Ultimate Guide To Volunteering Overseas

Note: I haven't included any pics in this post out of respect to the children that I have worked with over the years. I hope you enjoy the writing instead :D

My first time volunteering I was a young 18-year old. It was my very first solo trip around the world and I had chosen to spend three months in Ecuador volunteering with street kids and improving my Spanish. I hadn’t saved very much money for this trip, about $20,000 for a full year of travel after flights and needed to find ways to travel cheaper for longer.

I learnt through my research online that the longer you spend in one place the cheaper your overall travels will be. This philosophy of slow travel really stuck with me and even now you’ll rarely find me staying in a country for less than two weeks.

I found a great looking organisation in Quito, Ecuador using Volunteer South America's website. We emailed back and forth a few times to make sure it was a good fit and then I paid my deposit. This experience cost $290 a month and included meals and accommodation in a volunteer house as well as twice weekly Spanish lessons. I enjoyed my time here so much that I stayed an extra 3 months but because I was feeling a lot more confident as a traveler, chose to find my own place to live and worked out a deal to volunteer for free.

That was my start in volunteering while travelling and I personally think that it can be a very rewarding experience for you and the cause you are trying to help as long as you do your research and enter into it for the right reasons.

Don’t pay thousands of dollars to volunteer!

If there’s only one thing you take away from this then let it be this point. I cringe a little bit every time someone tells me they’ve found a great volunteer gig for two weeks taking care of elephants or as a teacher in an orphanage and it only cost them $3,000.

Firstly, I have a serious issue with how much good you can do in two weeks, especially working with children. There’s been a lot of discussion around the fact that you cost the charity time and resources by having to train someone, only for you to leave a few days later. This is why you will likely find yourself in a very unappealing position, cleaning elephant poo in the enclosure when the elephants are not around or as a teacher’s aide where you fetch materials for the actual teacher and have no interaction with the kids.

Sure you’ll get your necessary elephant selfie or snaps of you colouring with the poor orphans but did you really do any good and could you have just sent all that money to a grassroots organisation that is trying to make something of their community from the ground up?

This has been covered a lot more thoroughly here and here if you’re interested in learning more. Just know that I volunteer often while traveling and the most I have paid was $290 a month and that was for food and accommodation. I also believe that anyone who actually wants volunteers will never want someone for as short as two weeks much less have a maximum period. That is a major red flag!

What if I have an actual skill?

There are also lots of opinions around about volunteering your time in other countries when you have a useful skill like a heath professional or a skilled worker like a carpenter or electrician. These skills are widely needed all around the world and if you have them then you should definitely go for it!

Be sure to understand, though, that there are some perceptions in the world that you are taking jobs away from locals who could be getting paid for it and also you could be working for an organisation that is profiting from your free labour. Make sure you understand how volunteers fit in with the local workers and why they are supplementing their time with yours.

What is grassroots volunteering?

When I think of grassroots, i think of organisations that are working from the ground up. Actual people from a community identifying a problem and creating a solution to help fix it. They may still use help from outside influences, including financial backing from generous investors but the cause is still personal and real. They work hard at the cause because it is what they need to thrive as a community.

The alternative of this would be if I went to Tanzania, for example, and I saw that there was a particular area that didn’t have a primary school. The kids had to travel long distances or just couldn’t attend at all. I could say to myself, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could create a charity where we build a school and have volunteers teach the kids?” Then I started pestering all of my friends, maybe start a Kickstarter campaign or a GoFundMe page, eventually get financial backing, register as a charity in my country and then arrive with 20 volunteers with minimal experience in building anything or teaching and struggle along for the next few years eventually handing over the poorly built school with no long-term plans for paying a teacher to the local community to deal with.

Sure, I’ve done some good, helped some kids and all the volunteers and people who donated to “Cristal Cares” feel great about themselves. I would have spent a lot more money getting all those volunteers into the country when it would have been better spent just donating my time, energy and funds to a grassroots organisation who has the same intentions.

