What are WWOOFs and How Do You Volunteer With WWOOFs?

Although volunteer travel has been booming for the last few years years, WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), or as it is known in some locations, Willing Workers on Organic Farms, is one of the last great strongholds of inexpensive volunteer travel. It’s the real deal. It’s the alternative to spending thousands of dollars to build houses in Thailand or hundreds of dollars to nurse cuddly baby jungle animals.

WWOOF is a dynamic program available in almost every country around the world where you can spend your time working on an organic farm or project for room and board. The range of hosts and projects is exhaustive, and you’re sure to find something perfect for your travel plan. You can use the opportunity to learn about a particular type of organic farming, such as working on a vineyard or sheep station. If, conversely, you’re more interested in the culture and people of the country, you can seek out a host who sounds like a fascinating person who can offer you a peek in to the life of a local in Australia or Bolivia or France.

It’s Not About the Money

Your cost should never include any more than the membership price for the country/countries in which you plan to WWOOF and transportation to your host’s home/farm/commune/caravan. There are hosts out there who will agree to your stay, but then ask that you pay a small contribution toward the household expenses. If you’re working 6 or 7 hours a day and being provided with a bed and 3 squares, you’ve done more than enough to contribute. This sort of charge goes against the spirit of the program and should not be encouraged.

Choosing a host whose expectations are in line with yours is a key factor in determining whether you’ll find WWOOFing to be the rich and rewarding experience it should be, or a short stint in hell.

The Seven Types of WWOOF Hosts

1) Free Labor

Sadly enough, some WWOOF hosts are just out to save a buck. This is astronomically more likely to occur in developed countries with high labor costs where it is cheaper to fork over your room and board than to pay a hired laborer the minimum wage. Listings for this type of host are easily spotted by the requirement of long work days, little time off, limited interaction with the family and a lack of cultural activities. This is not the norm, but it is something to be aware of when choosing a host.

2) The Cult

Often you’ll find WWOOF listings for a group of people who have an established commune or independent community. Should you be in the market for an independent, sustainable community, look no further. This sort of host group generally has more strict rules and regulations than individual hosts. If you want to work a bit and party a lot, this type of host will probably not be your best fit.

3) The Philanthropist

This particular host has you around because he or she is really excited about the organic movement and is passionate about cultural interaction with people from all over the globe. If you’re lucky to find a philanthropist host, you can expect to earn your keep but to also enjoy a significant amount of time exchanging ideas and knowledge with your host family. You’ll work hard, but you’ll have the chance to learn and play hard too.

4) The Student

Oftentimes hosts will list for WWOOFers who have certain skills or knowledge about anything from carpentry to permaculture. These hosts may be new to the field of organic production or they may just need a chicken house build. Either way, those of you who have specialized skills that may in any way apply to organic farming will have a much easier time finding a host. If you can teach them, the hosts will welcome you with open arms. Should you be knowledgeable in the field of organic farming, get out there and spread the love with these hosts.

5) The Hostel

Unfortunately, some hostels and B&B’s have caught on to WWOOF as a sort of “backpacker trap” to lure unsuspecting backpackers in to a paid room. They list for help in the hostel or maybe helping out with the kitchen garden. But once you contact this sort of host, they inevitably don’t have space for a WWOOFer but are more than willing to take you on as a paying guest. Again, this is not the norm but it is something I have come across several times while WWOOFing.

6) The Family

Many hosts listed in various WWOOF member countries are families, complete with children and pets. As such, this flavor of host is more likely to accommodate WWOOFers with children and may provide a more comfortable experience for a woman WWOOFing solo. These are generally good folks who could use a little help around the house and like to expose their children to other cultures. If you’re WWOOFing with this sort of host, take a spice blend or something from your home that you can use to make dinner one night.

7) The Linguist

Linguist hosts can be either of two types: an expat or a learner. Say you grew up in Northern California and you suddenly find yourself married to a Spaniard and living on a farm in Catalonia. This type of host may be a bit homesick and looking to speak his or her native language. Other hosts speak more languages than a polyglot, and are happy to accept WWOOFers who are proficient in the language they are learning at the moment. If you’re fluent in Japanese or Chinese or Arabic, this could be the place for you.

How to Score a WWOOF Host

First, you have to decide where you’re going. Countries with more developed WWOOF programs have country specific organizations you must join. The fee to join is nominal but if you’re planning to WWOOF in several countries who have national organizations in place, you will need to join each. Countries who do not have many hosts may be found under WWOOF independents. Once you’ve decided where you’re traveling, you’ve got to do the ground work.

