The following is a few of our favorite volunteer travel resources to help you prepare for your meaningful travel or volunteer trip. Hope you find our list useful.
Volunteer Travel Resources
The Underground Guide to International Volunteering – Kristy Henderson (the Nerdy Nomad) has put together a very valuable resource to help you learn about international volunteering. Her eBook will save you dozens of hours of scouring the internet for legitimate and affordable volunteering opportunities.
Shannon O’Donnell – Shannon is a travel blogger that spends a lot of time researching volunteer travel. She has written a book called The Volunteer Traveler’s Handbook and co-founded Grassroots Volunteering; a resource empowering travelers to connect to the causes and communities in the places they travel.
The Ethical Volunteer – Sarah Carroll and Bob Kelly have created a resource to facilitate ethical and independent overseas volunteering. They have produced high quality informative videos that help you learn how to volunteer ethically overseas. Make sure you watch these videos before you decide on your destination and project.
Learning Service – Designed to better prepare young people about to travel abroad for the first time, and travelers of all ages looking to give back through their time, with the skills and mindsets they need to be of “service”. Another resource full of things to think about and learn before you go volunteer.
Volunteer Forever – Raise funds to volunteer abroad! Developed by volunteers who wanted a better fundraising solution, Volunteer Forever is committed to helping you overcome the financial obstacles to volunteering overseas.
The Travel Clinic – Dr. Mark Wise has created this site for anyone wishing to learn about the health risks that may be encountered when travelling and to find out how to minimize or manage those risks.
Omprakash – A very thorough general resource for individuals planning to travel and volunteer abroad. There are lots of organizations listed on this site if you are looking for ideas.
VolunteerSouthAmerica.net – Links to a number of great organizations in South America. Steve McElhinney is a wonderful person and he has been providing this free resource for free for at least 10 years.
World Nomads Travel Insurance – Travel insurance for independent travellers. Buy, extend & claim online, even after you’ve left home.
Nomadic Matt– Matt Kepnes shares free tips and advice on how to save money while you travel. His book How to Travel the World on $50 a Day and website are both full of useful advice that will save you money.
Awesome Travel Agents
G Adventures – We really like the philosophy of G Adventures. It is a travel company that has sustainability at its core. If you decide to go on a trip through an agency, check out their tours.
Intrepid Travel – This organization offers a small group style of travel which means you’ll stay under the radar, travel the local way, eat the local way and sleep the local way. You’ll get as close to real life as possible (without actually moving in). You’ll have the unsurpassed knowledge of a local leader.
Accommodations
Airbnb – Airbnb is a community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world. The site connects you to homeowners who rent out their spaces. This is a great way to get off the tourist track and stay with the locals.
Hostelworld – The world’s leading hostel-focused online booking platform They also supported and sponsored our hockey equipment donation to India, so we really like them.
Couchsurfing – Couchsurfers share their homes, cities and lives in profound in meaningful ways, making travel anywhere in the world a truly social experience.
House-sitting – Dalene and Pete Heck have been house sitting their way around the world for a number of years. Check out their site for some basic information. Maybe it is something for you?
Flights
Airfarewatchdog – Provides airfare deals and money-saving tips from airfare experts. Airfare is one of the most expensive parts of travelling anywhere. This site will help you find deals on your flights.
Google Flights – Helps you navigate all online flight tickets. The layout of this site is very user friendly. One of our personal favorites is the bar graph based on price.
Airtreks – A world leader in around the world tickets.
Just so you know, a few of the preceding links are affiliate links. This means that we do receive a bit of money based on referrals. This occurs at no additional cost to you. However, rest assured, we would not recommend anything on True Travellers unless we stand behind it.
If you are looking for low fee or free volunteer organizations around the world maybe you will find our lists helpful:
We hope that you have found our volunteer travel resource guide helpful. If you have any questions or comments please let us know in the comments below.
Ps. We sometimes use affiliate links in our conent. This won’t cost you anything but it does offset our costs. We never link to anything outside of the values of the True Travellers Society.
