November 4, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others
By Bill McMillon
This book, now in its seventh edition, provides information on more than 250 organizations that cater to the altruistic tourist.
Whether it entails maintaining youth hostels in Malta or watching manatees mate in the waters off Belize, a vacation spent in the service of others can be the ticket for a person looking for an uncommon furlough, writes Mr. McMillon, a freelance travel writer.
Each entry profiles an organization looking for volunteers. Mr. McMillon provides contact information, descriptions of the types of projects a volunteer can expect to undertake, the dates when the projects occur, information on how to apply, whether special skills are required, and summaries of sample projects.
Nineteen accounts of volunteer experiences follow the organizational profiles. A man recalls the joy of teaching a Bolivian orphan how to ride a bicycle; a woman describes the exhausting effort of clearing away brush to build a hiking path for the Colorado Trail Foundation.
Indexes break down the vacation projects by cost (ranging from $500 to more than $2,000), length of time, location, season, and type — including community development, historical restoration, and scientific research.
Publisher: Chicago Review Press, c/o Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago 60610; (312) 337-0747 or (800) 888-4741; fax (312) 337-5985; frontsek@ipgbook.com; http://www.ipgbook.com; 391 pages; $16.95; I.S.B.N. 1-55652-363-7.
