Workaway.info -- VolunTOURism

The idea is "Voluntourism"

If you love to travel and want to see the world as it is - not through tourist eyes...HAVE I GOT A SITE FOR YOU!
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I read a great article by a mom/travel writer Alice Griffin. She begins the article thus...

"In return for a few hours’ work each day, volunteers have the chance to take the holiday of a lifetime"

Well, I was certainly intrigued! My son has been wanting to tour Europe upon graduation and this seems to be a way to stretch the length of time he can stay, by volunteering his way around!

It reminds me a lot of our site, hosting families but with a twist! A working vacation, this might be the thing that many of our members and readers would find beneficial!

Spend some time there! You will most likely be inspired or at the very least intrigued!

Here are some places you might go...


Villa on the Cote D'Azur, South of France

Description
We are a British couple ( three grown up chidlren) who live 6 months in France and 6 months in California. Our place in France is in the heart of an absolutely beautiful medieval village approx 4 kms from the Medierranean. We bought the house 3 years ago and we have been renovating the grounds which contain a large old established garden which was very neglected when we bought it. There is always a lot of work to do in the garden and we need help from volunteers with some experience of gardening. There are many lovely beaches within a few kms for swimming and sunbathing. We are currently signing up volunteers searching for a working holiday ( 2 weeks) on the Cote D' Azure

Area

Cote D'Azur, France

Type of work

Other,
Helping with Tourists,
Building,
Gardening

Work

Basic gardening tasks, weeding, clearing, digging flower beds, pruning, watering plants, shreeding garden waste for compost. Knowledge and skill with skilled activities like paving, dry and wet walling etc useful.

Languages spoken

English, French

Accommodations

Self contained studio apartment ( with shower + Kitchen) with sun terrace and great sea views. Short walk to village centre. No meals provided but all other outgoings ( e.g electricity) paid for.

What else ...

Between mid September and March we would like to find a volunteer for an extended stay -suit someone ( or couple) wanting a 6 month stay in France . Between April and September, we are interested in volunteers who can stay at least twp weeks but we will consider shorter stays. Please bear in mind, that we do not provide meals - you will get good quality self catering accommodation and you will need to show us that you have your own health and accident insurance.

A Smattering of Other Offers

• Come and help on a working sheep and cattle station in The Outback
• Great escape to Italy come and enjoy the incredible experience that is Tuscany!
• Help in a hostel in the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean
• Help at chateau guest house in Normandy, France
• Volunteer with a family on the Big Island of Hawaii

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Home Coming

Returning from a trip to a home that has sat empty for two months REMINDS me once again how incredible the home exchange concept is.

How you ask?  Well, if someone had been staying in our home when we got 13 inches of rain in three days they would have realized that we had a leak in our roof and would have notified us.

As it was, we came home to a 3'x3' hole in our ceiling!! Fortunately, we had DEAR friends who came by to check on our house because we live near a creek (they were concerned about flooding.) They discovered the hole and did what they could do to cover the hole and clean up the mess to make our home coming more pleasant!

Before we left we were making arrangements for a family from "The Neighborhood" to come during our absence and stay for 10 days or so, but a death in their family caused a change in plans. I was disappointed it didn't work out. They would have enjoyed the area of GA where we live and we would have felt better having someone to keep an eye on our home for those two months we were gone.

Hopefully next time!

We the Google Globe Trotters ;)

Trot the Globe (Traveling Homeschoolers with Google Earth!)

This past winter we visited the Pyramids of Giza, Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Venice, Stone Henge and Niagara Falls!

How did we do it?

Google Maps/ Google Earth...the next best thing to being there (well, maybe not...but you must admit it is a good idea!)

Whenever we learn about any new place in our lessons, we visit there with Google! It is really neat when you can drag down the little yellow man and "virtually" see the actual place. It is fascinating to realize how far out in dessert the pyramids really are! And I was shocked when I realized that there was a road so close to the Niagara Falls viewing area. Strangely, I really feel as if I've almost been to these places now!

Another great thing we do with Google maps is let our children drive "virtually" around town, to friends houses, to favorite restaurants and grandma's house. It helps them develop that bird's eye view that will help them learn their way around.

Flexibility - An Important Key in Home Exchange

Flexibility an essential key to home exchange! and I will say it again Flexibility is an essential key to home exchange!!!

Yes, yes I know this, but was totally reminded again (and again) this past year as we tried to arrange four different exchanges to particular places at particular times. A wedding, an out-of-state birthday party, a gymnastics competition and a conference. We made lots of inquiries, and had a few interested parties, but none were able to travel on our time frame :(

However, if you can be flexible when you make inquiries, then upon finding an interested family you will most likely be rewarded with an exchange.

This is where hospitality exchange is a wonderful asset to a home exchange site's portfolio. When you have host families willing to offer a spare bedroom, basement or RV this can be a great blessing to traveling families. On our site, I'm excited to say that about 1/3 of our families are open to hosting your family when you're "in the Neighborhood!"

Isn't that exciting?? It was too bad for us however, that none of these lovely families lived where we needed to go.

Hopefully this year we'll get to host and be hosted! I'm looking forward to meeting some of you!

My own "MY MAP"!! What FUN!

Here is our first "my map"! We've been in Corpus Christi, TX about seven weeks and gone lots of fun places -- if you click on an icon you will see photos and read little tidbits of our travels. You can zoom in and out and be sure to click onto the "satellite" view for seeing the real lay of the land!

I will be honest, it took me a little bit to figure out how to get photos on it, mainly because I'm not used to using a host site for photos. (I'm sure you will figure it out in an instant!) But once we figured that out it was VERY FUN and EASY to do!

If you want to view it in a larger screen you can go to this direct link into google earth -- I think it is a little easier to view!

Hope you have fun looking at "MY MAP!"


View Fun in Corpus Christi in a larger map

Fan Page Info

Thanks for posting on our FB fan page!

Thanks so much for your interest in our site and we hope that the home exchange concept will enhance your family’s education by giving you the ability to travel more!

Please share our page as your status and tell your homeschool friends that they TOO can get their free membership just for leaving a comment!

Below is the info for your free membership. Free memberships must include one photo. If you have ANY trouble attaching photos just send them to us and we'll be HAPPY to attach it for you! **

Here is how to claim your free one-year membership.

1) Visit our home page, www.hsneighbor.com

2) Click on "join now" and follow the instructions.

3) On step 2, put “5812” in the promo-code box.

This will bypass the shopping cart and you can begin working on your home listing immediately. Please email me if you have any questions or need any help. I love getting to know my "new neighbors"!

Happy Travels,

Amy Davidson

**After 48 hours of creating, listings without photos will be de-activated, they can be easily reinstated by sending us an email.

My Family in Corpus

Here is a photo of my family, my parents, my two sisters, brother in law, nephew, niece and her husband and children.

We were all gathered at the airport to welcome my nephew (center in gray shirt) home for the first time since joining the Navy! We're very proud of him! (and his brother who is also in the Navy!)