Even the most seasoned travellers get homesick at some point, it may be for 5 minutes, it may for a few days… so don’t worry when you have that wobble and want to go home, it happens to the best of us and normally passes very quickly! Homesickness is a common worry, whether that be […]
Tag Archives | travel advice
India: A Volunteers Guide From Start To Finish: Part Five: Weekends
Becky’s fifth and final instalment covering her trip to India touches on travelling, whether at weekends or before/after your project, Kerala (and the rest of India!) has some amazing places that you can visit! Remember if you have missed her other posts, you can start from part one by clicking here! If you go travelling […]
Travel advice: Making the most out of your project
A common question we get asked is how to make the most of your project, this is especially true for volunteers doing a short term project, so we have written some tips below to help you make the most of your time overseas: *Have an idea for your first lesson plan ready for your first […]
Staying Safe Overseas
Staying safe whilst you’re overseas is really important whether you are a first time traveller or seasoned traveller, there are some important things that you need to remember, before and after your trip. Caroline’s Rainbow Foundation is a charity that is working to raise awareness of the importance of staying safe while travelling, especially to […]
Travelling Tip: Toilets
Kath McGuire has recent an excellent and insightful post about how to use toilets in Asia. Most recently Kath spent the summer in Thailand as the Country Coordinator for our Summer volunteers and found that a lot of volunteers were worried about using squat toilets. Kath has travelled and lived in India, Sri Lanka and […]
Student Leader Diary – India 2012 – Free time…what free time?!
In true context of this post, we have been so busy that we have not had time to write another post – so although this a little delayed… here is my next post about what we have been up to in our free time! We have managed to become involved in lots of different activities […]
Tips for Hand Washing Your Clothes
Washing your clothes while overseas can be an interesting experience. In my host family, watching me hand wash my clothes was something they found totally hilarious. No matter how many times I did it, and how many lessons I had, I never seemed to quite match up to their standards! These are some tips that […]
5 Things to See and Do in Chiang Rai, Thailand
Following on from our blog on what to see and do in Kerala – we didn’t want our Thailand volunteers to feel left out, so we got in contact with some of our past volunteers and have put together a list of top things to do in Thailand – after all you will want to […]
VESL’s visit to Sri Lanka 2012
Arriving in Sri Lanka I arrived in Sri Lanka half asleep in the afternoon, I was expecting the chaos that greeted me when I first arrived in India (hundreds of people pushing and shoving to complete forms and get through immigration) but arriving in Sri Lanka was unbelievably calm, I queued for immigration and was through […]
Help! It’s monsoon season!
A lot of our volunteers go out in the summer months to fit in around university and teaching holidays, unfortunately this means that it is monsoon season in Thailand, India and Sri Lanka! Locals will try and stay inside when it is monsoon rain but there are times where you get caught out in it…and […]
Pre-departure checklist…
Your overseas trip with VESL comes around surprisingly quickly, here is a quick check list for you to run through before you go so that you know you are prepared and have everything you need! Passport – your passport has at least 6 months remaining from the date that you plan to leave the country you are volunteering in […]
Help! I don’t know what to pack
It is really difficult knowing what to pack for your trip overseas, when I first packed to go travelling I had a HUGE pile of things to take and a backpack – there was no way that I was going to be able to take a quarter of the stuff I had originally planned on […]
Ten Tips On Staying Safe Overseas
A lot of people worry about safety overseas, so here is a collection of advice to help you stay safe and assure you there is no need to panic! 1. Money belt 2. Large sums of money It is often easier to take large sums of money out of an ATM because a) you don’t […]
5 Things To See & Do in Kerala
After all the hard work that you put in during the week, the weekends are a great opportunity to explore the area around you. Kerala is famously known as ‘God’s own country’ because of its beauty and there are plenty of things to see and do, but here is what I consider the top five […]
