Journals

I love to travel (clearly) but my favorite way to travel is not the typical college kid 14 European countries in 4 days model - I much prefer spending at least 4 weeks in one place, totally soaking up the local culture and contributing to the local community. It has been almost impossible to find a way to combine travelling and earning money, so I am left working part time and dreaming of all of the places I want to visit.   Volunteering is a great way to have the details arranged for you and meet locals ..so I thought I'd share some of my future dreams with my fellow Sosaucers (if only I could make a career out of finding fun things to do!)     Africa : African Conservation Experience conservationafrica.net ) - UK based organization where you can volunteer in Southern Africa. Everything from whale/dolphin projects, game ranger courses and horse patrols (ding ding, that's where I want to go!), most of them in Big 5 areas   South America : Estancia Ranquilqo ( ranquilco.com ) - Go to the Andes in Argentina, right up against the border with Chile. Nearest Internet is a 5 hour horse ride away, but who cares when you are living in PATAGONIA , on a completely sustainable cattle ranch, learning a new language in the world's last frontier? Opportunities for both non-horse riders and experience riders.   Central America : Pretoma ( pretoma.org ) - Save sea turtles in Costa Rica. I am totally biased because that was my sweet summer Sosauce trip, but as they have 3 volunteer locations, I would totally go back. The people I met there plus the flexibility of the volunteer time makes the country an ideal place to relax and do some soul searching.   Europe : Le Sabranenque ( http://www.sabranenque.com/ ) - Volunteer in the summer in the South of France. Help restore beautiful buildings in the mornings, spend your afternoons walking around Provence . Did I mention they cook you delicious French food always?   Katelios Group ( kateliosgroup.org ) - Did you know there are loggerhead sea turtles in Greece? I guess I am sea turtle obsessed a bit now. Why not spend some time on sandy Greek beaches and hop over to the Acropolis before you get home?   In other news...did you know you can go on hot spring/horseback riding tours in Iceland? Or horse tours in Romania? (I love horses too). If you want to work in Antartica for a summer, check out Raytheon (that's how you get hired). BUNAC.org helps people get work visas in other foreign lands...   I really am a professional cool-thing-to-do finder. I wish I could make this a job. Somebody else do something for me, will you? While I'm dreaming my ways toward airfare..