Green Holidays

Planning Your Volunteering Green Holidays needs to start somewhere – and these 5 tips should help:

Many people these days are planning to take a longer-then-usual break from work.  There are so many opportunities out there for all sorts of people and all sorts of activities!  There is surely something for everyone and some are just a few weeks long to fit into even the tightest schedule!

Before jumping in to a great adventure however, make sure that you have got yourself covered for some simple things, and make sure that you are going with the best possible company.

It’s easy to just want to get up and go when the travel bug hits you – but you want to make sure that everything is as green as you would like it before you pay a dime!

1) Length of time:
It is better for the environment and the communities you are going to support if you take a longer than average time out there. 

Flying to Asia for 2 weeks – which includes a few days to yourself – means that there is hardly any time for you to make a difference.  It also shoots up your carbon emissions.

However, 2 months in your chosen location can give you time to experience their culture and actually get to know all the people involved while you are there.  It also shows that you and you chosen company mean business – rather than in and out with no real lasting effects in their lives.

2) Company Experience:
Make sure the company you are travelling with has years and years of experience in their locations and in the travel industry. There are many new companies popping up – but can they deliver the goods or are they jumping (late) onto the ethical bandwagon??

Not only will experienced companies be able to prove that their packages are excellent and their community work long lasting – but it also shows you that they mean business and know how to do these things. 

For an example of how not to book your gap vacation, read on…. I recently went to an organised talk where a ‘travel guru’ was talking about her company – and she said that last year she couldn’t find anyone offering advice about gap travellers – so she set one up herself! 

If she was looking for help last year – what on earth would make you trust here for advice just 12 months later?  What type of advice could she really offer you about travelling, volunteering, teaching and living abroad if she has barely done it herself???

If this is your ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ and you are taking time of work or leaving your job – please don’t risk it.  Make sure you put yourself in the hands or a real and proven expert – even if you have to pay that bit extra!

3) Company Ethics:
There are many companies out there offering these fantastic vacations – but where does all the money go and who are they helping?

Check with your short-list of companies what projects they support and where your ‘fee’ is going.  Some companies charge a lot of money for your trip and pocket a large proportion of the money in admin.  Others will clearly advertise that a contribution goes to a charity working locally or to community projects for the long term.

Some trip organisers send huge numbers of volunteers to the same places – not so fair on the other communities and a bit to overwhelming on that one.  Better companies will share out the visitors and limit the impact of it’s travellers.  You are there to help the local people, not socialise with dozens of other travellers from your home country!

Also, make sure that they have a clear responsible travel policy and are a member or at least 1 ethical travel association – the more the better, really.  If you want to be sure you are travelling responsibly with them and that they have considered all their green alternatives for their trips – then don’t book if they can’t answer your questions politely and with answers you are happy with.

4) A Job Well Done:
Ideally, the travel company will make sure that you are suited to the trip you are booking!

By this I mean that they will check your experiences and your aims and will try to send you to the right location in terms of your skills and their needs.  It’s ok to choose your destination – but if your skills are better suited to another project on a different continent than a good volunteer firm will let you know.

You might have your heart set on the Andes – but if they are in desperate need of your skills in the Himalayas they may well see if they can twist your arm a bit.  They would never force you to go somewhere you don’t want to go – but if you are in this for the experience and to help others, then it is certainly worth considering your options.

5) What’s Left Behind:
If you are taking a longer break for your volunteering (a month or more) – make sure that what you leave behind is still in order while you are away.

Cancel or put a hold on magazines and subscriptions so endless amounts of mail don’t sit in your mailbox.  Not only will this show that you are away – it also means that you will have too much to read on your return and possibly waste these resources.  Check dates on all foodstuffs so that nothing is wasted and nothing goes out of date while you are away.