You’re probably going to have to contact scores of WWOOF hosts to find one who will have space for you, so be prepared. This is especially true in high cost, popular travel destinations during the busy season. Read each host’s listing and expectations thoroughly and decide what you can deal with realistically. If you can’t sleep in a tent and use a compost toilet, don’t waste your or your potential host’s time.

If you seem like a good match, contact them (probably through email) and provide an introduction to yourself. These hosts receive numerous requests and you want yours to stand out. This is your cover letter and resume (or CV) to get the volunteer “job.” Talk a bit about why you want to work for them in particular and mention a thing or two from the listing. Be personal, be fun, and let your host know how hard you plan to work for them. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hear back from every single host, and good luck!

By Carrie Thompson

[Red Dog Farm by Egan Snow/Flickr; Getting Ready for Lunch by Michael Cannon/Flickr; WWOOFing by strikeael/Flickr]

About the Author

Carrie Thompson is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, but now spends what little time she has on American soil in fancy Brooklyn marvelling at the variety shows and plethora of baby strollers. Carrie began her freelance career writing for BusinessTravelLogue and CarribbeanLogue. Her work may also be found at BootsnAll, IrelandLogue, AustrailiaBlog, WhyGo Austraila and The Expeditioner.

The post How To Volunteer With WWOOFs appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

By Carrie Thompson

Love can strike you anytime, anywhere, especially when you’re traveling. It’s like the Swine Flu of emotions. Whether you’re traveling with a long-time partner, or sharing a brief kiss outside a club, there is no doubt romance and traveling go together like nothing else. Of course there are all sorts and durations of love and relationships, so lets have a look at eight of the most common.

1) Love The One You’re With

There is nothing at all wrong with the random travel fling now and again, provided you’re both single and willing. Why not? You’re out in the world having the time of your life. So if you find yourself dancing barefoot with a beautiful Frenchman in Colombia, or making out with a Brit like two shipwrecked refugees in the Caribbean, good for you. If you decide to take things a bit further than a little harmless kissing, be sure to protect yourself. I don’t know about you, but my idea of a vacation souvenir doesn’t involve something penicillin won’t shake. If that’s the sort of activity on your travel itinerary, you might want to bring along supplies yourself. Protection can be hard to come by in certain parts of the world. Oh, and if you’re considering taking Mr. or Ms. Wonderful back to your hostel room, please make sure you don’t get yourself kicked out of the hostel. Maybe that hammock on the beach is the better alternative to a dorm full of sleepy travelers.

2) Different Area Codes

There is an old saying — like from the 90’s — that when you’re in a different area code from your current girlfriend or boyfriend, you’re free and clear to do what you like. Forget area codes, what if you’re on a completely different continent? Or what if you cross the International Date Line? I’m not one to judge, but I think if you’re traveling for an extended time, keeping a significant other back home (without an express understanding along the lines of “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”) is a monumentally bad idea. Really, if you’re beginning your round-the-world-trip, your goal should be to minimize your baggage, not to leave him or her behind. Travelers often do hook up with other travelers. I’m just saying, why put yourself and someone else through it? Just break it off (or take a break) before you leave. On the other hand, I have met travelers who were 100% faithful to the girlfriend or boyfriend back home, despite all of the temptation in the world.

3) The Couple That Travels Together

Traveling with your significant other can pose significant challenges and rewards. You want to experience the culture and the travel community, but you still want some time to enjoy one another. Balance, in this particular situation, is the key. Spend time in the hostel getting to know your fellow travelers, but generally you’ll want to spring for a private room if the budget affords.

If you find a person or a few people going in the same direction, traveling in a group can improve your dynamic and change things up a bit. In real life, a couple doesn’t spend every waking minute together. It’s unreasonable to think that you should do so just because you’re far away from home.

I asked my friend and avid traveler Heather about this subject, as she travels with her husband frequently. “You always need to remember to be flexible and have a sense of humor, and support each other,” she says. “Most importantly, remember to extend the same polite consideration to each other as you would any random travelmate. If you are a museum person and your partner is a nightclub person, remember to compromise. You can both give input into an itinerary that benefits you both. Nothing causes a fight like one partner not pulling his or her fair share of the planning. The benefits of a partner can also reduce your travel stress considerably. I do also have to say, it is far more comforting to puke your guts up in a palm thatch hut with someone you know than a room full of strangers.”

