The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life [Paperback]

Pam Grout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2009

Travel industry experts report that more and more people are combining vacations with volunteer work—the growing phenomenon called "voluntourism." Professionals predict this will be a key growth area for years to come; the voluntourists themselves find it a rewarding activity, good for body and soul.

And nobody provides such a fun, inviting overview of the possibilities as savvy travel writer Pam Grout in the latest title in our 100 Best Vacations series. With its elegant two-color design, playful cover, and winningly positive goal, it’s a travel guide with heart, inexpensive yet inspiring—an ideal gift book for people who care to share.

From building houses in Appalachia to saving sea turtles in Costa Rica to teaching English in Thailand, this book is a rich resource of ways to use your skills to help out the world and reap some lasting benefits yourself. Like its two predecessors, it includes an engagingly descriptive menu of choices for tastes and talents of all kinds, along with detailed specifics to turn good intentions into satisfying reality. Throughout, sidebars describe nearby places to visit, little-known facts, and more, providing depth and variety, while a comprehensive resource listing gives additional information about the different organizations offering volunteer vacations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pam Grout is the author of 14 books, including The 100 Best Vacations to Enrich Your Life and The 100 Best Worldwide Vacations to Enrich Your Life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (May 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1426204590
• ISBN-13: 978-1426204593
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.8 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #613,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pam Grout is a hopeless romantic who still believes the world is a beautiful place, that people are noble and that anything is possible.

For a living (and she always wonders why people think that's such an important question), she writes books and articles for such magazines as People, Cooking Light and Travel & Leisure. She also enjoys writing bedtime stories for her daughter, but that's more about making a life than a living. She's keenly aware there's a huge difference.

In making a life, she has traveled to all the world's continents, learned 59 ways to make a fort out of sofa cushions, perfected a mean tennis forehand and volunteered at a women's prison and free health clinic.

She lives in Lawrence, Kansas with her daughter, Tasman. Check out her sometimes updated website at www.pamgrout.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travel beyond the ordinary, June 28, 2009

By 

Helen Gallagher (Glenview, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life (Paperback)

This 2009 publication from National Geographic is a road-worthy compact paperback, bursting with ideas that will get you moving.

You could collect butterflies in the Amazon, assist Europe's marginalized gypsies, teach music in Ghana, or work in an Argentinean soup kitchen. All these idea and more are made very accessible with the author's attention to detail, good write-ups and helpful references.

There are opportunities close to home and at the far ends of the earth to volunteer and help people while you learn new skills, whether you want to survey biodiversity of coral reefs in the Philippines, or get an elephant driver's license in Mahout. (My favorite idea!) "The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations" has got you covered, for adventure in North America, Europe, the Mideast, Africa, Asia and Australia.

[...]

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as great as National Geographic makes it seems., November 21, 2009

By 

Lyra Rose (San Diego) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life (Paperback)

This book definitely did not live up to the national geographic standard. Even though it suggests that since they are volunteer projects (so assume airfare and board) there are also other fees that make some of the more interesting projects super expensive. Also, most of the listed websites in it are down or unexistent [anymore]. i give it 3 stars.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Inspired with the inside scoop!, June 18, 2009

By 

Heather LaRee Carter (Central Coast, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life (Paperback)

What a cool book! Easy to read, great links and tips along with giving travel a greater purpose than being served mai tais on a beach (which sounds lovely but...) Several volunteer-vacations in the US from blazing trails to protecting sea turtles in Georgia. Pam Grout includes the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East with wonderful and meaningful vacations. I felt inspired and happy reading this book and loved "traveling" and imagining myself on the tiny Greek island of Aegina or working (and learning) on organic farms across Italy! Wonderfully written and a pleasure to read and learn. Nicely done, Pam Grout!