By Natalie Gilbert

Halfway through walking my tenth dog in blazing forty-degree heat for an animal rescue centre in Japan, I wondered why on earth I had chosen the hottest time of year to volunteer my services.

Thankfully for me, the typhoons started mid-trip.

Tropical storms, political unrest, cultural differences and language barriers are all important things to consider when planning your volunteer trip abroad.

Cultural differences

Cultural differences are perhaps the most difficult factor to anticipate.

Within hours in Venezuela I felt part of the family who ran the animal shelter at which I volunteered. I was welcomed and made to feel very much at home - there were hugs and kisses after one introduction.

In Japan, I was into my fifth week and I still felt like a stranger: out of place and insignificant.

Of course, different people will have different experiences, so before you book a long placement, think about how you might react to a new culture.

How will you communicate? How easy will it be to get around, to ask for help, to get in touch with home? You will be a temporary resident and you have to take that seriously.

Always provide someone close to you with an itinerary and copies of important documents. Detail your route and consider the options carefully.

Costs

In the end, I arranged trips to Sri Lanka, Japan and Venezuela for nine months in total. It was actually cheaper for me to get a return flight to another continent, Asia, rather than go to consecutive placements in South America because costs for lodgings there were high, but free in Japan.

Costs are a big issue and the least you can expect is for your meals and lodgings to be provided to you free of charge in return for your hard work.

Of course, you can pay organisations in the UK to plan your trip for you.

However, independent trips to Japan and Venezuela provided me with much more satisfaction than an organised one to Sri Lanka, where I was not given more than a token one hour of work to do each morning.

Finding out

To ensure that you're not going to get ripped off, find out how much your potential placement values its volunteers. Make sure that you are going to be contributing in a way that will reward you and that your work will be utilised.

Think about what pleases you most: meeting new people, weekends off to go to the beach, independence, checking out temples or checking out bars, cities or open-spaces, running a project or just mucking in?

And what most turns you off: getting up early, creepy-crawlies, routine, spicy food, rainy seasons or long-distance flying?

Forget the dream in your head and get the cold hard facts: talk to people who have spent time in your destination country and to accomplished volunteers.

Get it right and you'll never regret it.

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