How to plan an Alternative Break abroad

In order to plan an alternative break abroad you need to take several things into consideration. First of all, are you able to speak the same language as the country you are traveling to? If not you can do one of two things, you can hire a translator while you are in country or you can hire a service learning tour company to plan your trip that provides a full time bilingual guide. If you hire a translator, make sure you do this first before you pay for your airline tickets. We recommend an organization like - http://www.translationdirectory.com . Secondly you need to plan much farther out than a domestic alternative break. Our suggestion is that you plan at least 6 months out before you travel to this international destination. Thirdly, you must take all safety precautions into account. For example a country like Costa Rica is relatively safe, but traveling to Colombia, Haiti or Bolivia might present a whole host of safety and medical issues. And finally you will want to educate yourself about the various countries so you make the best possible choice for your international break. I have many people that ask me for my advice on doing an alternative break to Haiti. Although there is an amazing need in Haiti, there are also a high amount of safety issues to be concerned about. Some groups have chosen to help in the Dominican Republic near the Haitian border. This way there are less safety issues to be concerned with while providing indirect aid to Haiti. Feel free to contact Appleseed Expeditions directly via email at info@appleseedexpeditions.com if you need assistance planning a trip like this.

Click on this link to see the University of Alabama on a alternative break http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl3pMzuZdxke

Suggested strategy on planning your international alternative break;

1) Plan early for your trip. The longer you wait to organize you alternative break the more organizational issues will arise (i.e. limited accommodations or transportation issues). Airline tickets to international destinations are much more limited than ticket to domestic destinations. Therefore, tickets can double and even triple in price within a few weeks or months. Always try to buy your airlines tickets as early as possible. We also suggest buying them on Tuesday or Wednesday because airlines give specials on these days.

2) Contact the people you plan on serving. Many times these organizations can suggest local accommodation, affordable restaurants and other group needs that can make your trip affordable. Many of these service centers may house the group onsite and even prepare meals for the group. However, be aware that some organizations may house your group for an affordable rate, but safety and hygiene may then be a concern. This is especially true in third world countries. The best advice would to have the organization send you photos of the accommodations. You may also want to ask them about the neighborhood or area they will be staying in. Is it in a high crime region, does it have running water, do they provide clean water on site?

3) Which service, church, or non-profit organizations do you contact? The best place to start is with friends, families and associates. Many of these contacts might have a reference or a friend that is involved in an ongoing service project or faith based outreach. With our organization (Appleseed Expeditions) we start by contacting all of our contacts in other regions around the world. Many of these pastors, friends and leaders of service projects have associates in other countries that gladly welcome volunteers. You might also get online and Google or Yahoo orphanages or after-school mentoring programs. We have found several of our contacts abroad from this type of search

4) Contact references of the organization you are getting involved with. There are many tour scams abroad and they regard Americans as easy targets. This is even more prevalent for organizations that accept volunteers. Once you have retained a list of references, call them to get their advice on where to stay and how to help. These previous volunteers can even give you additional insight on what needs the volunteer site might have or how your group can be more effective while serving.

6) Contact the organization that you are serving abroad and ask them for a transportation contact. They will either help you hire a tour bus or provide one for your group. Be aware that many organizations that take volunteers abroad already have good connection with busing or transportation. I believe it's a red flag when an organization is hesitant or is not helpful in divulging this type of information.

7) Reserve hotels or accommodations. If you have a group of 8 or more travelers we would suggest that you try to reserve your hotel or housing at least 90 days out. The college break period (March through April) is usually the busiest time of year for many hotels and housing centers and they would rather not have a group sign up at the last minute. Most service project centers abroad have a good contact with somebody who has accommodations. Many of these service centers provide housing themselves. Hint; if you have never taken an alternative trip abroad either hire a service learning tour company like Appleseed Expeditions or work with a volunteer center in country that provides housing.

8) Plan extracurricular activities for your group. We have seen many groups go on a alternative break that was planned by an individual or school with poor feedback from the students. Many of these complaint where centered around having very little free time to get to know the people or places that they are serving. A good balance for a AB would be four or five days of service with one or two days of local activities. For instance when we had a university volunteering with our organization (Appleseed Expeditions) down in Costa Rica serving the refugee children, we incorporated one day kayaking, hiking a waterfall and a cultural dance immersion program.

Fundraising ideas for my alternative break

Step 1: Send a mass email to all your contacts in Twitter, Facebook , Linkedin, and your personal email.

