Volunteer Work & Taking a Gap Year
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Featured Gap Year Programmes
* Join Teach & Learn India, and discover glorious Mumbai, Punjab or Tamil Nadu! Includes 4 month placement with orientation on arrival, all accommodation, monthly living allowance of between Rs. 7,500 – Rs. 10,000, meals, learn Hindi, local in country support. Fluent English speaker. No degree necessary.
* Free Volunteer Work Exchanges Abroad For Those Travelling on a Budget. Arrange your stay with Farms, Homes, Art Retreat Centres, Eco- villages, Backpacker Hostels, Surf Lodges, Vineyards, Ranches, Schools, Monasteries and Kibbutzim. Expose yourself to other cultures, experience another lifestyle, share and learn new skills, improve your language skills, all in exchange for a few hours of honest help.
Gap Year and Volunteering Articles
Volunteer Work in a Fairy Chimney Cave Hotel
Brandon Fralic emailed from his cave room in Cappadocia to say he had scored a volunteer position we had advertised in our Jobs Abroad Bulletin. We told him how the hotel cat gets into his room and, in exchange, he tells us more about his job.
The A to Z of Gap Year Travel
If rumours of the gap year’s demise are true then this post will go mostly unread as students instead forego a break between A levels and university to avoid the rise in tuition fees. Plenty though will either worry about the financial hangover later or consider a year out a worthwhile investment in their future.
Volunteer Work in Kanchanaburi with Safari Volunteers
Bottle feeding leopard cubs and taking a playful lion for a walk were just some of the many highlights to our two days near Kanchanaburi with the Safari Park Volunteer Initiative.
How to Walk a Lion
Taking lions for a spot of exercise is just one of the things we did when we pitched up in Kanchanaburi, at the doors of the Safari Volunteer Initiative as two of their more incompetent volunteers.
The Volunteering Entrepreneur
Nelson Santos discovered a passion for volunteering in his mid-20’s but financial reality brought his plans to a halt until he figured out how to travel the world without saving up first.
Hostel Jobs Worldwide: 347 Backpacker Hostels & Guest Houses Open To Volunteer Work Exchanges
Working for your keep in a hostel is a good way of cutting down on expensive accommodation costs and circumventing local employment visa requirements. We list hundreds of hostels in JAB that we know, believe, or just strongly suspect, take on volunteer staff.
Expecting the Unexpected as a Hostel Volunteer
Volunteering in exchange for a bed and food has become a common means for young people to travel the world on a budget, the two dominant trends being in agriculture (WWOOFing) and hostel work (Helpx and Workaway), which are constantly in need of cheap young labour.
Hostel Volunteering In Corfu, Greece
American traveller, Turner Barr tried to get around needing a work permit on Corfu by volunteering at the Pink Palace, regarded as one of the best party hostels in the world (American Dad’s Roger once spent $600 on ouzo there). Alternatively, try Sunrock Backpackers.
13 Tips from Redditors on Finding a Job and Working in a Hostel
We tracked down a few answers from helpful redditors below, both on getting and doing the job, paid and unpaid hostel work. All we’ve done is reproduce a varied selection of advice, both good and bad, correct a few typos, and given credit where it is due.
Travelling & Work Opportunities in Backpacker Hostels
Even the most intrepid of travellers have found themselves running out of money abroad. If you’ve gone to work in Australia hoping for a farm picking job but with no luck, you could try working in a backpackers for an extra dollar or ten, or even a bed for the night.
Interview With Diana Edelman, PR and Social Media for Save Elephant Foundation, in Thailand
A former resident of Chiang Mai, Diana Edelman has helped raise awareness about the plight of Asian elephants as the PR and social media coordinator for Save Elephant Foundation. She also writes for her own site, d travels ’round, and supports herself with freelance travel writing jobs.
Volunteering To Aid Refugees In Greece
When we left our home in 2016 we couldn’t have imagined it would be nearly six years before we would return. Other long term travellers that depart for Europe via some of the quieter beaches in and around our town in Turkey are in an entirely different boat. They end up largely confined to refugee camps on Greek islands, relying on these NGOs to survive.
Volunteer Your Way Through Central America
Along with its beaches and biodiversity, Central America is particularly rich in grassroots volunteer organisations looking for volunteers to lend a helping hand. Skilled hands are particularly welcome but often the only requirement is enthusiasm and a willingness to get those helping hands dirty. From Belize to Panama, we select an option for each country in the region.
Working Your Ticket – Volunteer to Work at a Music Festival
Some people pay an awful lot of money to stand in the rain and watch their favourite bands. But you can camp away from all the smelly hippies and get a free ticket by working as a festival volunteer.
A Ridiculous Life
Memories of her gap year in Australia came flooding back when a stranger knocked on the door of Stephanie Lightfoot‘s London flat.
First Impressions Don’t Last
John Carson, author of Beer & Bagels for Breakfast, spent 12 months on a Kibbutz near the Gaza Strip. He provides a look at what to expect when working and playing in a small community.
Hotter Than Hell: Life as a Kibbutznik
Giving up the nine to five for the four to noon, Jonathan Adams describes a stay at Kibbutz Ein Hasheloshaon in the Negev desert.
Kibbutz Life
It was an ‘experiment that worked’ was how philosopher Martin Bauber put the kibbutz movement. Matt Scott describes his time on the experiment that worked so well it’s still going strong.
* We’ve collected and listed the first hand experiences of lots more gap year travellers and volunteers in our Blogger’s Guides to Volunteer Work & Gap Years. Our gap year Pinterest page is another place we collect relevant links.
