10 Volunteer Programs For Budget Travelers

by Jessica Festa on

Pay to volunteer? While many people assume volunteering is always free, going abroad to participate in community service projects often costs money. I realized this the first time I volunteered abroad teaching English in Thailand. After doing weeks of research, I found there are a lot of companies charging a small fortune ‒ sometimes thousands of dollars ‒ to have travelers come over and spend their time helping other communities.

Every program is different. Some are completely free but offer no housing or meals. Others may charge a program fee but set you up with accommodation and a local chef. Sometimes programs will also include orientations, airport pickup, language courses, cultural activities and 24/7 support. Keep in mind what you want to get out of your experience while browsing the following list of budget-friendly international volunteer programs.

WWOOFing

WWOOFing is one of the best networks to use for having a worthwhile volunteer experience on a budget. The acronym stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and allows volunteers to browse countries from all over the world to choose an organic farming project that most interests them. In exchange for labor, volunteers usually receive room, board and the chance to experience a culture from a local point of view. Opportunities can be anything from strawberry picking to working with animals to harvesting grapes on a vineyard and making wine. By participating in these types of projects, you’ll be contributing to positive ecotourism and helping to create a healthier planet.SE7EN

SE7EN is a free and low-cost volunteer opportunity network. Their focus is on social and environmental projects from around the world. What makes this option so affordable is that the middleman is cut out, as SE7EN simply lists the projects on their site and allows you to contact hosts directly. Usually, room and board is either provided or very cheap. Some project examples include:

International Volunteer Headquarters

I’ve used International Volunteer Headquarters many times and highly recommend them. Their placements are very reasonably priced, and are especially great for people who have never volunteered abroad before, as full-time support, an orientation and airport pickup are included. Instead of putting you in a fancy hotel, they allow you to stay with local families and in local villages to really get to know the culture and help the people. Furthermore, certain recreational activities are often included in the price. Their programs, which generally include room and board, are located all around the world and range from about $200-$2,300, depending how long and where your program is. Some placement examples include:

Peace Corps

If you’re really interested in doing community service abroad, have a couple years to spare and want to earn some money; Peace Corps may be for you. There are placements in 75 countries, and volunteers get the chance to work with a community in need for 27 months. The Peace Corps’ mission is to “promote world peace and friendship,” and areas of focus for programs include: health, education, youth and community development, business and information, and communications technology, environment and agriculture. What’s great about going overseas with Peace Corps is they provide you with language, cross-cultural, and technical training, so it can be great for your resume. There are also a lot of benefits, like possible deferment or partial cancellation of your student loans, a monthly stipend and $7,245 payment once the project is completed, free flights to and from the country, vacation days, free medical and dental care during the project and affordable health insurance for 18 months after. It’s more like having a very proactive job than the usual volunteer experience, and you won’t have to pay any kind of fees to participate.

VAOPS

VAOPS is a directory of free and low-cost volunteer opportunities, which allows you to save money by cutting out the middleman. Because everyone has different needs and wants, their programs vary in price, style, and what’s included. Some examples include:

United Nations

The United Nations is one of the most famous organizations in the world for helping communities in need and working to keep moral responsibility in check. What some people may not know is along with their staffed projects, they also host a volunteer program called United Nations Volunteers (UNV). Volunteers usually work for six to 12 months and can choose from placements in about 130 countries. Projects focus mainly on human rights, agriculture, education, health, information and communication technology, community development, popular, industry and vocational training. It’s free to volunteer with the United Nations and you’ll also be given a monthly stipend, medical insurance and annual leave.

