Why not spend your next vacation helping others or even the world around us? You can spend as little as three days on a volunteer trip and accomplish a world of difference. Besides the experience of travel off the tourist track you'll have the wonderful feeling that comes from helping others. Furthermore, you may be able to write some of the expenses off come tax time (obviously you should consult your tax professional for actual guidance).
The Times Online published a plethora of information to help you learn more about "voluntourism" and offered numerous links for gathering more information. Each story below starts with an individual traveler's memoirs of their journey before pointing you towards even more resources to plan your trip:
1. Dolphin "hunting" in the Med - Monitor dolphins and whales off the coast of SpainIf you have ever been interested in taking a volunteering vacation, you will find these links fascinating. While sometimes challenging, all the travel experiences seemed very rewarding. Also, I was amazed to find that there are so many volunteer options available - from children, to nature to animals.
2. Volunteer in mountainous Nepal - Volunteer at a clinic in Trisuli, a small town just over 3 hours west of Kathmandu
3. Go inside South Africa's townships - Help poor children, organized by the childrens' charity Umthombo
4. Volunteer in Honduras - Spend a month helping an impoverished Lenca Indian family build a home in the highlands of western Honduras
5. Visit Tuscany for free - trade food and board for five hours’ work on a Tuscan farm
6. Rebuild Scotland's mountain paths - Join a "chain gang" and build and restore mountain paths in the wilds of Scotland
7. Is voluntourism really just a guilt trip? A write asks - and answers that question - while volunteering in a Bangkok-area orphanage
8. Ask the expert: volunteer holidays. Advice on choosing the right volunteer trip
9. More volunteering trip links. Six more volunteer adventures to Sri Lanka, South Africa, Ecuador, Kenya, Brazil and Egypt
10. Even more volunteer trip links. 10 more trip ideas ranging from teaching in Tanzania to marine conservation in Thailand.
No matter where your interest lies, or how much time you have to spare, the trip to give back is out there for the taking.
10 classic volunteer holidays [Times Online]
Is my volunteer trip tax-deductible? [VolunteerLogue]
8 hot spots for volunteer travel [Forbes via IHT]
[Photo via Flickr]
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