Travel with a Cause or Cost?

Tell you what, traveling is costly. Oh. As if you don't know that yet. Just simply going to your friend's house costs you something. What more with traveling, right?

Smart travelers plan their travels well. Strictly follow their itinerary and budget to lessen the possibility of running out of money while traveling. However, some travelers do not have any itinerary and are running out of money but still surviving. How? By taking advantage of volunteering gigs.

I am a bum. I don't plan. I travel. I did not imagine myself helping others when I first started traveling. I travel to see the world, not to make a better one. Compassion was not even in vocabulary.  My friends can attest to that. But when I was running out of money, I had to do something. Even though I work online, it was not enough to continue my lifestyle. So I checked online to see what else can I do to sustain my travels. And I came across with a volunteering website and read about a project that provides free accommodation, meals and transportation with occasional sight seeing in exchange of teaching English less fortunate children in rural areas in Northern Vietnam. I am not good with kids but still, I sent an email to the organizer that I want in. All I wanted was to get those freebies.  

The project organizer accepted me as one of their volunteers. So we traveled from Hanoi to a small town in the north. We arrived late in the evening so I did not see much of the town. The next morning, we went to a primary public school. We were on our way to one of the classrooms and shockingly all the students, even the teachers, went out of their classrooms to greet us. Felt like a rock star. They even asked autographs and took pictures with us. Talked with the kids for a couple of minutes. I saw excitement in their eyes. The urge to learn English, eagerness to talk with foreigners. I did not see it coming. I fell for it. I suddenly felt the need to help. It dawned to me how blessed I am to know different languages and there's a lot of people out there who wants to learn but they can't afford it. I may not be able to help global warming, but I can help these kids to have a better future. No more to language barrier. 

So yes, instead of my initial plan to volunteer for 2 weeks, I ended up volunteering for a few more months. I still get my free accommodation, meals and transportation. I now go to schools with my bicycle, it's a good way to loss weight because meals are really good here that I can't help but to eat more. Ah yes, the occasional sight seeing is true.

There is always a twist in the story. But we all want a happy ending.