In the body of your email be very descriptive about the project you will be helping with while on this alternative break. People who support alternative break initiatives want to feel like they donated to help with a specific project. Also include a Paypal donation tab that you can get directly from their site. Here is an example of a fundraising email; Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings! I am now in my fourth and final year in college. As I finish my schooling, I have been given the opportunity to go to Guatemala not only to further my education, and to serve with an alternative break team from my school.
On March, 15, I will be departing on a service learning trip to the coast of Guatemala for 7 days. From 1960 to 1996, Guatemala was involved in a civil war. Thousands of children were orphaned as a result. The purpose of this trip is to help build a medical clinic for the orphaned children living in Monte Rico Guatemala. We anticipate being able to lay the entire cement floor for this clinic in this 7 day period. I will be a part of several teams that will help construct this clinic. Monte Rico is a town that is fairly isolated and when children or adults get sick or have an emergency, they must travel up to 5 hours away to receive medical treatment. As a result many people end up dying on the way to receive medical treatment. With this clinic we will be able to provide medical treatment and aid to thousands of needy people.
The trip is being funded entirely through donations and by those going on the alternative break trip. Fund-raisers are being held by those going on the trip. Every penny collected will be used to directly benefit the children and people of Guatemala. Any unused supplies will be left with the representatives in Monte Rico.
I am excited about the opportunity to serve and, and I ask you to join me in this effort. I am seeking your support for this service trip. If you are able to assist with this trip, I would ask that you forward any donation to me with the check or money order payable to my school or community service department. An accounting of all funds will be available, should you desire to see it, upon our return from Guatemala.
I thank you in advance for your time and your financial support. May you be blessed richly!

If you care to donate please click on the Paypal icon and follow the instructions.
Sincerely, Jane Doe


Step 2: Make a list of contacts and send letters.

Make a list of contacts that you where not able to email and local businesses in your area. List all of their addresses and mail them a snail mail letter with the same content as the email. Make sure you put a pre-stamped letter in the your letter with your address on it so they can conveniently send you a donation.


Step 3: Other fundraising ideas;

Start a blog -Blogs For A Cause: is the perfect way to get a great looking blog,
Applebees- Dining to Donate 10% of sales for 5 hours!!!! All it took
was a phone call to the store Manager and I had 3 different dates!
Applebees even provides the flyer. All we have to do is print it and
pass it out. We are going to stand at the back of the church and
personally hand the flyer to each and everyone of our church members. In
addition, you can stand outside of Applebees and ask the customers
coming in the door to give a flyer to their waiter.
Parents Night Out- We are offering babysitting on a Saturday Night, from
6-10 at our church. We are request donations from parents. This is
simple and requires no upfront cost, just marketing.
Sell items around your house on Ebay. Some of the high ticket
items that were donated to our yard sale (a Barbie jeep, john deere kid
jeep, furniture, etc)
Go to local garage sales and buy stuff to sell on Ebay.

If you have any other questions feel free to contact us directly at www.appleseedexpeditions.com

How do I plan an alternative break?

Whether you are a school, community service center or an individual student, you might want to plan on going on an alternative break. The question however is how do I plan an alternative break? Your first step would be to determine a destination. In order to determine a destination you need to take inventory of your needs. Does your group benefit from a local trip or one abroad. If you or your group have never experienced or planned an alternative break, it would probably be wise to start with a service program either locally or within your local region. Once you have experienced some of the intricacies of group travel, you might then plan an alternative break abroad. The benefits of a local trip are familiarity with culture, transportation, communication and structure. If there is an emergency or student issue, it is easy to communicate to your school, leaders and parents. If a similar issue occurred abroad you might not have the same resources available to you like you would in your home country. Not that we are dismissing alternative breaks abroad, in fact we believe that the benefits from break abroad outweigh the potential issues that come with international travel, however we are just suggesting that you or your group leaders plan trips that are right for your students and help your leaders gain experience.

Suggested strategy on planning your alternative break;

1) Pick a destination that both benefits your students, trip leaders and the people you serve. Decide Who is going? What is the destination? What volunteer project best suits your group? For example do you have environmental majors or education students? Many groups choose a place within driving distance, while a few groups may choose an international destination. Groups should be able to help in a variety of ways from helping restore land, clean up parks, mentor children, to light construction. Other more skilled groups might be able to build a well or help construct a home.

