Alternative Spring Break: Volunteer Travel
The American ritual known as spring break has evolved from a sprawling beach party into a chance for students to do some good. The opportunities to contribute are numerous and wide-ranging. You can volunteer in a low-income school, help out on an archaeological dig, or work for a crucial environmental cause. This guide to alternative spring break presents organizations focused on volunteer travel, along with recently published articles on the topic, so you’ll be equipped to find a cause and project that suit your own unique interests and talents.
Expand All Guide SectionsWhy Volunteer?
If you remember your last spring break as a blur of crowded beaches, overpriced meals, and bad ... read more »
Alternative Spring Break Trips
The length of your break, the location of your trip, your budget, and work preferences are a handful of considerations you need to make during the planning phase of your vacation. The sites below provide a voluntourism introduction, with tips on how to make your trip a reality.
Dulcinea's Insight
- First-hand accounts of volunteer experiences offer unexpected ideas for incorporating volunteering into your vacation.
- Most newspaper and magazine articles on the topic of volunteer travel focus on international efforts, but there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer domestically.
- Your trip planning will revolve around which type of organization you volunteer with. Some companies offer all-inclusive packages with transportation and accommodation. Others allow for more free time, or may require additional planning on your part.
Dulcinea's Picks
Transitions Abroad
is a superb resource for anyone planning to work, study, or live abroad. Read about the success of volunteer tourism and learn how to incorporate volunteering into any trip, even without the help of a third party. Find a list of key questions to ask volunteer travel tour operators and organizations before you book.
World Hum
is a travel blog led by several seasoned travel writers, including Rolf Potts, the author of Vagabonding. Read Potts’ ideas on how to spontaneously contribute to local communities while traveling. Looking out for people in need while you’re on the road is a way to avoid paying an organization to find a project for you, according to Potts.
BootsnAll Travel Network
is a travel site devoted to independent, authentic experiences abroad, offering flight and hotel search tools in addition to forums and feature articles. Read their guide to volunteering abroad for a series of first-hand accounts with advice for how to begin researching volunteer tourism, as well as pivotal first steps to take, such as determining a location.
FrugalMonkey.com
is a Seattle-based site focused on inexpensive travel. Find great advice for potential volunteer travelers, including an overview of placement agencies and what to ask yourself before you approach one.
Volunteer Tourism Organizations
Before your alternative spring break dreams can come to fruition, you might want some help from a ... read more »
Flights
Volunteer vacations aren’t always cheap, so you’ll want to save money however possible; ... read more »
Spring Break Safety
There are special considerations to make regarding your health and safety when volunteering abroad. ... read more »
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