Dec 20, 2007
In this holiday time, we might want to remember the non-profits in travel, and their need for support
Because many people make their charitable contributions during the holiday season, they might want to consider three of the non-profit organizations that perform services to our fellow human beings in the field of travel.
Wilderness Inquiry is the Minnesota-based organization (808 14th Avenue SE, Minneapolis 55414; tel. 800/728-0719; www.wildernessinquiry.org) that enables disabled people (including those with slight mental retardation) to go on adventure trips by inviting able-bodied volunteers to join them. On canoeing expeditions, treks, and other active vacations, groups consist of both disabled and able-bodied persons, the latter assisting their less mobile fellow humans to enjoy the thrill of adventures in the out-of-doors. Charges are kept low by the contributions that others make to this extremely worthy, nationwide tour program.
Wilderness Volunteers (P.O. Box 22292, 928-445-0038, Flagstaff, AZ 86002; www.wildernessvolunteers.org) sends youthful, vigorous volunteers (mainly in their 20s to 40s) into the forest areas of America's national and state parks and other public lands, mainly to repair the damage done by heedless visitors. They restore hiking trails, clean up debris and fire sites, plant strategically-located trees, even take inventories of plant and wildlife species. And although the volunteer pays a charge (in 2007, $239) for the weeklong stint, most of the other costs of Wilderness Volunteers is covered by grants and contributions.
SATH, The Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality (347 Fifth Avenue, New York 10016; tel. 212/447-7284; www.sath.org), is the chief U.S. representative for disabled travelers. It advocates on behalf of the disabled seeking to travel, supplies information to them on travel programs and facilities for the disabled, fights to make travel facilities accessible to them. If you have an acquaintance, friend or relative with a disability, you should not fail to advise them about SATH and its services, and you should also consider a contribution to this remarkable travel organization.
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Wilderness Inquiry is the Minnesota-based organization (808 14th Avenue SE, Minneapolis 55414; tel. 800/728-0719; www.wildernessinquiry.org) that enables disabled people (including those with slight mental retardation) to go on adventure trips by inviting able-bodied volunteers to join them. On canoeing expeditions, treks, and other active vacations, groups consist of both disabled and able-bodied persons, the latter assisting their less mobile fellow humans to enjoy the thrill of adventures in the out-of-doors. Charges are kept low by the contributions that others make to this extremely worthy, nationwide tour program.
Wilderness Volunteers (P.O. Box 22292, 928-445-0038, Flagstaff, AZ 86002; www.wildernessvolunteers.org) sends youthful, vigorous volunteers (mainly in their 20s to 40s) into the forest areas of America's national and state parks and other public lands, mainly to repair the damage done by heedless visitors. They restore hiking trails, clean up debris and fire sites, plant strategically-located trees, even take inventories of plant and wildlife species. And although the volunteer pays a charge (in 2007, $239) for the weeklong stint, most of the other costs of Wilderness Volunteers is covered by grants and contributions.
SATH, The Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality (347 Fifth Avenue, New York 10016; tel. 212/447-7284; www.sath.org), is the chief U.S. representative for disabled travelers. It advocates on behalf of the disabled seeking to travel, supplies information to them on travel programs and facilities for the disabled, fights to make travel facilities accessible to them. If you have an acquaintance, friend or relative with a disability, you should not fail to advise them about SATH and its services, and you should also consider a contribution to this remarkable travel organization.
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Labels: volunteer
Dec 12, 2007
How you can snare a place on the Sierra Club's most popular volunteer vacations
Friday, December 14, is the first day that the Sierra Club's 90-odd volunteer vacations (or service trips) will be announced for 2008. These once-in-a-lifetime journeys include opportunities for participants to help scientists, researchers, and rangers at parks around the world -- they're as much immersive educational experiences as they are vacations on which you can make a difference. Friday is the day you'll get a jump on all the other tourists and cherry-pick spaces in the best options.
Other organizations are also rolling out their 2008 schedules now, and booking early is the key to snagging the most interesting deals. Here's a sampling of some of the choicest tours that are sure to go first. (All rates include equipment and overnight accommodations at 3- and 4-star hotels; they are the lowest prices available at this time, but they may rise in the very peak of summer or according to availability.)