Volunteer South America

Want to volunteer in one of the most naturally beautiful continents in the world? Volunteer South America is designed with backpackers and budget-travelers in mind. There are no middleman or agency fees associated with the programs, making them drastically cheaper than many others that exist. Although room and board will not always be included, being able to choose how you will live and eat for yourself can help you save a lot money, especially if you opt for a homestay. Some projects available include:

Winrock

While a bit more competitive than some of the other programs, Winrock places volunteers in diverse programs all around the world and even pays for airfare. When a volunteer position opens up, Winrock places the most qualified individual in the program. Some of their current volunteer opportunities include:

UBELONG

UBELONG offers one week to six-month volunteer opportunities throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia. While not free, their programs are very affordable and offer all accommodation and meals, orientation, 24/7 support and project supervision. There are also recreational and cultural activities included to help volunteers get to know the country better. Prices for placements range from $250 for two weeks in Peru to $4,320 for six months in the Galapagos, although most six month placements average around $2,300. Some program examples include:

Katelios Group

Located in Greece, the Katelios Group works to help sea turtles. The main objective of the group is to “protect the natural environment on the island of Kefalonia, Greece.” There is no program fee to participate, although room and board is not included. The organization does work to provide volunteers with low-cost accommodation and suggests that participants cook meals together to save money. To give you an idea of how much you will spend, accommodation is usually about $200-$250 per month, while food is normally about $40 per week.

Travel Planning: Choosing Between A Big City Or Small Town

by Jessica Festa on

One dilemma I often face when traveling is whether to take a trip to a big city or a small town. While both worthwhile, each provides its own inherently unique experience. Before booking your next vacation, take these factors into consideration.

Finding things to do

In a big city, you’re never at a loss for things to do. There are street performers, markets, parks, shops, theaters, clubs, bars, restaurants, museums, art galleries, spas and more. Doing something as simple as riding the subway or people watching at a cafe can provide hours of entertainment, as big cities tend to attract some of the most interesting people in the world.

This doesn’t mean small towns are boring. You just may have to get creative or choose a place that offers an activity that you will be happy doing often. For example, on a trip to Germany I spent some time in the tiny, cobblestoned village of Bacharach. While there were no shopping malls, big theaters or nightclubs, there were endless opportunities for hiking, wine tasting and sailing on the picturesque Rhine River. Most importantly, not a moment went by that I felt bored or unhappy with my travel decision.Finances

For the most part, big cities tend to be more expensive than small towns. Accommodation, activities, food, and transportation will usually cost more. Even if they don’t, you’re less likely to enjoy the free things nature has to offer – like in a small town – and more likely to splurge on costly shows and events. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, depending what your budget is and what you want to get out of the experience. It is just something to keep in mind.

Getting to know the culture

Every place has a culture. Whether you’re in a highly populated, bustling metropolis or in a rural village with a population of 10, the inhabitants of the area have certain ideals, beliefs, customs and behaviors. When I visit a new place, it’s always on my agenda to learn as much about its culture as possible. I ask locals what their favorite foods are, hostel owners what a normal day for them is like and taxi drivers how they went about asking out their last boyfriend or girlfriend. What I’ve found during my travels is, while there are more people to bombard with my incessant questions in big cities, it’s easier to have an in-depth conversation with a local when you’re in a small town. In small towns, you usually end up seeing the same few people, who all go to the same few places. Your bonds become closer and you’re able to ask more personal questions. Furthermore, whether you do a homestay or stay in a hotel in a small town, it’s usually a very cozy accommodation. Big-brand chain hotels tend to favor big cities, so there are more family-type hotels in small cities where you can really get to know the staff. However, if you’re more on the shy side or don’t love the idea of interacting with strangers, big cities may be a better option for you, as you’ll be able to frequent many educational museums, theaters and institutions.

Atmosphere

In a big city, you’ll feel a constant buzz. There’s a lot of energy, a fast pace, a lot of noise and many people moving about at all times. It can be hard to focus sometimes, in a good way, as different things grab your attention all at once. Maybe you’re hungry and you see someone barbecuing and it smells really good, but then you notice an Ethiopian restaurant serving food you’ve never tried. Then again, there’s always the eatery down the street that features live bands and free tapas.

In a small town, the pace of life is usually a lot slower. People aren’t in a hurry and it can be easier to take things in one at a time. This can be in your favor, as it means locals usually have a lot of time to spend with visitors. Many small towns also have a lot of natural experiences to take in, which can help to relieve stress and find an inner peace.