More Gap Year and Volunteer Work Posts
Taking a Gap Year
Extended travelling before work or further education is increasingly regarded as an asset to a CV.
Volunteer Work at a Glance
Volunteering can help with introducing yourself to a new country; settling initial accommodation and food worries without all the hassles of finding paid employment.
Work on a Kibbutz or Moshav
A kibbutz offers the basics for living and working abroad – a bed, food and fags – in exchange for work in its fields, factories and tourist facilities. An alternative option is to stay on a moshav, which pays a pocket money wage but is less communal.
Catch 22 Travel Tips
After thieves stole his shoes and left him travelling parts of Latin America in his bare feet, Lincoln Yates set up Catch 22 Travel Security Products to stop this happening to other backpackers. Here he shares his advice for theft free travels.
Jenny Ayling of South Yorkshire earned herself A Scholarship to Israel where she spent six months in 2000 on the Bridge in Britain / Gap year programme of Friends of Israel Educational Trust.
Tips on How to Plan the Best Gap or Sabbatical Year Out
Taking a year out before university or a much-needed break in your career can refresh, revitalize and give you a new outlook. But what kind of year out should you take?
GAPping and Gaping in Inner Mongolia
Despite taking their gap year at a later age than most, Paul and Jill Quin, a journalist and former IBM PR man and a primary teacher / teacher-of-the-deaf, left their native Portsmouth to teach English in a remote region of China.
Raise Funds by Volunteering for Medical Trials
Getting paid for laying around in your dressing gown munching pizza after being pumped full of drugs sounds a little too good to be true but it is a way some choose to travellers finance their travels.
Save Money on Travelling in Iceland Through Help Exchanges and Volunteering
Despite Iceland’s reputation as an expensive country preceding it, with a little planning and a willingness to trade some of your spare time it is possible to visit this staggeringly beautiful country without emptying your bank account. We examine realistic options for saving money by taking a volunteer role in Iceland, or even making some with a paid one.
Occasional Hostel Work in Kuala Lumpur
Two of the four places we stayed in Kuala Lumpur offered casual work, though the owners of both guest houses made it clear to us that when it came to landing work in exchange for room and board it is a case of being in the right place at the right time.
Work 3 Hours at a Paddywagon Hostel in Ireland and Stay for Free
While we relaxed on the comfortable sofas and made coffee in the kitchen, we reflected that Emma’s accent gave away that she wasn’t local to Ireland. In fact she was from very far away.
Fight Poverty in the UK and Overseas With ICS
International Citizen Service (ICS) is a UK government funded development programme that brings together 18 to 25 year olds from all backgrounds to fight poverty in overseas and UK communities. You don’t need money, skills or qualifications to take part in ICS – just the ambition to make a difference.
Volunteer and Temporary Jobs at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh has gained worldwide renown for the large number of events that congregate under the banner of the Edinburgh Festival. While putting on your own show is a great way to be at the heart of the festival, another option is to find a temporary position or, much easier, volunteer to work at the festival.
Sharks and Dolphins
Deirdre Bounds, founder of i to i International Projects, offers advice to gap travellers overwhelmed with the choices available and tips on what to look for in a placement organisation.
Gap Travel Health
Travelling to distant countries and experiencing new cultures can be a hugely enjoyable adventure but whether you are planning to travel the world for fun, or intending to work as a volunteer, Travelhealth.co.uk offer the advice needed to take careful precautions to ensure your health and safety.
Save the planet during your vacation: Eco Trips for Tree Huggers
Out of Cash in Outer Mongolia
Accountancy is rarely described as adventurous, but Debbie Jeremiah tells how her numerical skills took her to two continents while Jason Christopher opted to practise Expedition Medicine in Patagonia with Raleigh International
Jungle Medicine
Raleigh International require Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics to accompany young people on their gap year to the jungle, or to any of the challenging environments in which Raleigh operate.
Mad in Africa
Conservation is one of many activities that Madventurer gets involved with on its expeditions. Rupert Pate worked with the Arid And Semi Arid Conservation And Development Organisation Of Kenya to help push back the Sahara desert, moving south at 11kms per year.
A Memorable Patient
Elspeth Pitt‘s Earthwatch expedition to Madagascar led to an unexpected and unique experience with a Lemur.
Done Something Brilliant
Clare made the decision to leave a cushy flat, easy job, boyfriend and all her friends in Brighton to travel to the other side of the world to Madagascar, somewhere she didn’t really know anything about.
Ventures in Africa & Asia
Africa & Asia Venture arrange gap year expeditions. Pete Gomer and Ben Stirling went with them to Uganda.
Unsure about doing it by yourself and would prefer somebody to have your back? Letty Hardy of Travellers Worldwide gives 12 reasons to volunteer through a structured programme.
Letter From Africa
Some of Alice Croydsdill‘s African adventures described in a letter to her family.
Gap Year and Volunteer Work Posts in The Working Traveller Blog
More posts on volunteer work and gap years can be found in The Working Traveller Blog
Voluntary Job Vacancies in JAB
We add the latest volunteer jobs and gap year programmes sent to us to our Jobs Abroad Bulletin.
Free or Cheap Volunteer Work Abroad
Truly free opportunities for unskilled volunteers are rare but why pay too much to volunteer when you can make a more affordable difference? We have a section of JAB dedicated to listing free or cheap volunteer work. Where they are not free, we’ve only listed organisations that charge reasonable (for their location) fees for food and accommodation.
The Directory
Gap Year and Volunteering Links can be found in our directory, including internships, voluntourism, career breaks and gap year courses, plus studying abroad. More relevant links can be found in our Region & Country pages.
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