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In the article “Your Mark in the World”, I once shared a story about a four month round the world volunteer trip of the Smiths from Idaho. Most families can’t afford to travel abroad for a long time. However, as an alternative to traditional overseas travel, volunteer travel is more user-friendly. Here are some tips to help you plan your volunteer trip.
1. Determine your travel budget.
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Before you go, even when you start planning, you should define the budget. For international travel with perfect services, the cost of each person is basically more than 5000 dollars. Such a trip has the opportunity to change the trajectory of your life and that of your children. The same opportunity exists in volunteer travel, but the cost is only your time, and all other costs are optional.
2. Look for opportunities.
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The Volunteer Alliance is a website providing volunteer projects worldwide. You can also find volunteer organizations that have projects you like. You can go on a journey with a volunteer organization. Volunteer Home is an international development organization, whose purpose is to let people choose their own affordable global volunteer projects.
3. Plan your trip.
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You don’t have to accommodate others’ opinions, and you don’t have to go abroad. Like the Smiths, you can find some volunteer projects where you want to go, whether this place is on the other side of the earth or just on the other side of the city.
4. The whole family goes out.
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No matter how you travel, you must take your family with you. If the whole family goes out, the wonderful trip will be half done. You hope your children will be glad when they return that they have experienced this journey, learned the meaning of helping others and have an international perspective.
5. Keep your family focused on their goals.
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During the volunteer trip, families should help each other to achieve their common goals. A few months before the trip, you should be clear about what you want to experience, do good things, and learn from the volunteer trip. Volunteer travel should also have some interesting activities, but most of the time is to provide volunteer services, which should be prepared in advance.
6. Record your journey.
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We must let everyone record the journey. Some people may be willing to share it publicly on a blog, while others may just want to leave it in their diary as a memory. Others like to take photos of the whole journey. In any way, everyone should be encouraged to actively record their entire journey.
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A volunteer trip should make your family remember many years. During the journey, the experience you have learned and the help you have given others will make this journey different.