Voluntourism

Another new word for my computer dictionary, a word I stumbled upon this weekend. Yesterday, I turned on the television in the middle of the day and happened upon a travel segment on the news by Claire Newell, who is the travel correspondent for Global Television since 1996. She owns Jubilee Travel and has an interesting website called Travel Best Bets. She often announces travel deals - on this day, she found a 7-day visit to Rome with hotel and air for $1,400.



In case you are looking, the company is hiring. On the Travel Best Bets site, they has a section called Voluntourism and a listing of 8 places to volunteer - "Instead of only seeing the usual tourist sights, you help communities and meet the locals who benefit from your generosity."

After doing some sleuthing, I found that navigating through the myriad of sites about volunteering in other countries can be a bit of a slog. Reputable ones? Research time. Reminds me of a discussion I had with a group I facilitated this week - one of the top skills most needed for work in the 21st century is research skills. True for travelling as well. I miss the Travel Agent days. One of my friends recently planned a trip to Central America, and was immersed in pages and pages of website information. She said, it was like having a full-time job.

Picking a volunteer vacation? Where in the world? Here? Or ideas from here? From the home page of this site, click on the causes, and under each one is several sections on "How to make a difference..." The last heading shows how to make a difference on vacation.

Perhaps this will help too.... Publication date is May 2009.



BTW, this author has also written The 100 Best Vacations to Enrich Your Life.


Here is some advice and tips on choosing volunteer vacations: How to take a volunteer vacation.

Perhaps you want to work abroad?? Check out this site: Working Abroad.

Here's to planning the next vacation...