First, of course, are the outstanding programs of The Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org, and click on "get outdoors"). Almost all these prestigious outings cost from $500- 600 for a week, including food and rustic accommodation. Some run for 10 days for slightly more money.
Finally, GORP (www.gorp.com), like Bike Tours Direct, is a place where many different small tour operators gather together to market and sell their tours:
Other organizations are also rolling out their 2008 schedules now, and booking early is the key to snagging the most interesting deals. Here's a sampling of some of the choicest tours that are sure to go first. (All rates include equipment and overnight accommodations at 3- and 4-star hotels; they are the lowest prices available at this time, but they may rise in the very peak of summer or according to availability.)
First, of course, are the outstanding programs of The Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org, and click on "get outdoors"). Almost all these prestigious outings cost from $500- 600 for a week, including food and rustic accommodation. Some run for 10 days for slightly more money.
- The Club reports that the "Service in Mesa Verde National Park" trip in September, on which participants help park archaeologists with restoration, is particularly popular.
- Most of the Sierra Club's 2008 Costa Rica trips are already sold out, but to meet demand, the group just added an additional "Family Fun in Paradise" trip from July 7 to 16 ($2,135 for 10 days). Naturally, this departure is expected to book up quickly, too.
- A spokesman for the Sierra Club also reports that its Alaska "sampler" trips sell fast, but at this point, there's still space. Those ramble Alaska by van and spend nights camping and in lodges, with plenty of of hiking in between. Some trips include glacier walks, kayaking, and bear watching. For summer 2008, the trips are: "Glaciers, Grizzlies and Ghost Towns (May 18-28) and "Spring Fever: Discover Denali and Beyond" (May 25-31).
- Turkish South Coast by Boat and Bike: seven nights, guided, from Marmaris (a short ferry ride from Rhodes, Greece) to Fethiye, sleeping each night on a classic Turkish boat, €980 including meals
- Danube Bike Path: seven nights, self-guided from Passau, Germany to Vienna, Austria, alongside the Danube river. €515
- Medieval Villages of Catalonia, Spain: six nights, self-guided from Girona to the Dali Museum at Figueres, along the established Baix Emporda Cycle Network, €790 (or guided for €1,190)
Finally, GORP (www.gorp.com), like Bike Tours Direct, is a place where many different small tour operators gather together to market and sell their tours:
- Kids in Kayaks Family Holidays: seven nights, easy-level sea kayaking among the flat seas of Croatia's Elafiti Islands near Dubrovnik, $920
- Kayaking the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia: six nights, $975
Labels: cycling, outdoor, parks, volunteer
Oct 12, 2007
GATE, that unusual group of travel-oriented nuns, has upped the number of its tours and added Venezuela (gulp!) to their destinations
That remarkable group of Wisconsin nuns that operate under the name GATE (Global Awareness Through Experience) have just issued their schedule for December 2007 through October of 2008 of group trips that primarily "share the reality of the poor and marginalized in Latin America." These are "reality tours," says GATE, that offer "the opportunity to learn from the poor, as well as from social analysts, teachers, theologians and economists." Though I've reported on GATE before, its extended program deserves an update. In the months ahead, GATE will be operating visits in El Salvador ($1,175 plus airfare for 10 days, starting November 24, 2007, August 1, 2008, and November 29, 2007); Guatemala ($1,175 plus airfare for 10 days, starting March 12, 2008; Venezuela -- a totally new destination (price to be advised, for 10 days starting April 14, 2008); Oaxaca, Mexico ($1,200 plus airfare, for 8 days starting February 16, 2008); Mexico City and Chiapas ($1,275 for 10 days starting May 21); and Eastern Europe ($2,100 plus airfare for 12 days, starting September 25, 2008).
For more information, contact GATE at tel. 608/791-5283, or see www.gate-travel.org.
