Volunteering/travelling abroad alone.

[DH1875]

My daughter is looking to go travelling and maybe do some volunteering abroad. Catch is she i looking at doing it on her own. Have looked at camp America but wondering if anyone on here has done something and if so how they went about it.
Thanks.

[DH1875]

Great advice as usual guys 😆

[SChibs]

My auntie travelled alone 20 years ago. Across Russia, China, Cambodia etc, says it was one of the best things she's ever done.


You can also go on planned routes where you get a guide, accommodation, some food, etc for a set price. She would meet fellow travellers then maybe go off and do her own thing after. Loads of people travel alone and have an amazing time

[Bridge hibs]

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Great advice as usual guys 😆

Cant really advise mate but many years ago my Daughter had plans to do the same, she is street wise and can handle herself but I literally had kittens just at the thought of her doing this alone, probably more because as intelligent as she is her geography and history are very poor 🫣

My Wife however suggested similar, she is a great historian and similar knowledge with regards geography, I really encouraged her and even suggested I pack her case, she never took the hint 🤣

[DH1875]

I think im just being the worried, over protective father but the idea of her just going on her own to far away lands worries me. She is still only young (19) but at the same time I get it and wish I had done it. Just looking for the best way to do it so she has some sort of plan.

[Bridge hibs]

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I think im just being the worried, over protective father but the idea of her just going on her own to far away lands worries me. She is still only young (19) but at the same time I get it and wish I had done it. Just looking for the best way to do it so she has some sort of plan.

I understand your worries mate as a Dad, its natural though and your Daughter would appreciate that too. I know folk who done similar many years ago with one getting to New Zealand and stayed there, now with Husband, kids and Grand kids

Also that was before tech, I think they had very primitive versions of mobile phones. Nowadays you have face time and all the mod cons so you would probably not feel as distant, like you say though, its a chance of a lifetime and she may only get one chance

[hibsbollah]

I travelled abroad solo as an 18 yo, but it was many years ago, (last millennium, pre-internet!) so the lessons learned are probably very different.

If she’s looking to work hard while doing it, wwoofers is a good route? Meet lots of interesting people and build some practical skills.

https://wwoof.net/

[Jack]

I love travelling and so do my kids.

My youngest son (20 at the time) looked into all sorts of stuff from helping refugees at Calais to stuff in Africa and Asia. It was always through agencies and to be honest I thought they had a bit of a cheek charging as much as they did. On the other hand they provided lots of safety nets. Alas it all fell apart as just as he was about to go covid hit.

As for a 19 year old girl travelling solo. I assume you mean absolutely solo, no mates?

I think that's just madness. There's parts of Edinburgh single people should be wary of walking alone! When travelling the world you really need a travel buddy or two, even if its just putting on sun tan lotion 😆

[hibsbollah]

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I love travelling and so do my kids.

My youngest son (20 at the time) looked into all sorts of stuff from helping refugees at Calais to stuff in Africa and Asia. It was always through agencies and to be honest I thought they had a bit of a cheek charging as much as they did. On the other hand they provided lots of safety nets. Alas it all fell apart as just as he was about to go covid hit.

As for a 19 year old girl travelling solo. I assume you mean absolutely solo, no mates?

I think that's just madness. There's parts of Edinburgh single people should be wary of walking alone! When travelling the world you really need a travel buddy or two, even if its just putting on sun tan lotion 😆

My daughter travelled extensively with another female friend in her early twenties and a few countries were just unbearable for being pestered. She said India was the worst, Egypt too.

[Allant1981]

The wife's cousin has just came back from 6 months travelling, Australia, Vietnam, Singapore, you name it she visited, made loads of friends, done loads of different things and made loads of pals as she travelled. She is back for 6 months to get some money together to head away again next year

[Stairway 2 7]

I think South East Asia and Australia is the way to go for single girls. There is a massive network and infrastructure set up for travellers. She would find lots of friends easily in the backpackers. Lots of work in Australia and you can save up and have a great time with the people you meet, when they go on to Thailand as they often do

[mvteng]

I've got 2 friends daughters that went alone to Africa with Project Trust.

seemed really well organised & both had amazing experiences

[DaveF]

My daughter has just signed up for camp America next year. She did it all on her own - lengthy interviews, scouted the place she was going to, reviews etc - and for travelling she will be going over with 2 other young girls from elsewhere in Scotland.

If you need to know anything about her experience, let me know and I'll find out.

[DinkyTwo]

Haven't done any volunteering, but I travelled to Costa Rica myself a few years back (I was in my late 20s). Stayed for a couple of months, ended up in Texas to visit people I'd met during my travels before coming home.

Best experience of my life.

I stayed with a Spanish school in accomodation they had for adult learners. Made tons of pals there before doing a pre-arranged 2 week guided tour of the country. After that I backpacked with the friends I'd made during that leg of the trip for the rest of my time there.

The language barrier at times was challenging, even though I'm quite conversational in Spanish.

I'd say that generally speaking, travelling any place where English is not the native langauge, expect very little English and colloquial accents outside of tourist hotspots. If you prepare for this, then hopefully you won't be caught in too tight a spot if you say, miss a transport connection in the middle of nowhere.

Download offline maps, learn key words for asking super simple logistical questions and download a translator app.

For making friends, keeping busy and seeing as much of the country as possible, having some sort of structure in place before I left was key.

Hope some of this is useful for anyone thinking of solo travelling

[DH1875]

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My daughter has just signed up for camp America next year. She did it all on her own - lengthy interviews, scouted the place she was going to, reviews etc - and for travelling she will be going over with 2 other young girls from elsewhere in Scotland.