Comfort

In a big city, you’ll be able to find any type of accommodation, tour, or restaurant your heart desires. Whether you want frivolous luxury or comfort on a budget, you’ll be able to find it. Depending on how rural you go when staying in a small town, this may or may not be the case. For example, when I was in Ghana I started my trip in the capital city of Accra. Here I stayed in a hotel with amenities like flushing Western toilets, hot water, and onsite restaurants and bars. When I traveled two hours out of the city and into the rural village of Achiase, however, these comforts were not as easily found. What I do find is when staying in a small town or rural area is that a homestay is a great accommodation choice. You’ll at least get the comforts of home, even if it’s not the same you experience in your own. Best of all, you’ll really get to know the area firsthand.

Why not do both?

If you can’t make up your mind and have the time, why not opt to do both? There are a few ways you can go about this. First of all, you can opt for a homestay and then take weekend trips to other cities. You could also simply travel continuously during your trip, starting in one type of city and then moving on to another. Personally, I think having a homebase to come back to is always comforting, but that usually works out better if you’re traveling for a minimum of two weeks. If a week is all you can spare, separate the trip into two parts and spend half your time in a big city and half in a small town, giving you two unique experiences and the best of both worlds.

Budget Travel Zen: 10 Free/Donation-Based Yoga Studios In The US

by Jessica Marati on

Knotted shoulders… stiff necks… flight delay anxiety… pent-up aggression toward the armrest-hogger seated next to you on the plane. Travel certainly has its ways of winding you up, and there’s nothing like a great yoga class to wind back down. But with trendy studios charging upwards of $25 per class, it can be difficult to find a practice that doesn’t exceed your daily travel budget. These ten free or donation-based yoga studios allow you to pay what you can, and many of them come with a welcoming community that can help you stay grounded throughout your trip.

Asheville Community Yoga, Asheville, North Carolina
Based on the concept of Karma Yoga, Asheville Community Yoga is a non-profit organization offering a wide variety of free classes, including vinyasa, ashtanga, hatha, yin, restorative, core and various kinds of flow. The center also offers special workshops like “Spring Detox Hot Flow” and “Yoga for Healthy Knees.” Though classes are free for those who truly can’t afford to pay, a “Love Offering” of $5-15 per class is requested. 8 Brookdale Rd. Ste. A, Asheville.

Yoga to the People, New York, New York; Seattle, Washington; San Francisco and Berkeley, California
With nine studios in four cities, Yoga to the People believes that the transformative power of yoga should be available to everyone. Studios offer a mix of power vinyasa flow, traditional hot yoga and hot vinyasa classes. Suggested donation is $10 for vinyasa classes, while hot yoga is available for a flat fee of $8. Click here for locations.Moonlit Yoga, Portland, Oregon
There’s no better way to spend a Saturday evening than with yoga, tea and candlelight. The weekly Moonlit Yoga series, hosted at various studios throughout Portland, is open to yogis of all levels, with a sliding scale donation suggestion of $6-10. Check Facebook for each week’s location.

Black Swan Yoga, Austin, Texas
Black Swan offers a smorgasbord of hatha, vinyasa, power, sweaty and intriguing “candle sweaty” classes at their two studios in Downtown and South Side. Suggested donation is $10-15. 1114 West 5th St. and 4534 Westgate Blvd., Austin.

One Yoga Foundation, Miami, Florida
Enjoy your practice in a park under the sun through the One Yoga Foundation, which offers free outdoor classes in green spaces around Miami and its surroundings. Donations support the organization’s efforts to bring yoga to special needs communities. Click here for locations.

Circle Yoga, Washington, DC
The Circle Yoga Cooperative offers a range of free community classes, meditation sessions and workshops with donations benefiting the teacher’s charity of choice. Their sister studio, Budding Yogis, also offers classes for children and families. 3838 Northampton St. NW, Washington, DC.

Urban Flow Yoga, San Francisco, California
Urban Flow Yoga in the Mission District provides donation-based yoga classes by Bhakti Flow certified instructors as well as community outreach programs. Recommended donation is $10-20. 1543 Mission Street, San Francisco.

