Would you like to have the ultimate guide to planning a luxury volunteer vacation with kids? From personal experience, and that of countless family clients over the years, I believe that the best way to achieve this is to include a hands–on, giving back component to your luxury family vacation.
Luxury Family Vacations
This is known as ‘voluntourism’ (volunteering + sightseeing), which has a bit of a bad rap these days – for good reason, in that exploitation has occurred by unscrupulous operators. How are Hands Up Holidays different? Lots of ways, but in a nutshell:
- Ours is a philanthro-volunteering model, which means that the main benefit our guests bring is the funding to buy the materials and employ local experts to do most of the work, and supervise our guests when they help with the finishing stages, and our guests benefit from the engagement, interaction with locals, and the feeling of satisfaction in playing a part in getting a project achieved
Examples of combining volunteering + sightseeing are:
• Help to build a house for an impoverished family in Cambodia, and relive Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider whilst exploring the temples of Angkor, and finish up by relaxing at eco-luxe Song Saa Resort on a private island;
• Renovate a low income school in South Africa, and combine that with family friendly safari, whale watching and kayaking with penguins; and
• Care for monkeys, parrots and more at a wildlife conservation project in Costa Rica and blend it with zip lining, rafting, snorkeling and surfing.
The team here at Hands Up Holidays is passionate about creating incredible itineraries that you and your family will love and cherish for years to come, which you can’t stop telling your friends about.
We do this using the E3 method: Explore, Experience, Enrich
E1: Explore
Encountering new destinations is one of the fundamental joys of travel: visiting sights that your children may have only read about or seen in movies is fantastic. A key part of our philosophy is to explore responsibly and sustainably, so that future generations can also enjoy them.
Fortunately, a growing number of luxury hotels realize the importance of being sustainable and preserving what makes their location so special, and we love to give them special attention and recommendations when preparing the itinerary for your luxury family vacation.
Each client receives a briefing pack on how to Explore responsibly, customized to your trip destination, but for now, here are some broad tips:
• Avoid plastic bottles and bring a reusable drinking container that can be refilled with clean drinking water each day
• Avoid plastic bags – bring your own bag from sustainable sources
• Do not give sweets to local children as dental hygiene is often poor; in fact, do not give anything directly to children as this can encourage begging
• Use local guides: they know the destination best, and by doing so, you are helping provide employment and encouraging local people to be trained and educated to qualify for well-paying guide jobs
• Choose the accommodation for your luxury family vacation that runs on sustainability principles.
These sustainability principles are myriad, but include:
o Using rain water and reusing shower water, using low flow shower heads, low
consumption toilets;
o Generating their own electricity, such as by solar, wind or hydro-means
o Actively recycling and composting
o Using energy efficient construction materials
o Conserving energy by turning off lights and appliances when not in use
o Hiring locally (and employing local people in senior positions)
o Planting native trees and plants in gardens
• Offset your carbon emissions (this is done on your behalf when you book with us)
• Learn some basic words in the local language of the destination you are visiting
• Learn what products use materials that are endangered so you can refrain from buying them
• Shop in small, locally owned businesses where possible
E2: Experience
Luxury family volunteer vacations are the perfect way to really get immersed in the local culture and Experience the richness of it. This is a critical component of all Hands Up Holidays trips.
Examples of cultural immersion are:
• A market visit led by an expert chef followed by a cooking lesson in Thailand;
• A curated private tour of Italy’s museums and art galleries;
• A tango lesson in Argentina;
• A traditional wood carving lesson with the Maori in New Zealand;
• A batik lesson in Indonesia;
• An ox-cart painting session in Costa Rica
E3: Enrich
“It was wonderful! We absolutely loved Cambodia – the hotel was perfect, our guides “T” and Suy were so nice and it all was enjoyable. We all wished that we had stayed longer in Cambodia and gone south to the beaches as well. As usual, you handled every detail
flawlessly, so all went very smoothly!”
Stephanie, family trip to Cambodia, from the USA
One of the wonderful things about travel is that it can both be Enriching for your family, and you can Enrich the people you interact with, or the wildlife you encounter. This is achieved by incorporating a meaningful
service volunteer component to your luxury family trip. It is even possible to Enrich and be Enriched in as
little as an afternoon, if structured properly – our specialty!
There really is a way to help to suit every family. Choose from:
- Building a home in Zambia, Guatemala, Ecuador, or Cambodia
- Being a reading partner in India or Laos
- Helping conserve elephants in India, Sri Lanka or Thailand
- Conserving other wildlife in Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia or South Africa
- Protecting turtles in Costa Rica, Turkey, or Greece
- Caring with disabled people in Georgia
Feeling inspired to try a luxury family volunteer vacation?
Get in touch for a no-obligation chat (or email exchange, whatever you prefer) to see if we are a good fit for you.