If you need to know anything about her experience, let me know and I'll find out.

Where is she going and how does she know where she is going? When we looked it it said you didn't get to pick the camp. You can pick the type of camo though. The ones she saw were in Maine or up state New York in the middle of nowhere. She has until the end of this year to appply for next summer.

[beensaidbefore]

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I think South East Asia and Australia is the way to go for single girls. There is a massive network and infrastructure set up for travellers. She would find lots of friends easily in the backpackers. Lots of work in Australia and you can save up and have a great time with the people you meet, when they go on to Thailand as they often do

Was going to type similar. Tbh, it really depends how savvy she is and what she would do in an emergency. I think an honest chat and look as some of the less positve experiences of solo female travellers is important to put some perspective for. I did Thailand, Malaysia Cambodia, Vietnam and Oz over 15 months but never travelled solo apart from a couple of month in oz when I was more experienced. That was almost 20 years ago so a lot has changed, namely social media didn't really exist then. We were 3 reasonabley streetwise and handy young men in 20s and at times I found it a bit intimidating, places like Bangkok you could disappear at a moments notice. That said, it could happen here too. Only difference is here you can speak the lingo, read street signs etc so it feels less daunting.

It was the best thing I ever did but there are plenty horrible ***** out there, so a solo female traveller is much higher risk than anything I faced. Advise her to read and the read some more, ideally she puts the feelers out and one of her mates would go with her. Oz is generally very safe and if she stays at backpackes etc she would be amongst hundreds of other likeminded people.

Look at how countries treat their own women, if it's like a second class citizen, avoid. Thais and Cambodians were very respectful, didn't find the same in Malaysia.
I'd avoid India like the plague as a solo female.

19 is still quite young and despite how grown up she feels, big difference in life experiences say 23 or 24.

https://www.theflashpacker.net/safet...velling-alone/

[DaveF]

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Where is she going and how does she know where she is going? When we looked it it said you didn't get to pick the camp. You can pick the type of camo though. The ones she saw were in Maine or up state New York in the middle of nowhere. She has until the end of this year to appply for next summer.

She is going to a regular camp (not a religious or specific activity one) in Minnesota. It's 2hrs from St Paul so I'm glad she is travelling with others. I think she just applied for various places as she had interviews with 2 (the other being a girls only camp in South Carolina) and when was accepted by both, we looked over each and decided where to go.

I'll speak to her later and ask a bit more.

[DaveF]

Spoke with her this morning and she set me right. Said that when you submit the application, it's the camps who then contact the applicant and it goes from there. So, you can't choose where you go, it's the other way around. As I said earlier though, my daughter had 2 interviews and then selected the one she preferred.

I wasn't keen on her travelling alone so it was reassuring to know that the camp organisers had suggested / arranged for all the Scottish based applicants to get the same flight.

[DH1875]

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Spoke with her this morning and she set me right. Said that when you submit the application, it's the camps who then contact the applicant and it goes from there. So, you can't choose where you go, it's the other way around. As I said earlier though, my daughter had 2 interviews and then selected the one she preferred.

I wasn't keen on her travelling alone so it was reassuring to know that the camp organisers had suggested / arranged for all the Scottish based applicants to get the same flight.

Are they all going to Minnesota oor do they split up in New York to go to their camps?

[DaveF]

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Are they all going to Minnesota oor do they split up in New York to go to their camps?

All 3 are going to the same camp so I assume travel arrangements have been initiated by the camp staff. She's back from Uni tomorrow for a weekend stay so I'll ask more then.

[DH1875]

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All 3 are going to the same camp so I assume travel arrangements have been initiated by the camp staff. She's back from Uni tomorrow for a weekend stay so I'll ask more then.

Thanks👍.

[DaveF]

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Thanks👍.

Re travel, because there are 3 going to the same camp from Scotland, the camp will organise flights so that they all go together and are picked up as a group for onward journey to the camp. That may not happen, if the others decide to get alternative flights, but hopefully common sense wins out.

[DH1875]

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Re travel, because there are 3 going to the same camp from Scotland, the camp will organise flights so that they all go together and are picked up as a group for onward journey to the camp. That may not happen, if the others decide to get alternative flights, but hopefully common sense wins out.

We are gonna have a proper look at tge weekend. Had a look the other day but they have over 600 camps on the website. Had a look a camps in Minnesota out of interest but think she is too young for those as they say you need to be 21+ unless its the YMCA one.
She talking about going to Australia now but I am trying to convince her to try this for the 3 months and then if she liked it go to Australia. Give her a bit of experience first .

[DaveF]

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We are gonna have a proper look at tge weekend. Had a look the other day but they have over 600 camps on the website. Had a look a camps in Minnesota out of interest but think she is too young for those as they say you need to be 21+ unless its the YMCA one.
She talking about going to Australia now but I am trying to convince her to try this for the 3 months and then if she liked it go to Australia. Give her a bit of experience first .

Yeah, it's the YMCA one she is going to (she will be 19 by the time it comes around)

[DH1875]

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Yeah, it's the YMCA one she is going to (she will be 19 by the time it comes around)

You alright if I take this off the forum and private message you? Got a couple of more questions and stuff.

[Santa Cruz]

Might be handy for your daughter to read. A blog on travelling alone with a resources and tips section from the young man who produced the daily Covid stats - Travelling Tabby.


https://www.travellingtabby.com/resources-and-tips/