For more information on high impact giving opportunities I strongly suggest you have a look at Give Well’s website  and specifically this excerpt from Peter Singer’s book “The Life You Can Save” on cost effectiveness of charitable organisations.

Where should I start?

These four websites are my go-to when I’m looking for volunteer opportunities around the world. They will give you a good starting point but always remember to do as much research as you can before you commit to anything.

• Worldwide organisations -  http://grassrootsvolunteering.org/
• Latin American organisations -  http://www.volunteersouthamerica.net/
• Summer and Year Long Teaching Programs - http://www.worldteach.org/
• Eco/green organisations - http://www.greenvolunteers.com/ (this one you have to pay a small fee to access their database)

Also consider

• Workaway and Helpx - More of a work exchange. Less helping charities and more volunteering your time in exchange for accommodation and sometimes meals. This could be babysitting for a local family, helping on a farm, a receptionist at a hostel or even helping on sailing boats
• Local or expat forums on Facebook or online - Try searching for these online as they can be a goldmine for volunteer opportunities that don’t have a strong online presence
• Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum - Always full of useful information and assistance from people who live in the area
• Couchsurfing - You can try asking in the country or city’s Couchsurfing group
• Fellow Blogger, Elly has been updating her page with volunteer opportunities that are fee-free 

Google

My suggestion would be to choose the region/country that you want to volunteer in and then do a google search for organisations that are on the ground. Try “Cusco volunteer” and see what comes up or if you want to be more specific “Namibia volunteer street kids”. Play around with some different search terms until you get a good list of 20 or so opportunities and then spend some time researching their website, looking for participant reviews and emailing the ones that you like to see if they’re a good fit for you.

Contact hostels

I have also gotten in touch with popular hostels in the city and asked them if they had any recommendations for volunteer opportunities. Hostels are in a good position to collect views from travellers who have volunteered with local organisations and can point you in the right direction or steer you away from the bad ones.

Even if you are not a hostel person, just remember that hostels are unique in this regard because of their social nature. You wouldn’t spend much time socialising with the staff of your hotel, would you? At a hostel, however, the staff and owners are always around, answering questions and potentially sharing a drink with the guests in the common areas. Feedback is a lot more honest after a few tequila shots and budget travelers always look out for each other.

What should I look out for?

This is the tough part. There are no global rules or regulatory bodies that provide guidelines on what is a good outfit and what is not. You will have to use your own common sense when vetting a company.

Perhaps it's easier to give you a list of definite don'ts and points to consider to help you decide:

1. Don't work with anyone who offers for you to cuddle or take pictures with a lion cub, tiger, monkey or any wild animal. Riding elephants is also off the table. For example, anything that involves working directly with lion cubs in Africa directly contributes to canned hunting. There are greater implications to working with wild animals and if you would like to do work in this area be very careful about what you choose. Think about it carefully. What would they have to do to these animals to make them complacent enough to allow you to interact with them? Elephants, for example, are tortured when they are young to break their spirits. They are beaten with clubs, bull hooks, starved and deprived of sleep. Not really the stuff travel dreams are mad of, is it?
2. Stay away from anywhere that will allow you to work with children for a period of less than 30 days. Please consider the impact many people entering and leaving an organisation can have on a child.
3. If you can't clearly see where your money is going then stay away. The organisers should be able to advise how your fee is spent and if they can't then find somewhere else.
4. Is it obvious how they are helping the local community? Are they working directly with them and constantly assessing and adapting their methods? Some orginisations start off with the best of intentions but over time, their methods become less and less effective. I recently heard of a sanctuary for orphaned gibbons in South Africa that doesn't allocate funds to desex their males, allowing captive breeding.
5. If anything seems off or there is not enough information then just keep looking. Unfortunately, foreign aid in general and oversees volunteer is a complicated issue with many views on what is right and whether unskilled volunteering helps at all. The best that you can do is choose a program with plenty of information, reviews and a long history of helping the local community.

