The i-to-i Campfire online travel community - Meet. Share. Travel with Purpose

I recently came back from an amazing 2 and a half week trip to South Africa. I travelled from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town and had some awesome adventures along the way... but this blog post is going to focus on Cape Town, and my time at the volunteer projects i to i works with in the area. I’d arranged to meet up with Ali, Astrid and Thami – the in-country team who are based...

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I received this email from returned volunteer J and wanted to share it with you, as it's such a good account of her time at the Live With Lion Cubs project in South Africa! J is blind and had an amazing time at the project :) "I thought I would write an account of my trip :) I met up with a friend I had been emailing for about 3 weeks. It turned out she...

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Honesty time: we’d be lying if we said that every single minute of your travels will be fun-filed with adventures, laughs and fantastic experiences. Don’t get us wrong – you will certainly have an amazing trip and treasure fantastic memories of your time away, but there will be times where you ask yourself “what am I doing?!” and wish you were at home in your own familiar surroundings. I’m not trying to put you off...

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Getting ill or injured isn’t something you like to think about before you head off on your volunteer adventure, but it’s something you need to prepare for just in case. Personally I was in the Girl Guides (motto: Be Prepared!) and have a mother who’s ready for everything, so I’ve always had (more than) enough supplies with me when I board that plane! So from someone who’s been there and injured that, here are my...

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Here at i-to-i we’ve recently forged an exciting new partnership with a travel safety company in London. They run 1 day courses to help people prepare for their adventures and we thought it was only right that we tested the course out before we could recommend it to our volunteers, so earlier this month my colleague Jane and I headed down to The Big Smoke to participate in the course! The day started at 9.30am...

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Staffer: Rachel Watson http://www.i-to-i.com/campfire/Rachel My first memory of i-to-i is talking to my friend Angela about her volunteer trip to Uganda, which she’d absolutely loved. I remember thinking “hmmm, that sounds like something I’d enjoy…” It wasn’t until 18 months later that I took the plunge and booked a trip to volunteer with special needs children in Vietnam. That trip was in May 2009 and the month I spent volunteering with the children, exploring Vietnam...

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I’ve just returned from a fantastic couple of weeks in India, where I took part in the Boats, elephants and community work in Kerala tour. I travelled with my mom Chris, and we were part of a group of 6 people who’d signed up for the 2 week tour. We were staying in a homestay in Thoppumpady, a small town not far from the bustling tourist centre of Fort Kochi. Our homestay mum Leela, was...

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We’ve been chatting in the office today about those travel essentials we just can’t live without. As seasoned travellers who’ve visited pretty much every country in the world we like to think we know a thing or two about smart packing! Here are some words of wisdom from the team… We all agree that a camera and travel diary are must haves. Record everything you do and see, and the memories will make you smile...

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Yesterday we had a visitor in our Leeds office. Ishita, who runs the i-to-i projects in Spiti, India came in to see us and gave a presentation about the amazing projects she co-ordinates. Ishita was lovely (she even brought us presents!) and her presentation painted a fab picture of beautiful mountain scenery, friendly close knit villages and important volunteer work which makes a real difference to the communities we work with. Spiti is a cold...

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I've recently booked on to the fantastic Boats, Elephants and Community Work tour in Kerala, and am travelling in January 2011. I'm SOOO excited!! Has anyone who's done this tour or been to Kerala got any tips or advice for me? Is anyone else booked up for the same time?

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