A damned good idea if I ever heard one: travel across Asia and Europe wearing Tuxedos. Two guys going from Hong Kong to London would be a great trip any way you slice it, but these guys added the extra flair that made it a truly epic journey. Imagine all the fun times you you have simply because you’re in a tux. I’ve had fantastic encounters when I wore my tux to venues where tuxes aren’t expected – like a night club. Mix that with the standard misadventures of travels and it’s a recipe for awesome. The boys also did the laudable step of trying to raise money, which they would use to spread good will. It looks like that effort came up a bit short of their goal, but money raised or not, they’ve put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces around the world. Well played.
Hopefully we all want to have a net positive impact on this world. However, in the hustle and bustle of life, it can be easy to put good works on a back burner, or forget to do them entirely. That’s where charity traveling comes in.
I started this post because I stumbled across Classic Tours, which combines the popularity of charity fundraising challenges and adventure travel. At first I thought this was a novel approach as I was only familiar with volunteer travel programs. As it turns out, there is a massive charity travel industry catering to that need to have a positive impact. Google can give you a large menu of noble and valuable volunteer travel options, so I’ll point out a couple I found different and interesting.
Classic Tours runs some real adventures, like biking in Vietnam and Cambodia raising money for great charities here in the UK. If the charity marathon is a little bit to cliché for you, check out what they have to offer.
Earth Watch Institute offers a range of trips where you’re supposed helping with research projects. While I have my doubts that you’ll actually get to be a substantive help on an archeological dig, it is a cool idea.
Eco Volunteer runs programs to preserve endangered species. You pick what species you want to help, including what I would imagine to be less popular options like Wild African Hunting Dogs, and work protecting with local communities on preservation.
Finally, this might be a bit of a bastard thing to say on a travel blog, but consider volunteering locally too. In fact, consider that first. Traveling somewhere to volunteer for a week or two is a good thing. But dedicating yourself to local volunteer service allows you to remain well involved for the long haul, introduces you to a new side of your community, and gives you a chance to involve your broader social network in your volunteer efforts over time.
Look into refugee settlement programs, affordable housing construction, neighborhood clean up, or tutoring at risk kids. The overhead for getting involved is almost normally just your time, and you can see your work go beyond the few days that you have to give to a vacation.
