Volunteer Vacations – Satisfy Your Wanderlust Without Breaking The Bank

Want to play with dolphins? Protect Turtles? Do deep sea research?

Vacation budget is not always easy to set aside. Sometimes we avoid a vacation altogether afraid of the exorbitant cost of the trip.

That is when volunteer vacationing, the latest travel trend, comes to the rescue. You can satisfy your wanderlust without breaking the bank. Read on to learn more about it.

Volunteer vacations

Volunteer vacation is the best news for single people and families. All you need is some “time” to spare. The concept of working holidays is really exciting. Who said work and travel cannot go hand in hand?

It is simply amazing to see the many wonderful options available to people who would like to vacation to exotic locations on a minimal budget. Sometimes, the vacation could be as good as free too!

Free time

I am sure that many of us love the concept of helping people in free time. But what if you could spend doing just that in a foreign location you have always wanted to explore? That too at a reduced cost?

It is a dream come true for many travel enthusiasts like me, to be able to help people while enjoying exotic travel destinations at a much cheaper price.

Flexible Hours

While many of the volunteer programs need you to spend at least 4 weeks to do any meaningful work, some projects can take only a week or two. A few programs are available only for weekends also.

Many of these volunteer vacation programs need you to work for a few hours a day and leave you to explore the local area and enjoy the new culture around.

The options are unlimited

Want to play with dolphins? Protect Turtles? Want to do deep sea research? Or work your way through an organic farm? Go sailing? Or scuba-diving? Help preserve trails in national parks? Teach school children?

The options are unlimited and exciting too. Depending on the skills you would like to share with others to help, you can pick and choose the destination.

In some cases, all you have to spend would be your airfare to that destination. Even if you are not very happy with the accommodation in some places, you can always check out the couchsurfing option.

Check out the below websites to look at various fun options to travel and volunteer abroad

Volunteer Programs in Latin America: Volunteer Programs in Latin America

An exciting option of Eco-tourism: Popular Mechanics

Almost free vacations: Go Overseas

For more academic projects: Free Volunteering

Location specific  list: True Travellers

Other programs: Volunteer Forever

A word of caution

But before packing off for your wonderful trip, do your research about the project you are going to take up. Make sure that the program is legitimate.

If you feel that something is fishy, it probably is. Check thoroughly for the genuineness of the program before you step into it.

Some projects may have only families, so, if you are single, you might be a little uncomfortable in that program. The same is true for families in a single people dominated programs. That is because the activities tend to cater to the majority of the group. So, children might get left out.

Obviously, when your time is limited or you have people depending on you like young children, taking extended vacations might be impossible at times.

Cheer up! Delightful holidays in exotic locations at a low budget are here to stay. Also, some volunteer vacation programs cater to projects that take as little as a weekend.

So, have a great time on your lovely vacation. Do not forget to post your favorite locations to vacation in this post. Have a great trip!

For more work/vacation information, check out this Forbes article. Good luck!