Set up online accounts for everything you can (so you can check it all wherever on the globe you are) and this also allows you to cancel paper billing for most accounts – you can check it all on the Internet – saving endless amounts of paper and postage!  You can even pay bills online though your bank account without having to go home or send the neighbor around!

Make sure that your appliances and electrical goods are unplugged – not on standby!  Buy a timer for your lights if you are leaving the house empty – or consider renting it out to friends for the duration to fund your trip and protect your home – and pets if you have any.  Check your fire alarm batteries and any alarm systems to make sure they are in perfect working order before you leave.

Check your mortgage and insurance papers to make sure you are covered if you are not living there – and make sure that you travel insurance covers the full time you are away – some annual policies only cover 3 months in total over any 1 year!

And Finally:
Enjoy yourself and have the time of your life – coming back a more experienced and more relaxed person!

If you are looking for an easy way to take your green holidays, then you want to look for a company that have plenty of experience – and can offer you an amazing experience.

To save all the effort of researching destinations, then resorts, then hotels and all the individual tours through reputable companies, you can take your first green holiday with the relative ease that someone has done all the hard work for you – and you only need to research them!

This is especially a great idea if you are not 100% up to date with all the green issues surrounding travel and don’t want to end up knee-deep in information that you are not quite sure what to do with.

What Makes Them Green:
Well firstly, they are a non-profit organisation which means that they are not just in it for the money, and secondly a nearly all their holidays involve supporting a community or researching wildlife data.

Examples include working to ‘create a UNESCO Seascape reserve’ in Fiji, and working with Maasai and Quechua communities in Tanzania and Ecuador. They don’t just fly you to these places and leave you to it – they teach you the language and cultures, and then support you throughout your stay.

What They Do:
GreenForce work with many organisations around the world to make sure that they are focusing their efforts in the right places, but also to make sure that they follow agreed code of practices for relevant work and expeditions.

They also make sure that you enjoy yourself as well! Included in most of their expeditions (which can be anything from 2 weeks to 12 months) are trips to the famous sights in that country – for example and elephant-back safari in India or a week in Zanzibar or even a trip to the Galapagos Islands.

They are even carbon neutral – with regards to the flights taken to their destinations.

Where Do They Go:
With worldwide destinations including The Bahamas, South Africa, Fiji, India and Nepal there is something for everyone, everywhere. Prices for expeditions range from £850 for 14 days to £2,400 for 10 weeks – usually inclusive of all food, accommodation and training.

Your green holidays or adventures could include:

• Panda Conservation in China
• Marine Conservation in Fiji or The Bahamas
• Working with the Red Cross in the Andes
• Living and working with the Maasai in Africa
• Teaching in Schools across India and Asia
• Surveying Great White Sharks in South Africa

If you were looking for something particular of something long term, this company can put together bespoke trips to almost anywhere doing almost anything.

You can also offer to work abroad in a paid position for up to a year in Australia or Ecuador for example, and they will support you throughout and assist you in finding work and making contacts.

But Flying Isn’t Green!
No it’s not – and you don’t need to travel to the other side of the world to help a charity or support children or adults in a needy community – but helping kids in an after school club in Wales is nothing compared to teaching English to Nepalese children in the Himalayas.

You want adventure, but you want to be a bit environmentally sensitive about it. And this is where you can do it. GreenForce do not include the flights to the expeditions allowing you to decide how to get there – and for how long you stay.

If you were to sail to South America, travel to Africa by Train or get to Australia by coach (the OzBus) then you could add much more to your adventure. Taking a longer holiday increases you enjoyment of the whole experience and will of course lessen the times you need to travel to different places each time.

Flying to Mexico and then travelling through central America on public transport could save you 5 or 6 separate trips to Belize, Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala for example – saving long-haul flights. You will see the people, learn the language and get involved in anything you want along the way.

If you then add on a boat to Ecuador or Peru, you could stay there volunteering or teaching for a year or more all for the ‘green cost’ or that one flight.

Worth a look: try www.greenforce.org