If you are looking for something a little more unusual for your next travel adventure, then have you ever thought about volunteering? You get to experience a place completely new, but get to do something really worthwhile as you do it, rather than just sitting out at the beach. There are so many places, at home or abroad, that need volunteers. Whether it is helping wild animal sanctuaries or building wells or schools, you get to meet good people, have fun, work hard, and do plenty of good.
The great news that there are plenty of organizations that you can look up, much like https://habitathm.ca/volunteer/, to see where they work and what projects they are working on. So it isn’t something that you have to look up and research all by yourself. So it does make it easier to make the trip happen. If this sounds like the kind of thing that you would love to do, then you need to make sure that you’re packing all of the right things, once you’re trip is planned and booked. So here is a first timer’s guide to packing for a volunteer trip. It would be great to hear about any trips like this that you have been on.
Research Your Destination
All is booked and planned. But how much do you know about planning a vacation to Vietnam or for when you’re going to help schools in Malawi? Will it be the rainy season when you are going or will it be the height of summer? How hot could it get? Checking how much the temperature drops to at night can be a good idea too. Even if you’ve got decent accommodation, it doesn’t mean you won’t be going out or even still volunteering in the evenings. Look into the culture for where you are going too. Is modest clothing the best option, rather than just wearing your shortest shorts and spaghetti strap tops? When you plan ahead like this, it will make your time there much less stressful and a lot more enjoyable.
Get Documents Sorted
It goes without saying that you will need your passport with you, at least if you’re going abroad. But what about a visa? A site like https://www.travisa.com/Visa_Search could help you to check if you’ll need one before you go to the country. A good old pen and paper can be a great thing to have with you in your hand luggage, with all of the details you will need written down. Who are you meeting and where? What is the address of the accommodation? You don’t want to just think that you’ll look it up when you’re there or access your emails. For some volunteer locations, there will be no access to wifi. So plan carefully and write down everything that you need.
Extra Materials?
It can be helpful to ask your volunteer program leader or coordinator what you need to bring. Quite often it will be to just bring yourself. But if you are going to be teaching in schools, and you’ll want to make certain things or give them all a notebook, then that may be something that you need to bring. They would also be able to advise if you can just buy things like that when you get there.