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Labels: central america, south america, volunteer
Sep 14, 2007
Operating arduous volunteer vacations, an organization called Global Citizens Network makes no concession to dilettantes
Some -- not all, but some -- of the so-called "volunteer vacations" are obvious fakes conceived to satisfy the ego needs of the organizer, and conferring no real benefit upon the communities to which the volunteers go. Nor do the volunteers really participate in the life of the communities they visit.
The Global Citizens Network of St. Paul, Minnesota (tel. 800/644-9292 or 651/644-0960) is, by contrast, the real thing. It sends groups of Americans to indigenous communities of underdeveloped areas (including our own Navajo reservations), where they share the lives of the people they visit and labor at much-needed community projects . In its write-up of a trip to Kenya, the organization bluntly warns: "There may not be running water or electricity. Participants will likely use latrines and bathe using bucket baths." On a trip to remote Mexico, it writes: "Meals will be simple, traditional fare -- rice, beans, tortillas and vegetables." At the Navajo Nation in Arizona, "Team members stay in the Chapter House, sleeping on the floor in their community room. Many bring air mattresses if desired."
Trips vary considerably in length and price: as, for example, eight days to the Navajo reservation, for $800 per person (plus the cost of airfare to Arizona); 10 days to a remote Mexican village for $1,400 (plus airfare to Mexico); two-and-a-half weeks to Kenya, in the Maasai Mara, for $2,100 plus airfare. All prices are substantially reduced by GCN's insistence that these payments are tax-deductible because charitable in nature.
You'll have the full flavor of an unusual program suitable for only the most dedicated Americans, by going to www.globalcitizens.org.
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The Global Citizens Network of St. Paul, Minnesota (tel. 800/644-9292 or 651/644-0960) is, by contrast, the real thing. It sends groups of Americans to indigenous communities of underdeveloped areas (including our own Navajo reservations), where they share the lives of the people they visit and labor at much-needed community projects . In its write-up of a trip to Kenya, the organization bluntly warns: "There may not be running water or electricity. Participants will likely use latrines and bathe using bucket baths." On a trip to remote Mexico, it writes: "Meals will be simple, traditional fare -- rice, beans, tortillas and vegetables." At the Navajo Nation in Arizona, "Team members stay in the Chapter House, sleeping on the floor in their community room. Many bring air mattresses if desired."
Trips vary considerably in length and price: as, for example, eight days to the Navajo reservation, for $800 per person (plus the cost of airfare to Arizona); 10 days to a remote Mexican village for $1,400 (plus airfare to Mexico); two-and-a-half weeks to Kenya, in the Maasai Mara, for $2,100 plus airfare. All prices are substantially reduced by GCN's insistence that these payments are tax-deductible because charitable in nature.
You'll have the full flavor of an unusual program suitable for only the most dedicated Americans, by going to www.globalcitizens.org.
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Labels: volunteer
Jul 25, 2007
Eureka! Three "volunteer vacations" that actually cost less than the commercial, non-voluntary vacation (second in a two-part series)
Though everyone claims that "volunteer vacations" are currently the hot travel item, the majority of them are scarcely distinguishable from the commercial variety. (There's lots of blue-sky bombast in the travel world -- and people who take advantage of the idealism of young Americans). But on Monday, I wrote about two opportunities for volunteers that actually produce substantial improvements for low-income communities or vital repairs in the national and state parks -- and also involve partially-free lodgings and meals in exchange for your services. Here, today, are three more: Sierra Club Outings (tel. 415/977-5522; www.sierraclub.org/outings) in both the U.S. and Canada are short stints at clearing trails in Nevada, maintaining beaches in Puerto Rico, preserving historic sites in Utah, tracking dolphin patterns on Midway Island, removing invasive plants in California, a hundred other useful tasks in the out-of-doors. Groups of 10 to 18 people (including a leader and cook) stay in accommodations ranging from tents to lodges. Many participants are in their mid-40s to early 50s, and include retired folk. Some trips can be strenuous, but most are accessible to everyone. Time commitment: most trips are on week, some are ten days. Cost: Almost all are $495 for a full week, some $595. Requirements: age 18 and up. In studying the website, be sure to winnow out the "service trips" from a larger number of sightseeing trips that Sierra now offers. And thus be sure to click on "service" wherever that term appears on the site.
