If you’re planning a round-the-world trip, chances are that two things are true. 1) You’re fortunate to have the means to earn the money required for your trip, and 2) you want to connect with locals and spend time on your trip experiencing the culture of a place, not just seeing the major tourist sights.
One of the best ways of accomplishing #2, while learning to better appreciate #1, is to volunteer while on your trip. Among the reasons to volunteer abroad, many people say it was to make a deeper connection to the local culture, and to make their own meaningful contribution.
Hanging out in the hostel, drinking beers with fellow travelers in the pubs, browsing the markets for souvenirs for the folks back home – these are all fun activities you may want to do on your trip. Buy why not intersperse those experiences with a few weeks, days, or even hours of volunteering in a new place?
You don’t have to jump right into long-term volunteering, though this is the ideal way to see how your contributions can help the community, and make lasting connections that you’ll remember for life. If you have less time in an area, you can still do some good.
If you’re planning on living abroad for some time though, check out ongoing opportunities. Not only will you be able to learn the ways of the organization and stick around to see how your time is helping out, but sometimes volunteer organizations will offer free accommodations to long-term volunteers, which means you can save money, stay longer, and know that you are making a difference in the world you are exploring.
Photo by Dave Bezaire and Susi Havens-Bezaire
This is a good article.
Volunteering is a great way to get off the well trodden tourist path and actually see and feel the culture of the country. I recommend you to travel around the world by staying in a few countries but for a longer time. Your rewards are far greater the longer you stay in a country and gives you the chance to get under the finger nails of a country.
Volunteering is obviously the best way to do this and there are many opportunities out there for you to volunteer cheaply. The best way to do it is to contact the projects directly not go through an agent in your home country. This is the reason i started Ecoteer. We have 150 projects and 10-15% are free to volunteer ie you are given food and accommodation in return for your work.
Daniel
If I want to apply to volunteering, what am I going to do?
How much is that?