She also points out the benefits of traveling with a significant other. “Traveling with a partner also includes familiarity with each other’s habits, likes and dislikes.” And what about those couples that just don’t get along on the road? Perhaps travel is just the thing to put that relationship in perspective. “If you can’t get along while you travel, perhaps the relationship needs a bit of a health check anyway,” she adds.

4) Well, Hello There

Crushing on a fellow traveler is not only normal, but honest to goodness reasonable. They’re interested in the whole travel culture, and they have similar experiences and goals. You meet in some romantic, exotic locale and you instantly feel a certain kinship for meeting this person so far from home.

Can it work? I think so. One of my friends and co-workers met her Scottish boyfriend while he was traveling in New York City. Their first kiss was at midnight on New Year’s Eve two years ago and they’re still together today. Even though they live in very different places, they make an effort to spend time together at least once a month. While they don’t have any big plans as of yet, I bet they’ll be telling that story to their grandchildren one day. Another couple I had the pleasure of traveling with were from the United Kingdom and Argentina. They met in New Zealand, fell in love, and are now living happily in Buenos Aires.

5) Cultural Immersion

It is not all all unlikely you’ll meet a local if you spend any significant amount of time in one place. In fact, I’m sure you’ll meet tons of locals, but getting really involved with one is a different story. It’s a story that happens pretty often. Say you’re spending a year in Australia studying and your neighbor is some super hot Aussie, complete with the great accent, why wouldn’t you want to date this person? You will need to be aware of cultural differences and learn a little bit about what being in a relationship with a person of that background really means.

I don’t want to doubt your local romance, but be aware that he or she could just be on the hunt for a visa. (Something I learned first-hand by a particularly handsome man in Brazil). Lots of people are looking for the opportunity to relocate to a different country. If you aren’t cautious, you might just be somebody’s meal ticket.

Taking that super hot motorcycle taxi driver with a 6th grade education home to live in Indiana with you may not really be the best plan. There are, however, countless people I have met who have successful relationships with “locals” from other countries. The difference is that they generally stay in the country where they met.

6) On The Prowl

Of course, there are people who travel with the specific intention of meeting someone while on the road — something akin to a hunt or a big game safari (a man/woman hunt if you will). When you do meet some amazing fellow traveler, be cautious you aren’t being snagged by one of these praying mantises. Unless, of course, you want to be.

However, beware of those looking just to get a notch on their belts in every city or country they visit. If you hear something like, “I’ve never messed around with anyone while traveling before,” beware, you just might be that notch.

7) You Can Buy Me Love

Like it or not, sex tourism does exist in many parts of the world. Whether it be a serious one-time-only business transaction or a local looking for a green card, love for hire most definitely does exist. I don’t feel obliged to go into the politics or moral issue of the whole thing, but I would like to acknowledge that people do frequent certain destinations for that specific purpose. As a woman, I’ve always suspected it would be cheaper to buy some girl dinner and a few Cosmopolitans, but I guess, to each their own.

8) Meet Me In Paris

It’s the stuff of Hollywood movies and teenage dreams. Girl meets boy on romantic journey. Girl and/or boy must return to real life. Girl and boy agree to meet someplace spectacular (and generally lofty) like the top of the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building on a given date. I’m not sure if this has ever actually worked for anyone, but the romantic in me genuinely hopes that it has. The romantic in me also thinks this may just be the very best kind of travel romance in the entire world.

The post The 8 Types Of Travel Romances appeared first on The Expeditioner Travel Site.

Looking for ways to avoid making enemies out of your fellow travelers? Here are 13 sure-fire ways to make your hostel hostile. Follow or risk deportation from your dorm.

By Carrie Thompson

1) Adult Relations

When people use the phrase “get a room” when you’re busy making out with the stranger you just met at the club, they do not mean a dorm room. Next time you meet a new travel “friend,” take him or her someplace else. The pool is always good, or try your own hostel room. If you happen to be in my room, I will turn on the lights and tell you to “get a room.” Trust me, that’s a pretty mild reaction. Some people have threatened to take photos, video or worse. Imagine that coming up on YouTube or in your Facebook videos for your friends to see. Smile for the camera.

2) Turning on the Lights

When you’re rolling in from the club solo at 3:00 a.m. and haven’t been lucky enough to meet Mr. or Ms. Right, you should not turn on the lights and wake up your seven roommates to get to your bed. Trust me, I’ve stumbled to my bunk and gone to sleep fully clothed enough times to know that it can be done . . . even in a skirt. Here’s a useful trick: If you know you’ll be in late and other people have to be up early, get your sleeping clothes out before you leave and put them someplace conspicuous on the bed. Makes more sense, doesn’t it?

