppelenburg (1976) and I originate from The Netherlands. In late 2000 I came up with the idea to have people invite me over through my website www.letmestayforaday.com.

I launched this website on March 12, 2001, and I was immediately overwhelmed by the immense global media attention this site was getting. It would give me an almost 3-year adventure that would change lives forever. Not only mine.

From 2001 to 2003 I traveled the world for free. Well, I traveled through 18 countries in total without spending ANY money of my own and totally relying on the hospitality of strangers who would invite me over through this website – and thanks to many sponsors who happily dressed me up, gave me equipment and flew me around.

During my travels, my compensation for all this free accommodation for one night, and sponsored expenses, was for me to write a daily travel report. Every day. About how I got to my next destination, the people who would host me, the food I was offered and everything else. More?

Here you find the giant archives of these highly extensive reports. Do know that English is not my native language and most reports were written at high speed around midnight at the location I was. Enjoy.

Republished Reports

It took me many months from 2023 to 2024 to import all the daily reports – written two decades earlier – manually into WordPress. Dead links and obsolete ancient codes were removed. Databases more secured. And this way the texts became readable for another 20 years. This process is still going on at this moment!

Restored Photography

All photos were taken with a Sony Mavica photo camera which took 640×480 pixel photos and stored a max of 15 of them on a hard floppy disk. In 2023 all photos have been manually enhanced by AI technology to 866 x 649 size – or you would have needed a magnifying glass or a monitor dating back to 2001 to see the photos correctly.

The Letmestayforaday project can be considered a part of the history of travel blogging and online storytelling. It was an innovative and pioneering project that combined travel, social media, and storytelling, and it inspired other travel bloggers and influencers who followed in Ramon Stoppelenburg’s footsteps.

Additionally, the Letmestayforaday website and project can be seen as a precursor to the sharing economy, which has since grown to encompass many different platforms and services that allow people to share resources and experiences with one another.