Volunteering - your gateway to free travel?

In Feb’24, when I went to volunteer in Varkala, I posted about it on social media. To my surprise, a lot of people knew very little about it. So here I am, writing this post to share my experience & everything I know about volunteering.

In this post, I will answer the following questions:

1. What is volunteering?

2. How did I get the opportunity & why did I sign up for it?

3. My roles & responsibilities as a volunteer?

4. What are the different volunteering roles available in travel space?

5. What is the typical duration for something like this?

6. Who is it for? Who is it not for?

7. How to find such opportunities?

8. My overall experience - the good, the bad & learnings.

9. How did it help my surfing journey?

What is volunteering?

Volunteering is essentially working for a cause without getting paid. However, in the travel industry, it’s a barter. You work in exchange for free stay & food.

How did I get this opportunity and why did I sign up for it?

I went to Varkala for the first time in Dec’23 & fell in love with surfing instantly.

I spent ~60K over a 18-day trip. During the trip, I took 8 surfing lessons, celebrated Christmas with new friends & New Year’s with old friends. A lot of this cost was due to peak season travel.

I realised that to become a surfer, I would need to go surfing consistently for a longer duration. And I definitely did not want to spend ₹1.5K per lesson (yes, it is an expensive sport).

So one day, after the surfing lesson, someone from the surf school mentioned that they’re looking for volunteers. And I signed up to volunteer for them in Feb. The deal was that I help them and in exchange, I get to surf for free along with accommodation & meals & a little stipend.

What were my roles & responsibilities as a volunteer?

Help with operations in the morning, man the shop in the evening & handle social media.

Sounds too vague?

Here’s what a day really looked like for me:

6 to 6:45 am: Follow up with folks coming for the session, track cancellations, co-ordinate transportation for picking up people. Then head to the surf beach.

7:30 to 9 am: Surf session: Take some photos & videos and surf.

11:30 am: Get back home after breakfast (sometimes this stretched to even 12 pm)

12 to 4:30 pm: Take a shower, work for a bit, lunch, take a nap.

4:30 pm: Get ready & leave for the surf shop.

5 to 8 pm: Man the shop, talk to walk-in customers, take bookings, attend calls, post stories on IG. I would carry my laptop to the shop. So basically, I could work on my own thing during this time. However, it was difficult to do any sort of focused work.

8 pm: Hand over the shop to colleagues. Get dinner, sometimes a couple of drinks & maybe go for a party.

…and repeat!

This might sound really chill but it actually felt more work than a 8 hour work day. This, combined with the fact that surfing is a tiring sport & the fact that I don't do well in very hot weather (I get exhausted very soon when it's hot).

But hey, different volunteering roles involve different type of work.

What are the different volunteering roles available in travel space?

Hostels offer different roles such as:

• Community Manager/Vibe Curator: You organise different events for guests, make sure people are having fun, interacting with them.

• Front desk manager: Help with check-ins, take payments, etc.

• Cafe Manager: Take orders, collect payments, bring people their food, interact with the guests.

• Social Media Management

For a surf school, you can also sign up for a photography gig (yes, I know someone who volunteered at a surf school in Mulki & their job was to take photos during the sessions)

What is the typical duration for something like this?

Minimum duration is usually 1 month. Maximum depends on the seasonality of the place. It can go upto 3-4 months in certain places.

Who is it for? Who is it not for?

A: It is for you if:

• You’re taking a break/sabbatical from work & want to live in a nice destination without burning your savings.

• You want to eventually get into travel business. You can really learn ins & outs of how things work without spending anything. It's also a great networking opportunity.

• You want to try something new. It’s perfect that way. It's short-term commitment & you get to do hands-on work.

• If you’re in college, it is the best thing to do in your semester breaks. Travelling has enhanced my personality so much (more about it in a different post). But I had to spend so much money to travel. You can do it for free because you have time on your hands. Learn, meet new people, get new perspectives, can't recommend it enough.

It is not for you if:

• You have a full time job where you need to do significant amount of focused work.

How to find such opportunities?

If there’s a specific destination where you want to live at, you can reach out to backpacker hostels in that area.

Alternatively, hostels post about vacancies on their social media pages.

Going forward, when I come across any open positions, I will post about it on my newsletter & social media pages (IG/X). So you can just follow me to stay updated.

My overall experience - the good, the bad & learnings...

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my overall experience as 8.

Learning: 10/10

• A lot of things about surfing & surfing business. I guess I can start my own surf school now 😛

• I got the discipline to wake up everyday at 5:30 am.

• Improved my sales skills.

...and a lot more. There is so much which I can't comprehend or recall at this time.

Standard of living: 5/10

I expected my life while working in Varkala would be similar to my life when I was travelling in Varkala.

However, it was quite different.

When I was travelling:

• I was living in spaces where I could meet people easily.

• I had the freedom to leave whenever I wanted to. I am someone who travels without a return ticket. So whenever I feel like moving to a new destination or going back home, I do that. Here, I had the 1-month commitment.

• It can be hard to make friends because people you spend time with are either colleagues or customers.

• I avoid living in extreme weather conditions (if it's too hot or too cold, I move somewhere else). Here, it was quite hot & sitting at the shop in the hot weather was really tiring. Gotta be more mindful while taking these decisions from next time.

Amount of work: 5/10

It was a lot more work than what I had signed up for. The roles & responsibilities question answers this in detail.

Networking: 10/10

I made really good connections & friends. Since I am in travel industry, it was a win-win for me. I used all the connects & was able to host 2 successful surfing trips in March.

How did it help my surfing journey?

I am still not a surfer :P

It takes more than a month to really be able to surf. Also, when it comes to anything that involves physical activity, I am a slow learner.

What I liked about the whole thing was that I got to experiment & try different boards. I learnt from different instructors. I could surf during different wave conditions. There were days when there were only baby waves. Then there were days when the waves were huge.

Will I go surfing again? Definitely! It can be a lifetime sport for me. Whenever I travel to a surfing destination, I'll just take a board & go catch some waves. Maybe my travel can be more intentional that way.

Conclusion:

To sum it up, my time volunteering in Varkala was a rollercoaster of learning, challenges, fun & personal & professional growth.

For anyone thinking about volunteering, just do it. Go with an open mind, make sure to discuss the expectations & responsibilities beforehand. And most importantly, don't forget to have fun!!

Got more to discuss? Drop me a line at somya@themodernnomads.in!

See you soon somewhere while traveling! 😊

Somya