Wanderlust…it’s been in my blood since birth. I love traveling and seeing new places, learning about new cultures, eating great food and making new friends. When Kenin and I left the retail workforce and sold our house to travel full-time in July 2012, I never had a second thought that I was doing the right thing. I wanted to see the world and make the most of my short existence on this planet.
When we became travel bloggers, I truly believed it was the best job on the planet. We went from city to city trying out new restaurants, staying in fancy hotels, and doing all of the best activities those cities had to offer. It was quite a rush. We would basically do all of the fun stuff a city had to offer then move on to the next place and do it all over again. Then something happened! I realized over a short time that some of my most heartfelt writing turned out to be some of our most popular posts. These posts all had something in common. They were all articles where I wrote about places that gave back to their communities in one way or another. In a very emotional instant, my travels felt hollow.
While Kenin and I went from city to city taking part in their fun and foods, using up resources and then promptly leaving, my travels began to feel selfish and leech-like. While I don’t want to settle down and have a permanent home, I want to give back. I want every place I touch to be better off when I leave than it was when I arrived. I don’t want to be a travel succubus. While I can write articles like Big Cat Rescue and The Calgary Zoo and gain awareness and donations, I want to get my hands dirty. I want to go out into a community and help build houses and feed the hungry.
As travelers, we work with tourism boards and companies to experience the best a city has to offer. Kenin and I prefer slow travel so we can really experience a city as pseudo-locals. The longer I do this, however, the more I feel like I am just slowly being dragged back into a consumer/retail society. We partake in the cream of the crop and showcase that then move on to somewhere else to eat, drink, and play and showcase to our audience. While I want to promote travel, culture and getting the most out of life, I also want to promote altruism and integrity. I want to promote being a better traveler and being a better human being.
Kenin and I have searched for an organization or two that we can join to participate in actual global volunteering. Unfortunately, we have come across a road block. Joining organizations like the Rotary Club, Lion’s Club, Kiwanis Club all have the same problem. They all do community work throughout their community, but you have to be a part of that community to make a difference. I want to be a part of an organization that will welcome my altruism no matter where I am from or how long I am going to be there. Plug me in, get me a project and let me help. I want to be an active global citizen. If I want the world to be a better place, it has to start with me. I am now traveling with a purpose. I want to leave every city a better place than I found it.
I would love to start a program where anyone can donate, anyone can volunteer, and anyone can participate in cleaning up a city, helping the needy, and give back to whatever community they choose to without borders…We can’t be a truly global community if we keep refuse to break down the borders.
I will continue to get my hands dirty in whatever way I can to help out, but a change is coming in the way I volunteer. If I can’t find an open organization that caters to full-time travelers, then I guess I’ll have to make one…Challenge accepted!
Think global, act global – it’s a big project but if anyone can do it you guys can!
This is a fabulous idea!! I just LOVE it!! I wish you guys the best! I’m looking forward to watching your journey of making this dream a reality! I’m going to share this and help spread the word. Hopefully it will help! HHHUUUUGGGGGSSSSS
It’s extreme, but you Could join the Peace Corps. Usually they require longer commitments…
II’m sure there are opportunities out there. I’ll keep my eyes open.
Miss you guys!
It sounds like a great plan!! You will definitely have the advantage of seeing what types of programs work in different communities. Then you can help other communities adopt effective programs. Social networking is such a powerful tool that can make a huge difference for charities and you ARE a social networking wizard!!
What an outstanding idea. I love it! Thanks for sharing this!
What a fantastic piece and idea! Your passion is magnetic and I love idea of if you can’t find it, create it. All the best with your endeavors!
Thanks Stephanie, I am going to work hard this year to try to put this into place.
This is super inspiring. I’m sure many other travel bloggers are happy to take the comps and freebies and live it up. I don’t have any suggestions or advice but just wanted to say I admire your philosophy and hope you guys find the perfect way to achieve that.
Such a beautiful idea, I hope you find an organization that is already doing this, you know so you don’t have to do it all yourself from the ground up heh. If not, you could start it as a crowd-sourced resource website. People can submit their organizations info to your site, or random folks could just supply info about community programs in their own cities that they know about. Keep it simple in the beginning and grow it from there! (=
Devlin, I do plan on starting a list of organizations that will take volunteers on an immediate basis and I really want to look into getting this funded as a traveling non-profit. I will be hitting up you and Tim when the time comes :D and basically everyone else I know.
What a great idea!! I wish you well…
Awesome idea! We have often felt the same way about traveling responsibly and making sure we are actually benefiting the communities we are visiting. Best of luck finding what you’re looking for!
It’s very hard to give back to the communities we visit, but if we could focus our efforts I’m sure we could all make it possible.
You can do it! RAH-RAH-RAH! Kick ass sea bass! <3
You are AWESOME! I love that you are going to take action. The more you travel the more you realise the inner beauty of each place and that some of them truly do need our help and deserve our time and effort. You are totally right, it is up to us to expose this and make changes because you can’t expect someone else to. Keep doing what you are doing, the more you put out to the world, the more that is returned and payed forward. Its the greatest cycle you could ever create :)
I have just set out on my travel journey and this is exactly the philosophy that I hope to emulate. I am currently volunteering in Peru workung with an NGO teaching English, I have hooked up with a cub scout group and worked with them and planning my next move. I write a travel blog but want to immerse myself in cultures giving something back as I go. good luck
I love the sentiment of this post and I think both Franca and myself came to the same part in our travels where we felt like we wanted to start doing something a little more meaningful during our travels. I only hope that you find what you’re looking for and continue to share all you know so that perhaps one day we might join you :)
What a beautiful idea! I can’t wait to follow along.
What a wonderful idea! You go, girl!