• Asia,  Thailand

    Best of both worlds: Vacationing and Volunteering

    Love the satisfaction and helpfulness you feel when you have completed a volunteer project? Craving some vacation time away from the office?  Voluntourism, or volunteer travel, combines your need for a break away from the mundane to an exciting place while simultaneously filling that humanitarian instinct. Champion a Cause Do you have something that’s important to you?  Show you care and find a group, a travel company or non profit that offers a program for you to be able to help build a house, help a sick or endangered animal or rebuild a community after a natural disaster.  If nothing comes to mind right away, no problem!  This may be…

  • Asia,  California,  Canada,  Europe,  France,  Ireland,  North America,  Northern Ireland,  Pennsylvania,  Scotland,  Thailand,  UK

    My 13 memorable moments of 2013

    It’s the last day of 2013!  What an amazing, exciting and rewarding year I’ve had and I can’t wait to see what awaits in the coming year.  Until then, here is a list of my thirteen best moments of 2013 in no particular order!  Enjoy and have a happy new year! 13.  Behind the scenes at Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco, California. As a child you dream of being an oceanographer, a Sea World employee (until you watch Blackfish) swimming with the dolphins or in a job surrounding yourself with wildlife for your 9 – 5.  The Aquarium by the Bay in San Francisco makes you feel like…

  • Asia,  Thailand

    World Elephant Day 2013

    What kind of elephant lover am I that I was unaware of World Elephant Day until the eleventh hour!  Once I found out I immediately took the opportunity to pull up my hundreds of photos from my experience at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand and write about my experience.  When I first was planning my trip to Thailand, I excitedly did some research into what exotic things I could do and see while there and the first thing I looked into was going on an elephant trek.  Riding elephants, I mean what American wouldn’t love that right?  The more I looked into riding the elephants the worse I…