3) Packing at Strange Hours

If you know your ride is leaving freakishly early in the morning, pack the night before. Nobody wants to wake up with you at 4:00 a.m. and listen while you fold your clothes, search for all your missing items, and zipper up your bag. Think of the others and plan ahead by packing before you even go to dinner (you know you’ll end up celebrating your “last night there” for longer than you’d planned).

4) Early Showers

If you know you’re leaving at some god-awful hour in the morning, use your head when it comes to appropriate shower times. Showering before the sun is up is just not okay. Pack and shower the night before; leave out your toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant for the morning. Besides waking people up, we all know what happens when a person has had a few cervezas before they go to bed then hears running water the next morning. You do not want to step out of the shower to an angry line of backpackers waiting for the toilet. Of course, if the shower isn’t in the room, bathe to your heart’s content, just don’t come back to the room and start packing up your bags (see #3).

5) Eating Other People’s Food

This is a cardinal rule. We’re all poor and trying to stretch every last peso, euro and baht. Just don’t steal other people’s food or drinks, ever, unless, of course you’ve been offered it.

6) Stealing

This one is really an extension of #5. Everyone knows stealing is wrong. Being part of the travel community means that we all must trust each other. This isn’t even a rule that should have to be mentioned, but it does happen every now and then. Seriously, we all have enough to worry about with pickpocketers, bag slashings, and backpacks going missing from buses. Especially those of us who travel solo and don’t have anyone to watch our backs every second. (By the way, you can rest assured that you’ll find nothing of value in my pack unless you’re looking for dirty laundry or tiny shampoo bottles.)

7) Snoring

We know you can’t help it, and we know many of you supposedly “only snore when you drink.” But if you know you snore so loud you rival a buzz saw, you can do everybody else a favor by buying some Breathe Right Strips at the Pharmacy and choosing a bed in the most remote corner of the room. Anyone who says they “don’t know” if they snore is either lying or an acutely lonely person.

8) Dirty Laundry

Leaving unmentionables where they need to be mentioned is a problem as well. I think I speak for most of the traveling community on this one. We do not want to look at your dirty drawers or smell your funky socks because they’re piled on the dorm floor. Use a laundry bag or get a locker. You never know, you could be the creator of an entirely new species of fungus after letting them marinate for a week.

9) Sleepovers

Sleepovers aren’t that big of a deal, but when you wake up in the morning with six people in your four-bedroom dorm it can be a little unnerving, especially when it’s supposed to be a single-sex dorm. If you do have a sleepover, at least be discreet, or try going back to their place. Who wants to be invited back to a dorm anyway?

10) Known Hostel Difficulties

If you know the shower on the first floor never has hot water or the door will only unlock if you jiggle the handle, share the love and pass that information along. I once stored a turkey sandwich in the refrigerator in our room. The next morning, after quite a long night in the bars, I got the sandwich out, took a huge bite, and only then realized it was covered in ants. I ate an ant sandwich. After freaking out for a minute, one of my dormmates said something along the lines of, “Oh, that fridge doesn’t work.” Too little, too late. Thanks, buddy.

11) Intestinal Difficulties

Believe it or not, there is something louder than a giant drunken Canadian man snoring like a freight train. We all know the frequency that travelers develop stomach issues. For the sake of your dormmates, if you’ve developed intestinal difficulties, either avoid eating beans and rice all day or take some sort of over-the-counter remedy. If you’re are trying to clear the room to have a sleepover, this is probably the way to do it.

12) Party in the Room

Having a party in the room is only okay if everyone in the room wants to have a party. Sitting up all night talking and giggling is not very respectful of your dormmates. Hostels come with “common areas” for you talk all you want while other people have a good sleep. Better yet, leave the hostel and head out into town. That’s why you’re there anyway, right?

13) Alarm Clocks

Sure, alarm clocks are fine when you need to get up early. Just don’t hit the snooze button over and over again, waking all of your roommates. One snooze is probably acceptable. Any further snoozes may cause you to have something thrown in your general direction.

* * *

For those new to traveling, don’t be afraid that an infraction of one of these rules is really likely to get you booted out of the hostel. The people you’ll meet on the road are likely to be among the most tolerant and friendly you’re going to meet on the planet, and treating others with respect while traveling will earn you new friends from every walk of life. Overall, if you use a tiny bit of common sense and keep in mind you’re living in close quarters with strangers from all over the planet, you’ll be fine.

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