When we travel somewhere we enjoy discovering. The discovery of a country is also learning about the culture and the people who live there. Architecture, history, traditions, lifestyles and definitely local food !
What if travelling becomes an opportunity to be in total immersion ? The key is to be off the beaten track 🙂 For that, my first advice is to ask for advice héhé That’s the most basic helpful fact. For example, I like to search for advice from previous travellers or local people. It could be when I meet them during the trip or on social media. I enjoy sometimes being in a hostel because it is where all travellers are. In this case, it is easier to meet people and learn more about the country or the city where I am. Usually, they remember nice places or great atypical experiences or a lovely restaurant.
Beyond tourism, there are many ways to know more about the cultural wealth of a country. I’m pretty sure that you already know or have experienced some.
Perhaps you had the chance to travel out of your native country :
☐ to work
☐ to do an internship
☐ to study
☐ to practice a sport in competition
☐ to get a working holiday visa (WHV)
☐ to be part of an event (could be a music festival or a personal event like a wedding)
☐ to participate in a project aboard
☐ to join in training
☐ I have another one which is not in this list 😉
☐ Huuum nope, not yet
There is one I enjoy a lot is : international volunteering projects. Some of you’ll say “Of course”. Aaah… you start to know me haha Well, I think an international volunteering project is one of the easiest ways to meet people from all over the world. It gives the opportunity to meet people from so many countries with so many cultures and, in fine, with so many lifestyles. The thing is, from the moment we accepted being a volunteer, we have at least one common point : we come to give a hand for the same project. Nevermind how long is the project, it could be for a year and for a weekend. The beauty is in the interculturality and the sharing.
Just a brief aside : Travelling and discovering new cultures could be amazing in our own country ! I enjoy going to places in France I’ve never visited, know new people, see local traditions and so on. For example, I loved the Christmas market in Strasbourg and the atmosphere is completely different from summertime in Bordeaux. Don’t hesitate to travel around the place you live you could find nice surprises ^^
About travelling and being in immersion in the country I had the chance to visit family in Asia, to experience a Working Holiday Visa in New Zealand, to work in Ireland as a waitress and to be part of different volunteering projects in Europe. Just below, I would like to share with you different ways to travel. I will not only talk about the ones I experienced. Then, you could find your happiness with the ones which fit you the most 😀
Let’s say there are big topics : holidays & leisures, study & training, jobs & internship, voluntary project & humanitarian project
As we are humans, those topics are not fixed obviously 😛 We can mix them up together and create our own unique adventure.
(This page will be update from time to time 😉 )
Voluntary project & humanitarian project
Click to show/hide
Woow such a vast topic ^^First I would like to make the difference between two kinds of voluntary work.
There is humanitarian work which generally comes out from an emergency context. It could be a civil war or a natural disaster. Most of the time the people who are called are professionals or have specific knowledge (doctors, firemen, psychologists, engineers,…).
And also there is community work which helps to develop the community in general, and not from an emergency context. Growing the community could be through many areas as culture, education, renovation, social,… Normally, a project is created recording on the needs of the village or the city. For those community work usually there is no need to have a specific professional background. Everybody can join and become a volunteer.
Be careful, there is a new kind of business called “Voluntourism”. Voluntourism is led by companies offering tourism with voluntary work. From an ethical point of view it is a controversial topic. In fact volunteerism lets wonder the real balance between advantages and disadvantages. Does it doing more harm than good ?
I share with you a video about voluntourism
Liasoueps 