2) Plan early for your trip. The longer you wait to organize you alternative break the more organizational issues will arise (i.e. limited accommodations or transportation issues)

3) Contact the people you plan on serving. Many times these organizations can suggest local accommodation, affordable restaurants and other group needs that can make your trip affordable. Some service centers may house the group onsite and even prepare meals for the group. However, be aware that many of these organizations may house your group for an affordable rate, but safety and hygiene may then be a concern. The best advice would to have a group leaders physically visit these centers long before your group arrives. If a personal visit is not feasible, then have the service related center send pictures of the housing facility that the group will be staying in. The worst scenario would be for your group to arrive and the housing facility does not have separate sleeping areas for male and females with little or no security on their doors.

4) Which service, churches, or non-profit organizations do you contact? The best place to start is with friends, families and associates. Many of these contacts might have a reference or a friend that is involved in an ongoing service project or faith based outreach. With our organization (Appleseed Expeditions) we start by contacting all of our contacts in other regions around the world. Many of these pastors, friends and leaders of service projects have associates in other countries that gladly welcome volunteers. You might also get online and Google or Yahoo orphanages or after-school mentoring programs. We have found several of our contacts abroad from this type of search. Several years ago we where looking to have our groups volunteer in the Florida Keys region. We started searching the web for orphanages or children’s mentoring programs, when we ran across RCMA (Redlands Christian Migrant Association).

5) Contact references of the organization you are getting involved with. There are many tour scams domestically and abroad. This is even more prevalent for organizations that accept volunteers. Once you have retained a list of references, call them to get their advice on where to stay and how to help. These previous volunteers can even give you additional insight on what needs the volunteer site might have or how your group can be more effective while serving.

6) Purchase transportation as early as possible. The myth that many people believe is that you get deeper discounts if you are traveling in a group. This may apply in some areas, but not with flights. Airlines only have a limited number of discounted seats on their planes and they would rather sell these to individuals not groups.

7) Reserve hotels or accommodations. If you have a group of 8 or more travelers we would suggest that you try to reserve your hotel or housing at least 90 days out. The college break period (March through April) is usually the busiest time of year for many hotels and housing centers and they would rather not have a group sign up at the last minute.

8) Plan extracurricular activities for your group. We have seen many groups go on a alternative break that was planned by an individual or school with poor feedback from the students. Many of these complaint where centered around having very little free time to get to know the people or places that they are serving. A good balance for a AB would be four or five days of service with one or two days of local activities. For instance when we had a university volunteering with our organization (Appleseed Expeditions) down in homestead serving the migrant children, we incorporated one day kayaking and another experiencing the Everglades.


Please feel free to contact Appleseed Expeditions about any alternative break question you might have. We can also plan any future alternative breaks for you and your school. Just go to www.appleseedexpeditions.com

Read more: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoheekan/2/1300707685/tpod.html?view=preview#ixzz1HFqxYMrX

Why should I take an alternative college break?

Many students are taking an alternative break this year rather than taking the traditional spring break. First of all what is an alternative college break? An alternative break is a service learning tour for college students where they use their education and skill sets to aid others. The benefits are many to the people they serve from providing water and food to people in need to mentoring underprivileged children. What is the benefit to the student traveler? One student from the University of Alabama who is studying computer engineering said that these travel experiences help him gain a clearer focus on his career goals. He goes on to say that he plans on starting a retirement home in his home country of India. In his country there are few homes for the elderly and many old people end up living on the streets. He hopes that being involved in service learning trips will help him continue to grow desire to help others.

Appleseed Expeditions promotes compassion for people who are less fortunate in our global communities. Some of our groups help developing or poor communities by providing technology, education or filtration systems that help with sanitation. We believe that community service and global travel provides a way not only to gain a deeper understanding of another country, but it also allows the students to understand their place in the world and how they can use their education and passions to change it.

So why should you take an alternative break? The answer can be complicated because each of us has our own reasons for serving others. One thing is for sure, is that when we serve others it changes how we treat others and how we view our global communities.

Here are a few of the benefits that the student may receive from traveling on an Alternative Break.

1 – Enhanced self discovery
2 – Improved mental and physical health
3 – Increases knowledge of what is learned in the classroom to the “real world”
4 – A greater sense of purpose
5 – Greater desire for community involvement
6 – Increased desire to be involved in global issues
- Resources- American’s Changing Lives Study by Peggy Thoits (Vanderbilt, 2003)

For more information contact us directly at jmoore@appleseedexpeditions.com or go to our website at