Lately, a lot of companies have been trying to sell me on outrageously priced volunteer vacations or voluntourism opportunities. Let me be loud and clear: The Global Citizen Project (in its current limited budgetary glory) is in no way a luxe vacation. It does not even remotely resemble how I travel on my own time […]
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One of These Volunteers Is Not Like The Others
I’m quickly learning that volunteers tend to fall into four main catgeories: the missionary worker, the retiree voluntourist, long-term Peace Corps and NGO workers, and 20-something shoestring budget backpackers. And then there’s late 30-something me. As a travel writer, I’ve been on my fair share of press trips* and have learned how to get along […]
I Committed A Cultural Faux Pas (And I’d Do It Again)
Try as I might to be a polite-as-can-be traveler, I am not perfect. In fact, I committed a cultural faux pas during my recent volunteer stint in Peru. I bought Chilean wine – on the eve of Peru’s Independence Day. The purchase was intentional, although the resulting insult most definitely was not. I make every attempt to […]