Why do you want to volunteer?

Be honest with yourself. What is the reason that you want to volunteer? Is it to make the world a better place? Is it to experience a different culture outside of the regular tourist activities? Is it to make long-term travel more affordable? It could be a combination of these and none of these are a bad thing. I am very honest with myself these days and know that I won’t really change the world with my volunteering activities and I probably will have little impact on the cause I'm working with.

Now that I’m older and I’ve been volunteering on and off for the last 12 years, I know the main reasons I volunteer are to get a unique insight into the lives of the locals and also to save money on my travels.

Orphanages and Voluntourism

Voluntourism has become a big enough industry that people with the worst intentions have cottoned on to not just how to profit from it but are also putting children in a worse situation because of the orphanage.

The way it works is the “founder” of an orphanage will start to traffic children from small villages or pay parents to take children away from them and place them in an orphanage. All of this so they can rake in donations from overseas investors and kind-hearted volunteers. Even worse, they will purposefully keep these children in awful buildings to encourage more investing. More sad children + terrible conditions = more donations.

There are certainly many worthwhile orphanages out there that you could work with but unless you can clearly see that the practices are completely above board then I suggest you steer clear.

For more information visit Journey Wonder’s article on Orphanage Ethics and ABC News' for some devastating examples.

Are there any pros to voluntourism?

The major positive and biggest draw for people is the peace of mind that you have handed your money over to a company that has promised to take care of you.

They include extras like:

• Pre-departure support
• 24-hour emergency phone
• Airport pick-up
• Welcome meeting
• Location orientation
• 24-hour in-country support

Essentially this is what you’re paying for. They do al the leg work, put you on contact with presumably good organisations so you don’t have to go through the steps I’ve detailed above and promise to be there for you if anything goes wrong.

For someone who has never stepped out of your own country, this can be an attractive proposition and I don’t blame you for this at all. Please consider, though, the impact that all that money you’re handing over to the for-profit organisations could have on the cause you’re wanting to help.

Just remember that the costs you pay do not usually include:

• Flights
• Medical and travel insurance
• Visa costs
• Extra local excursions
• International and domestic airport taxes
• Personal Equipment

Do some research into how much it would cost to live in the country you want to volunteer in and then compare that to what you are being asked to pay. What’s the difference? Is peace of mind really worth that much?

As a case study, I volunteered with a local group in Oaxaca, Mexico at no cost to me. I did have to pay for my own food and accommodation, which they offered to help with. I found a great one-bedroom apartment in a lovely neighbourhood and ate either street food or in comodores and the occasional nice restaurant and I spent on average $200 a week. This also includes regular activities and excursions when I wasn’t volunteering. I could have cut the costs significantly by opting to stay in a private room in a nice hostel or even a shared room.  I felt supported the whole time, staff were always checking in on me. I got a cheap sim card for my unlocked phone where I spent about $20 a month for calls and data so always had a way to get in touch with my friends. I had my own kitchen so I could create my own Mexican inspired dishes as well as enjoying visiting my neighbourhood market to buy local ingredients.

Here is a similar program that costs $1,990 for two weeks, almost 5 times the price!  The accommodation is stated as “shared  and basic” so it you were to do a further comparison with my favourite hostel in Oaxaca, Casa Angel,  you could get a bed in a 4-bed dorm for $10 a night which includes a full buffet breakfast and easily survive on $100 a week. That becomes 10 times less than paying these people to volunteer with them.

Where does all this extra money go and how do the two options compare in terms of experience? I certainly enjoyed every minute of my time volunteering and never felt like I was missing out on anything. You really need to decide for yourself.

Further Reading

I would love if you would check out these two books. They will open your eyes to the world of Effective Altruism and help you find opportunities for the right reasons in the future:

• Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Help Others, Do Work that Matters, and Make Smarter Choices about Giving Back by William MacAskill; and 
• The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically by Peter Singer

Please share any advice you have on volunteering overseas or any experiences you’ve had with me in the comments. I’d love to know what you think!

