To some, happiness is a butterfly that never seems to land in your hand. To others, it is a yacht with crew and a map of stops along the Aegean. If studies can shed a light on happiness at all, however, the simple wisdom is this: Money cannot buy happiness. Experiences do.
In fact, studies flowing from Princeton University over the past few years showed that $75,000 is the salary line, after which earning more ceases to correspond with mounting satisfaction. However, brain scans conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that happiness comes not in the acquisition of money but in the giving of it, or, more precisely, the giving of self. That part of the brain normally associated with selfish, sometimes guilty, pleasures will light up when envisioning acts of altruism and giving.
Voluntourism: Happy Travels
So it is not surprising that voluntourism — a type of travel that, whether for a week, a month or a year, involves making travel plans around an activity of doing good for someone else — is becoming an increasingly popular way to spend one’s precious time off.
The growing trend of voluntourism attracts 1.6 million participants each year and gives travelers the opportunity to experience destinations in a different, more immersive, and often more satisfying, way. These options may include building schools and teaching children in rural outposts in Kenya or Uganda, tending elephants in Thailand, working at orphanages in India, or replanting farms or forests in Europe and South America.
“We’ve seen the trend of travelers visiting communities to volunteer reach an all-time high,” says Taylor Cole, spokesman for Hotels.com in the U.S. “But consumers don’t necessarily have to travel far or plan a separate trip around philanthropic activities to make a difference – you can find a way to give back your time in just about any community you find yourself.”
Cruising for a Cause
Still, the allure of immersive travel and the experiences that come with it can be all but priceless on a short-week or two-week departure from the office.
* Crystal Cruises is capitalizing on this fact and the role that giving plays on the happiness scale by offering a menu of heartwarming voluntourism options on a number of its itineraries around the world.
The cruise line offers some 16 volunteer shore adventures, all complimentarly to guests and crew. Samples include working alongside community members and volunteers at the Mustard Seed Food Bank in Victoria, British Columbia. Or in Dubrovnik, Croatia, guests will visit the Domus Christi, a home boasting 660 years of history in assisting and sheltering the poor, elderly and infirmed.
Guests meet with residents, provide companionship for a walk to the Old Port and along the waterfront, as well as help with some of the home’s gardening chores.
* In Barcelona, Spain, with expert guidance from researchers at the Rehabilitation Center, guests learn about the center’s efforts with endangered marine life and even participate in training drills for rescuing dolphins stranded on the beach.
* In Guernsey/St. Peter Port, Channel Islands, volunteers become part of the daily operation of the Guernsey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
* In Puerto Limón, Costa Rica, participants spend time with the children and families of SOS Children’s Village, where abandoned and orphaned children are brought up in a family setting, supported by the village environment.
“Our guests are savvy world travelers who relish the type of deeply immersive and authentic cultural education experienced during these excursions,” says Crystal’s president, Edie Rodriguez. “The act of contributing to the world in which we all travel is extremely rewarding – for everyone.”
The concept of “voluntourism” is often a mixed bag, drawing ire from critics who see waves of privileged travelers visiting villages, stirring up trouble or forging well-meaning relationships only to disappear in the weeks to come. In recent weeks, Nepal has been plagued not only by earthquakes and aftershocks that have left whole swaths of urban habitat in rubble, but by the onslaught of aid-givers and helpers who have turned hindrance over than assistance. The single airport runway strained under the pressure of overuse as untrained travelers poured in to help. Many of these well-meaning volunteers simply joined the milling crowds and wasted precious resources.
Haiti, also struck with a devastating earthquake in 2010, has not much improved in infrastructure, services or resources after five years and $13 billion in aid.
Often, volunteers are seen as seekers of selfie moments for Instagram blasts and more interested in the bars and the beaches than the hard work of building and planting.
But there are many ways small acts of kindness do make a difference. And combining those acts with days or weeks spent in a foreign land, speaking a foreign language and learning about exotic customs, traditions and foods through well-managed community programs can be life changing, especially for the traveler.
Choice Trips for Voluntourism
The following organizations and tour companies offer varying tours, trips and experiences based on budget, time and interest, and can be the happiest trip a traveler may ever take.
Earthwatch: an environmental science organization, offers projects as varied as drumming in Ghana, sustainable living practices in South India, archaeological excavations near Hadrian’s Wall and scientific research at the Great Barrier Reef.
Global Volunteers: provides essential services, such as childcare, gardening, tutoring, healthcare and teaching through short-term volunteers and in-place program facilitators in a variety of countries.
Projects Abroad: sends travelers to volunteer or intern abroad in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, or Latin America. We offer overseas voluntary work placements including teaching, care, conservation & environment, medicine & healthcare, journalism, law & human rights, international development, and business.
Globe Aware: focused on short term, one week volunteer vacations. These are specially formatted for working people with limited vacation time who want to volunteer abroad.
REI Adventures: using the non-profit Conservation Volunteers, REI sends travelers to destinations in North and South America to work alongside expedition leaders and local park rangers in projects that consist of trail maintenance, restoration of wildlife habitat, collection of native plant seeds as well as a variety of other important tasks.
Volunteers for Peace: empowers host communities to work cooperatively for environmental sustainability, social justice, and peace. It offers opportunities for volunteers to develop leadership skills and global connections, encouraging civic engagement, citizen diplomacy, community activism and leadership. Programs are all over the world, including the Middle East and Haiti.
Lark Gould reports on travel and the travel industry from Los Angeles. She blogs on Larkslist.com and covers trends on Travel-Intel.com.
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