La Sabranenque (tel. 716/836-8698; www.sabranenque.com) works to preserve and restore the unique ancient architecture of the Provence region of France and in far northern regions of Italy. Work includes construction and restoration of medieval stone buildings, castles and ramparts. From March to October, volunteers labor at sites with experienced technicians, acquiring traditional Mediterranean techniques of stone cutting, roof-tiling, flooring, arch and vault construction, and masonry. Costs cover double occupancy in restored stone houses and home-cooked, family-style meals with your co-volunteers (groups are limited to 35 people). Volunteers are of all ages, not just the young. Time commitment: two to three weeks. Cost: $595 for one week, but only $745 for two weeks, not including airfare. Requirement: ages 18 and up, and physically fit. (No construction skills or knowledge of French or Italian is necessary).
El Porvenir (tel. 608/544-2086; www.elporvenir.org) builds village water projects in now-peaceful Nicaragua. Volunteers in 6-to-10 person "brigades" join with local residents and bi-lingual guides to construct wells, latrines and community washing facilities. Apart from work, there's time to visit and converse with Nicaraguan organizations and groups. Lodgings are private homes, village schools, or modest hotels, and there's a recreational weekend at a beach thrown in as well. Participants' ages vary; church and family groups are common. Time commitment: two weeks. Cost: $800, including food, lodging and land transportation (but not airfare). Requirements: physically fit. But no Spanish language or construction experience is needed.
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Labels: france, nicaragua, volunteer
Jul 23, 2007
Out of dozens of so-called "volunteer vacations," only a few are truly low-cost or free (first of a two-part series)
The "volunteer vacation" is a widely-misunderstood travel concept. It's a programs that involves travel to another community either at home or abroad for the purpose of performing socially-beneficial labor for others. You assist various groups in the building of low-cost housing, or teach English, or dig wells, or maintain hiking trails, or perform any number of other useful tasks.
But though you work hard at these arduous services, you don't usually receive free room and board in return, especially if the program in question is a short term effort of only one, two or three weeks. The considerable planning, preparation and administration of such programs costs money, for which the sponsoring organization requires payment of a fee from the volunteer. And though such charges are usually much smaller that those of a commercial tour, they can be substantial, nonetheless, and almost never include transportation to the site, which you -- the volunteer -- must cover.
That having been said, some "volunteer" programs charge only reasonable and sometimes nominal sums, and a small handful do pick up your basic room and board. Here are two affordable, and soul-satisfying, examples of the volunteer vacation for adults of all ages -- and I'll be describing three more tomorrow.
Willing Workers on Organic Farms ("WWOOF") (www.wwoof.org) assigns its volunteer participants from all over the world (all ages, although most are young and earthy types) to learn farming techniques while helping to run a network of mostly family-run organic farms in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and Korea. You join a small team on each farm, pitch in with daily chores, and acquire first-hand organic horticulture techniques like pesticide-free planting and compost fertilizing. You can almost always count on some sheep herding, sowing, harvesting, milking of cows, and making of cheese and yogurt. Time commitment: usually a few days, but can last up to a few months depending on your host farm. Cost: a $30 membership fee, and then your half-day's work pays for a full-day's room and meals. Airfare and other costs are the participants' responsibility. Requirements: A willing heart and a strong back, without a minimum or maximum age limit.
Wilderness Volunteers (tel. 928/556-0038; www.wildernessvolunteers.org) works with public land agencies to promote outdoor volunteering in America's wild lands. Each trip is a week long, has twelve or fewer participants who camp in tents or in a dorm, and includes tasks like restoring streams, planting trees, repairing trails, or taking inventory of species on National Park, Forest Service, and other public lands. Guides do the cooking with the help of participants, and there's ample time to explore the wilderness you are helping to preserve. Groups vary in age, but tend to attract people from 20-40 who are active. Locations include Hawaii, California, Utah, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Puerto Rico. Time commitment: one week. Cost: $239 per week (not including transportation to and from a park, and your own camping gear). Requirements: 16 years old and up, and physically fit.
