Are you looking for a more meaningful travel experience? Do you want to give back to the communities you visit, make a genuine connection with locals, meet like-minded travellers and build your skills? International volunteering opens up all these opportunities and this book has all the advice you need to get there. Much more than just a resource directory, Volunteer is packed with invaluable information and full-colour inspiration to get you planning your perfect short- or long-term volunteer experience anywhere in the world. Whether it's monitoring sea turtles in Greece, helping set up handicraft businesses in Ghana or building community centres in Guatemala, you'll find amazing opportunities in this fully updated, comprehensive new edition. Written by passionate, well-travelled Lonely Planet writers advised by a team of experts in the field, this user-friendly guide promises to make your plans a reality. Chapters include: 1. International volunteering: an overview 2. Choosing your volunteer experience 3. The practicalities 4. Tying up loose ends 5. Organised volunteer programmes 6. Structured and self-funding volunteer programmes 7. Religious organisations 8. Do-it-yourself volunteer placements 9. Coming home 10. Starting your own charitable project About Lonely Planet: Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. The world awaits! Lonely Planet guides have won the TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times