Work and Play

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a new addictive website that combines my three great loves - traveling, volunteering and free stuff! The site has been around for a long time but I came across it when I was looking for a place to volunteer in Rwanda (my next desired location). It's called Workaway. For $23.51 (current Euro conversion rate) you get two years of access to opportunities all over the world. Most of them come with some sort of free housing and meals in exchange for your work - hence the name.

Some offer language classes, cultural lessons and/or skill building. There are quite a few families looking for nannies, families looking for help on their farms, small businesses looking for help running tourism businesses and non-profits looking for volunteers. You can sort the posts by type of work, type of place looking for workers or location. I think some options would even make great vacations for Brian and I, all for the low-cost price of a plane ticket, since you don't work all day, as most of the world doesn't operate on an 8+ hour day like in the U.S.

Once you pay the fee you can look through the options posted and add your favorites to your 'Host List', send them an e-mail about when you want to come and read reviews. I may have gotten a little carried away because I already have eight hosts saved, I think I got seduced by their names:

• Volunteer in beautiful Kigali, Rwanda!
• Come and help with sailing and kayak holidays in Ireland
• A "Maison de maître" in the south of France 
• Boutique hotel, near Ronda, Spain
• Farm holiday accommodation in the Piacenza countryside, Italy
• Yoga Retreat in mountains of Granada, Andalucia, Spain
• Come a volunteer at a small Eco tourism resort in Chile
• Come and help run our small eco lodge on the shores of Lake Malawi

I have only e-mailed one host (the one in Rwanda) so far and haven't heard back, so I'll keep you posted on that. In other news, I was in D.C. last week for work and my boss wanted me to mention in my blog how beautiful Old Town Alexandria, VA is, so there you go DB!

FINALLY, get your post in now if you want to win a trip to Kansas City. Deadline is this Saturday. See 100th blog post for more info!