This post includes affiliate links. When you make a purchase via these links, I receive a small percentage at no additional cost to you. Very small but very appreciated.

How to Find The Best Travel Deals For Your Next Vacation

Sometimes a holiday can be a carefully planned affair and sometimes if you let it, you can have a Spontaneous Travel Experience. Luckily for everyone, there is a travel deal out there no matter your preference!

As someone who usually has more time than money I often place a huge emphasis on finding the best deal that I can to make sure my dollar goes further. This can mean 10+ hour flights on super budget airlines, sleeping in hostel dorm rooms and often opting for the 3 stopovers over the direct flight. This kind of travel is definitely not for everyone! Sometimes when I travel with friends or family, I've found I can relax my frugal ways a bit and indulge in hotels, direct flights and full-service airlines but still find a great deal to help me save.

I’ve compiled below a full list of all the travel deal resources that I refer to no matter what type of trip I’m planning and there are a couple of luxury options in there as well! This list is part of The Ultimate Guide to Booking Affordable Travel On Your Own series and you should definitely couple these sites with my list of Top Travel Websites and Top Travel Apps to help when booking your next holiday.

Error Fares

First things first is an explanation on one of the most exciting things to happen in travel in recent years - the ability to widely share a magical fare called an Error Fare. What is an error fare exactly? Well, an error fare (aka mistake fare or glitch fare) is basically a pricing error that has occurred when issuing the ticket. It’s interesting to note that the error in pricing usually comes down to human error. Simply missing a zero on the end of a number can cause a pricey business class fare to cost as little as an economy one.

This is a great article from Secret Flying on What Causes An Error Fare for those that want to get into the details of how it works.

There are three golden rules when it comes to booking an error fare:

1. Book it as soon as possible!
2. Do NOT book anything else
3. Do NOT contact the airline

An error fare can get shut down as quickly as an hour after being made public. Once the airline figures out that there is an unusually large amount of interest in their Washington to London flight in December and hang on, why is it being bought for only $200 RT??? They put a stop to our fun pretty quickly! Do not think about it too hard. If it kind of works then just book it.

Even though it’s not likely, some airlines have been known to not honour their error fares and will cancel your ticket. Don't worry, they'll always refund you your money. It is just very important that you do not book any accommodation or other flights until your ticket is issued.

Even more important: Do not contact the airline! You will ruin it for everyone else who is yet to book this juicy deal. In the past people have been known to call the airline to check if the deal was for real or to find out when tickets would be issued and this is the quickest way to make sure the deal is discovered.

Deal Aggregators

For those who are happy to let the deal come to them and plan their holidays around whatever flights tickle their fancy. You can get notified of specials through your favourite medium: Twitter, Facebook, emails and even set up app notifications for the truly obsessed. The best thing is that all of these services are completely free and you as the saying goes, it doesn’t cost anything to just take a look!

I've split my recommendations into three levels to make it easier for you to choose how involved you would like to be and how high your comfort level is booking your deals online.

Level 1 - The deals nicely packaged for you

These are usually my recommendation for people just starting out who might be used to booking holidays through travel agents or like packaged deals. 

Travelzoo

http://www.travelzoo.com/

Travelzoo was my first dip into the travel aggregator world. They are best known for their weekly "Top 20" compilation of travel deals which include flights, hotels and package deals. Sitting in my office dreaming about the places I wanted to go, I would drop everything when their Top 20 email came into my mailbox every Wednesday filled with so many possibilities.

Now that I'm more knowledgable about finding these deals for myself I might not regularly read my weekly Travelzoo newsletter but I still subscribe and will have a quick look if I'm in need of some inspiration. They're also a great company to deal with. They are very quick to act if I've ever had any questions or needed to change anything.

