Quite possibly, volunteering while traveling is the most rewarding way to experience a destination. It’s an immersion into the local culture with a lasting social impact. For students, it opens their minds and their hearts, introduces them to privilege and empathy, and can ignite a new passion. Hostelling International USA (HI USA) recognizes this potential and doesn’t believe cost should get in the way.

Steph Dyson is a travel writer and educational volunteer who writers about adventurous travel and meaningful volunteering – two ways of travelling that she views as life-changing and accessible means of experiencing the world.

John Dwyer, of Over50andOverseas.com (read another of our interviews with him here!), notes, “In 1991 I joined the Peace Corps. My Peace Corps service in Guatemala in 1991-92 led to work as a United Nations Volunteer in the first elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Bosnian War. I have since worked elections in 12 other countries.

As a Massachusetts native who relocated to Pittsburgh in 2013, Deb Hopkins spent more than two decades in New England focusing on leveraging the energy and passion of dedicated volunteers to create meaningful change in the community. She served as the Executive Director of three organizations that relied heavily upon volunteer resources to improve the quality of life for at-risk children – CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for abused and neglected children), Junior Achievement, and Girls Inc.

Have you ever taken a trip where you felt as if you were on the outside looking in? That you were seeing the sights but just from a tourist’s point of view? Have you ever wished that you could connect with a place more, really get a glimpse of what life there is about?

5 Beautiful Places to Volunteer Around the World