Studio 34, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In addition to its regular and reduced rate community classes, Studio 34 offers a handful of “Pay What You Can” yoga classes incorporating the Forrest method, which emphasizes breath, active sequences and longer holding of poses. 4522 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia.

Health Yoga Life, Boston, Massachusetts
The yogis at Health Yoga Life encourage participants to “Occupy Yourself” with their accessible, open-level, donation-based vinyasa flow community classes. Drop-ins welcome. 12 Temple St., Boston.

Lululemon Athletica In-Store Classes, Nationwide
If you can deal with being surrounded by pricy merchandise during your practice, you can take advantage of yoga superstore Lululemon’s rotating schedule of free yoga classes from local instructors. Select locations also offer programs like run clubs and motivation seminars. Click here to find your nearest location.

[Flickr image via lululemon athletica]

A Haven For Food Lovers In Sao Paulo, Brazil: Mercado Municipal

by Jessica Festa on

I love food. It’s probably my favorite part of traveling. I also love saving money. That’s why on a recent trip to São Paulo, Brazil, where I was staying on the expensive Avenida Paulista, I was excited to learn about the Mercado Municipal.

Located on Cantareira Street, off the San Bento subway stop on the blue line, is a massive market selling various kinds of fruits, meats, cheeses, cakes, nuts, candies, oils, wines and more. It’s a very cultural experience, as locals rely on the market to get specialty items and when they have a lot to buy. It’s also a great way to introduce yourself to high-quality, local foods in Brazil. In fact, the food sold at Mercado Municipal is so good, most of the restaurants in the city purchase their ingredients from there.

The best part is the people selling the foods, especially the fruits, stand with cutting knives and napkins ready to give you samples. I got to try various fruits I had never seen or heard of before, and even some I had, just to see if they tasted different. I’m not sure if I was just excited to be in a new city, but strawberries definitely seem sweeter and juicier in Brazil.

Even when the stands didn’t appear to be giving away samples, if you ask to try something, it’s usually not a problem. Even though I don’t speak Portuguese, looking hungry with a longing stare got me a sampler of nuts that filled me for hours.

Still want to continue your journey of São Paulo’s unique flavors? Take the subway to the Ana Rosa stop on the green line. On the corner of Rua Joaquim and Rua Aurea is an off-the-radar popsicle shop called Frutos do Cerrado. While tiny in size, the shop sells ice pops, gelato and sorbets of more fruit flavors than I’ve ever seen in my life. Along with typical varieties like mango, banana and grape, there was buriti, amora, jatoba and tamarindo, to name a few. They even have a flavor for the caipirinha, Brazil’s national drink.

Start Your Travel Fund With The Change In Your Pocket (But Good Luck Finding A Bank To Count Your Coins)

by Dave Seminara on

Six gallon-size jugs of coins once bought me a one-way ticket to Cairo. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I’ve long had a curious little ritual before leaving the country that I’m very fond of. I’m a coin accumulator. You know those people who take several minutes to scrounge around for pennies while you are waiting impatiently behind them in line? That’s not me. If my bill comes to $1.01, I give the cashier $2, even if I have the penny in my pocket.

Why? Almost twenty years ago, I read about this change accumulation tactic and decided it would be an effortless way to start a travel fund. It’s hard to save money but it’s easy to accumulate coins. At the time I started my first coin collection, I was stuck in an office job in Chicago that I loathed. It felt good to accumulate coins and then dump them in big jugs in my room when I got home.

It made me feel a bit like a prisoner trying to gradually chip his way out of Alcatraz through some loose molding. I was plotting my escape and the growing coin collection was a measure of my progress.

After about two years of saving, I was ready to quit my job and take off for a four-month overland trip from Cairo to Shanghai. I had about $8,000 in savings in the six aforementioned jugs of coins. When I lugged all the coins to a local bank their coin counting machine made these loud, gurgling noises that were music to my ears. I was astonished when the clerk told me I was due $436. It was thirty bucks more than I needed to book a one-way ticket to Cairo.