Tomorrow: three more lightly-priced "volunteer vacations."
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But though you work hard at these arduous services, you don't usually receive free room and board in return, especially if the program in question is a short term effort of only one, two or three weeks. The considerable planning, preparation and administration of such programs costs money, for which the sponsoring organization requires payment of a fee from the volunteer. And though such charges are usually much smaller that those of a commercial tour, they can be substantial, nonetheless, and almost never include transportation to the site, which you -- the volunteer -- must cover.
That having been said, some "volunteer" programs charge only reasonable and sometimes nominal sums, and a small handful do pick up your basic room and board. Here are two affordable, and soul-satisfying, examples of the volunteer vacation for adults of all ages -- and I'll be describing three more tomorrow.
Willing Workers on Organic Farms ("WWOOF") (www.wwoof.org) assigns its volunteer participants from all over the world (all ages, although most are young and earthy types) to learn farming techniques while helping to run a network of mostly family-run organic farms in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and Korea. You join a small team on each farm, pitch in with daily chores, and acquire first-hand organic horticulture techniques like pesticide-free planting and compost fertilizing. You can almost always count on some sheep herding, sowing, harvesting, milking of cows, and making of cheese and yogurt. Time commitment: usually a few days, but can last up to a few months depending on your host farm. Cost: a $30 membership fee, and then your half-day's work pays for a full-day's room and meals. Airfare and other costs are the participants' responsibility. Requirements: A willing heart and a strong back, without a minimum or maximum age limit.
Wilderness Volunteers (tel. 928/556-0038; www.wildernessvolunteers.org) works with public land agencies to promote outdoor volunteering in America's wild lands. Each trip is a week long, has twelve or fewer participants who camp in tents or in a dorm, and includes tasks like restoring streams, planting trees, repairing trails, or taking inventory of species on National Park, Forest Service, and other public lands. Guides do the cooking with the help of participants, and there's ample time to explore the wilderness you are helping to preserve. Groups vary in age, but tend to attract people from 20-40 who are active. Locations include Hawaii, California, Utah, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Puerto Rico. Time commitment: one week. Cost: $239 per week (not including transportation to and from a park, and your own camping gear). Requirements: 16 years old and up, and physically fit.
Tomorrow: three more lightly-priced "volunteer vacations."
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Labels: volunteer
Jul 2, 2007
Got agricultural skills? If so, you can live for free on a volunteer vacation of the Heifer Project
Teaching unskilled villagers in Third World countries about animal husbandry (both cattle and poultry), enabling them to produce their own milk, cheese, eggs, butter and meat, has been the goal for many successful years of a "volunteer vacation" activity called the Heifer Project International, which is sponsored by various Protestant denominations. Volunteers are sent to developing countries at the organization's expense, and live there for free for periods of three weeks to several months. Though, theoretically, volunteers can themselves be unskilled at various agricultural tasks (such persons are accepted occasionally for a particular project), most volunteers undergo a screening process, and only persons able to contribute substantial knowledge and skills to the villagers is accepted on particular trips. If you fit that bill, you can learn more about Heifer Project International by phoning one of its offices in Little Rock, Arkansas, at tel. 800/422-1311, asking to speak with either Ray White or Jennifer Pierce.Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: volunteer
Jun 7, 2007
Volunteer vacations are the current craze
For reasons hard to explain, but easy to speculate about, the volunteer vacation is currently surging, and people are flocking to places where they can work at a socially beneficial cause; we Yanks apparently feel guilty about many things. The three leading organizations to arrange such vacations are, of course, the American Hiking Society (restoring trails and other facilities in national and state parks), the Sierra Club (every sort of environmental improvement), and Habitat for Humanity (construction of low-income housing). But perhaps the broadest program is that of Earthwatch, accessed at www.earthwatch.org, on which you volunteer to accompany a university scientist on various research expeditions. Though you pay heavily for such a privilege the modest net cost seems well justified by the thrill of the effort.
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Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