Example of deals from travelzoo newsletter

Solo Traveler

http://solotravelerblog.com/solo-travel-deals/

SoloTraveler is a similar service with a focus on travel deals for single travelers. This is important when you start looking at package deals and realise that they are all priced for couple or group travelers. That deal which would have been amazing for a couple is not so great for a single person.

Solo Traveler looks for deals that are beneficial for just one person including cruise trips and groups tours when you would usually be expected to pay a single traveler supplement.

Deal Websites

This includes websites like Groupon and LivingSocial. These could be a great option for a long weekend or shorter trips away. It often includes a full package with flights, accommodation and sometimes car hire and activities. The one thing to be careful about with these is to make sure you really are a getting a good deal. A midweek break (Tuesday - Thursday) is sometimes your only option or the hotel may not be the pick of the litter once you check the visitor reviews.

I did book an awesome weekend break in Niagara for $40 (including breakfast!) with my cousin through Groupon where we got a further 50% off an already significantly reduced deal. It was only one night so we didn’t really care about the 3-star ratings and the hotel was actually quite nice. Just make sure you manage your expectations and these deals can be a great saving.

Tip: Look for "first timer" type deals If it's your first time using the website. Sometimes you can save as much as 50%!

Level 2 - A bit of effort involved in piecing together your own trip

Secret Flying

http://www.secretflying.com/

Secret Flying is everyone’s favourite travel deal website. They regularly post deals that they find on their Facebook and Twitter pages and you can even receive an email newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on anything. It's a very easy way to stay abreast of travel deals and even better, you can tailor your email notifications to just the locations you are looking to travel to or flights out of your home country.

The Flight Deal

http://www.theflightdeal.com/

The Flight Deal focuses on mostly US deals but is great for travel in and from the states and also includes some hotel deals.

Secret Escapes

https://www.secretescapes.com

This is my top "luxury travel" deal website. If I want to go somewhere nicer than the usual, maybe for a girls weekend or a family holiday, then this is a great option with deals for 5* resorts and hotels, some with fights included.

Airfare Watchdog

Airfare Watchdog is a good option if you really just want to be notified about great prices to locations that you're interested in. You choose your desired destination and it gives you some cool stats on cheapest times to travel and the option to be notified of significant price drops. 

Next Departure

http://nextdeparture.ca/

This is a great website if you’re located in Canada. They compile specific deals for travel out of Canadian cities so you could really just ignore the other websites. Lucky Canadians :D

Level 3 - Only for the travel obsessed!

Traveldealtree

Traveldealtree is not for everyone. Firstly, it's only available on Twitter so you'll need an account to be able to follow and access the deals. You need to request to Follow the account as the tweets are protected. Once you've been allowed access you will first see how overwhelming the feed can be. They estimate that they auto-tweet 60 flight deals every 15 minutes so there is a lot of information to sort through!

These deals come from all over the internet and you might see some deals from some of the websites I've mentioned above and even from some foreign language websites. My biggest suggestion is to log in occasionally (every day if you're me!) and do a search for either your home airport or the location that you'd like to visit. You do this by typing "from:traveldealtree searchterm" and replace searchterm with the city that you want to search for. So if I want to find flights from my home city of Brisbane I would search with "from:traveldealtree Brisbane" or "from:traveldealtree Australia".

If you're extra techy, you can even set up an IFTT recipe for airport alerts or glitch fares so you can be one of the first to be notified of those all important error fares. Here's one that I've amended and that works pretty well:

Happy to discuss more ways of getting value out of traveldealtree or IFTT for those that are interested. Just let me know below!

Remember that you can still search for flights and accommodation the old fashion way and still save some money. Check out my post on Top Travel Websites For Planning A Trip for some of the best ones out there.

That's all for now but I'll definitely keep adding to this list as I find more excellent ways to be in the know for the best travel deals. Everyone has their go-to travel websites to find great deals, these are just mine! What are your favourites?

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