Since that epic trip, I’ve continued to accumulate coins, though at a much slower rate of late because I like to use my credit cards to accumulate frequent flyer miles. Still, I relish going out to trade in my coins right before an international trip. I bring the cash I get back with me and it feels like extra money that I can blow on whatever I want.

But over the years, it’s become harder and harder to find coin counting machines that don’t charge a commission. And the tellers greet you and your coins about as warmly as Mullah Omar might be received at a Ground Zero commemoration event.You can use the machine at your grocery store, but you’ll lose 9 percent — not a very good way to start a trip. Five years ago, prior to a trip to Newfoundland, I spent more than an hour lugging two huge, heavy jars of coins around downtown Washington, D.C., looking for a bank that would count my coins.

At least half dozen banks insisted that I roll the coins into paper sleeves — a task that would have taken hours — until I finally found a place that had a no-commission machine. But the most embarrassing part was walking through a park that was filled with homeless people begging. What do you say to a guy who asks for spare change when you’re carrying about $200 worth of it? Ummm, sorry, you see, I’m going to Newfoundland, and….

I gave away a bit but still felt cheap. But not as cheap as I felt today, as I was bounced around nearly every bank in my town and found none that would count my coins without a commission. I’m about to leave for Europe on Tuesday and I had a modest coin collection that I needed to dissolve — but how?

There are seven banks I pass on the way from my children’s preschool to my home. Burke & Herbert, BB & T, Sun Trust and Wells Fargo all had no machine.

“You should roll your coins,” said one annoying teller.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll take that suggestion under consideration” (perhaps when I’m retired or incapacitated).

Then I went into a second, larger BB & T branch and thought I’d hit pay dirt when I saw a coin machine in the corner. But alas, they have a 6% commission unless you open an account. I considered paying the commission but remembered that there were still two more banks I’d pass on my way home.

I struck out at Bank of America, where the teller looked at me and my bag of coins as though we were contagious, but then I saw something promising outside a bank I’d never heard of before across from a bakery with the preposterous name “Panaderia de Paris.”

T.D. Bank’s sign said, “America’s Most Convenient Bank.”

Surely the most convenient bank in the land of the free and the home of the brave would offer a commission-free coin counting machine, right?

“It’s 6% commission unless you open an account,” said the over-officious teller.

A sympathetic man in dreadlocks shook his head and chimed in.

“Man, that ain’t right!” he said. “Why does it cost money to count money?”

I was delighted to have found a like-minded soul and I immediately wanted to invite him to Europe. But instead I inquired about opening an account with an initial deposit of $1.

“You can open an account,” the teller said suspiciously. “But if it falls below the minimum balance of $100, then you’ll be assessed fees.”

“That’s OK,” I said. “You can take them out of my $1 and when it gets to zero you can just dissolve the account.”

“But you’ll be sent to a collection agent,” she said.

That didn’t sound very convenient, so I grudgingly shuffled over to the machine and hit the start button on the touch screen.

An animated image of a cute freckled little girl in bib overalls and pigtails appeared on my screen.

“My name is Penny Arcade!” she chirped. “I’m here to count your coins, are you ready?”

I dumped my coins down Penny’s machine and then the charming lass popped back up on the screen again.

“Do you want to guess how much money you’ve inserted?” she asked. “If you guess within $1.99 of the correct amount you’ll win a prize!”

I asked the teller if there was a fee for guessing.

“Oh no, that’s free,” she said, reassuringly.

I mostly use credit cards these days, and my coin collection is only about a year old, so I guessed $46. A slot-machine-like image popped up on the screen showing six digits with the numbers scrolling very fast, giving one the impression that, who knows, maybe you might win a jackpot. Now this was entertainment clearly worth at least a few bucks.

My depressing total was a paltry $32.44. Less the commission it came to $30.50 — perhaps enough for a meal in an inexpensive trattoria or perhaps a seat on Ryan Air. In an age of plastic and frequent flyer miles, clearly my best coin accumulating days are behind me. How sad.

After handing me the receipt the teller had one last pitch.

“Are you sure you don’t want to open an account?” she asked.

[Photos via Mukumbura, Mapless in Seattle and Jason Rogers on Flickr.]