Looking for a Spring break adventure that will create lasting memories and instill a sense of social responsibility and result in more compassion and caring for our planet? Consider joining one of Global Family Travels’ community-based travel opportunities to Learn, Serve and Immerse. This powerful combination of learning, community service and immersive travel enables our travelers to benefit in profound ways, including personal growth and empowerment through service, expanded awareness of other cultures, and the strengthening of family bonds, and supports our host communities and their needs.
Sustainable Travel Experiences in Support of the Global Goals
Global Partnerships are vital to successful economic development, and sustainable tourism plays an important role in improving the lives of people and protecting our planet. Global Family Travels collaborates with many non-profit partners to help play our part by developing trips in alignment with several key United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), ultimately to help alleviate Poverty.
Our Learn, Serve & Immerse sustainable travel experiences support Global Goals such as quality education (goal #4) , access to clean water and sanitation (goal #6), conservation, gender equality (goal#5), life below water (goal #14) the preservation of local cultures, and economic growth and decent work (goal #8).
The impact of responsible travel has both a sustainable and transformational impact on people and places. Tourism is one of the driving forces of global economic growth, and currently accounts for 1 in 11 jobs worldwide. With access to decent work opportunities in the tourism sector, the global labor force, particularly youth and women, benefit from enhanced skills and professional development.
Meaningful 2020: Take a Discount on 5 Spring Break Trips to Learn, Serve & Immerse
Global Family Travels is now offering a special discount on 5 Spring Break Trips in 2020 to Learn, Serve & Immerse, trips that encourages travelers to embrace responsible travel to become more engaged with the world. These trips tackles some of the big issues of our day – climate change, endangered wildlife, quality education and gender equality- and take travelers to destinations that span the beautiful island of Bali, grasslands of Africa, Andean peaks of Peru, the island of Cuba, and rainforests of Costa Rica and beyond.
Special Discount: Book one of these Learn, Serve & Immerse trips below by March 1, 2020 and take $150 off per adult traveler by using the code MEANINGFUL2020.
Bali: Learn, Serve & Immerse (April 3-14, 2020)
Join us on a 12-day Learn, Serve & Immerse trip of Bali! An island famous for its stunning beaches, captivating culture and mystical traditions, you’ll learn about the Tri Hita Karana, the central philosophy of the Balinese people, enjoy a fun music workshop, witness a performance of the Balinese Legong dance, visit a water temple, sample the flavors of delicious Balinese cuisine, and explore the backroads of Bali’s heartland on two wheels.
More importantly, this trip offers opportunities to help address some global challenges that Bali faces. In Bali, and across Indonesia and Asia, there is a looming water crisis as ground water is consumed at an alarming rate in the tourism sector and other industries, and communities as well as marine life is being comprised by the alarming use of plastics . On this program you will learn about the challenges with plastics and clean water access in Bali and complete a service project alongside two organizations working to address the issue.
Learn more about Bali in our recent blog: 6 Lessons from Bali to help Create a Better World.
Costa Rica: Learn, Serve & Immerse (Custom Spring Dates)
On this 9-day deep dive into the Costa Rican rainforest, families stay with locals and work side by side on important conservation projects in Sarapiqui and Arenal. This incredible adventure balances working with local communities and conservationists, and fun activities such as exploring volcanoes, visiting wildlife reserves, relaxing at beaches and lagoons and attending chocolate-making and pottery workshops.
Your family will cultivate deep bonds with this coastal country through an immersive experiences and opportunities to work together on community projects to promote positive change. This trip can be customized for your family's dates.
Cuba: Explore & Color with Colorful Havana (Custom Spring Dates)
Discover the colors of Cuba and Support the Cuban People through the lens of Colorful Havana: Explore & Color book! This fun and immersive 7 -day trip to Cuba is for kids and adults alike!
On this trip, you will learn from authentic interactions with Cubans who are passionate about music, dance, visual arts, baseball, and cars, and who are happy to share their talents with visitors. Through the Explore & Color Book, you will learn about many of Havana's colorful locations, including 9 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the beautiful colonial cities of Trinidad and Cienfuegos.
A highlight of this trip is a day of engagement with Los Pocitos, a Havana community project in a neighborhood. The Project serves as the center of the Abakúa fraternal society, and an informal settlement unique for its active expressions of Afro-Cuban identities and contentious religious practices. While rich in culture, the people of Los Pocitos rely on an informal economy to subsist. We will learn about how this project has helped the community build more secure livelihoods by drawing on their strengths.
Note: This trip meets the requirements of the “Support for the Cuban People” license category and you can learn more in our recent blog: Why Now is the Perfect Time to Travel to Cuba.
Peru: Learn, Serve, Immerse on A Social Impact Trip (April 11-19)
Our Peru: Learn, Serve, Immerse trip mixes bucket-list experiences, like a trip to Machu Picchu, with the opportunity to visit the Patacancha indigenous community and support enterprising female artisans and their traditional weaving cooperative, as well as support the good work of Manos Unidas Peru, a non-profit school for special education in Cusco. Families will stay several days in a homestay with an Andean family, which provides a wonderfully intimate view of the local way of life, and will learn about the ancient history and cultures of the Sacred Valley, volunteer to help build a center for local female artisans, and be welcomed by the diverse Peruvian people who take pride in offering incredible services and experiences to visitors that include traditional foods, celebrations and festivals.
This tour has an emphasis on development, as it pertains to helping the local community improve their living conditions in Peru and will help travelers understand how Awamaki, our partner, approaches development in their work with female artisans.
Zimbabwe Safari & Painted Dog Conservation Adventure (Custom Spring Dates)
Immerse in the natural wonders and spectacular views of Victoria Falls, the Zambezi River, and Batoka Gorge. Located in southeastern Africa, Zimbabwe is known for its natural beauty, rich cultural heritage, several UNESCO World Heritage sites, and serene, crowd-free, and abundant wildlife parks.
This 10-day Conservation Safari in Zimbabwe offers the extraordinary opportunity work on a conservation project to save the beautiful African Painted Dog, one the most vulnerable species on the continent. We spend a conservation service day with the Painted Dog Research Trust which also operates a environmentally self-sustaining campus of education and conservation for the Szinda Community outside of Victoria Falls. Beyond employment and educational opportunities provided to the local community, they are also building a conservation community center and the first Conservation Primary School in Africa.
On this adventure, you will also learn about the history of Safari, while discovering the extraordinary wildlife thriving in the Hwange and Zambezi National Parks and support local communities bordering Hwange National Park and outside Victoria Falls through our local sustainable lodge partner.
These 5 Spring Break trips reflect Global Family Travels active commitment to travel that propagate our three pillars to Learn, Serve & Immerse, thereby building cultural bridges and fostering global citizens. In offering these responsible travel experiences, we provide for authentic engagement and collaboration with the communities we visit, and support their needs by creating inclusive and equitable economic opportunities. Responsible travel also respects the people who are our hosts, their culture and the places we visit. Plus, our travelers get the chance to experience the joy and fulfillment by working with the local community while making lifelong friends!