Traveling to distant countries, discovering foreign cultures and doing something meaningful at the same time – that is without a doubt more exciting than a beach holiday in El Arenal. Below we present five types of trips that go far beyond simply discovering new places and expand your horizons immensely:
Volunteering
If you want to give something back to the world, you can easily combine your trip with volunteering on site at your chosen travel destination. The possibilities are countless and varied: tutoring for disadvantaged children in South America, assisting in a children's hospital in South Africa, supporting local projects to combat poverty in India or ecological aid projects in Australia. In addition to the good feeling of doing something really meaningful, this type of travel enables a particularly deep immersion in other cultures and ways of life.
The
“Holiday with Meaning” list from the nonprofit Reset Foundation provides a good overview of various volunteer programs worldwide.
Internship abroad
An internship can help you find out what is really your thing and what direction you want to take in your career. But why not discover another culture at the same time, because you're slowly getting to know how everything works back home. An internship there would be totally boring ;) In addition, internships are always very welcome by future employers. If you have achieved this abroad, it shows that you are adaptable, flexible, open and can speak another language. It's also easy to make contacts through your workplace, so you definitely don't have to drink that beer alone after work :)
Language trips
The best way to gain access to another culture is to speak the local language. A
language trip is therefore a wonderful option, not only to significantly improve your language skills in the shortest possible time, but also to intensively engage with the culture of the travel destination. In addition, good language skills and international experience are a real plus for any CV. If you want to go one better, you can complete your language course abroad with an
official language certificate .
To learn something new
Everyone has something that they have always wanted to try out or learn, but unfortunately usually don't have the time for in everyday life. Be it yoga, surfing, an Italian cooking class or a course in landscape photography – all of this can easily be combined with a holiday trip. The range of this type of active holiday is constantly growing and some providers even offer the option of combining the desired
language programs abroad on site.
Road trip
If you really want to get to know a country or region, you shouldn't stay in one place alone. A road trip is ideal for exploring the different facets of a region, especially off the typical tourist trail. There is also something incredibly romantic about moving from one place to the next completely spontaneously and simply letting yourself be guided by the feeling of the moment.
If you don't have a spontaneous idea for a specific travel destination, you can simply follow one of the world's most famous routes, such as Route 66 or the Ocean Highway in the USA, the
Hringvegur in Iceland , Route 62 in South Africa or along the beautiful Amalfi Coast in Italy.
Couchsurfing
Nothing is better and more authentic than getting to know a new place through direct exchange with the locals. But of course it is not always an easy undertaking to really get in touch with the locals as a tourist. So-called “couch surfing” offers a good option. Fans of this type of travel specifically seek intensive exchange, are curious about foreign cultures and would like to experience them first-hand from locals and not through commercial tourism providers. If you would like to get in the mood for this really intensive type of travel, the books “Couchsurfing in Iran” and “Couchsurfing in Russia” by
Stephan Orth are highly recommended.
Traveling is now easier than ever before and there is no longer any excuse not to go out and explore the world extensively. Have lots of fun with it!
Below we present five types of trips that go far beyond simply discovering new places and expand your horizons immensely.
