FrugalMonkey Discount Travel News

Tag: travel job

  • Volunteer Vacations

    We’ve mentioned before how volunteering can be a great way to spend your vacation time. It not only provides you with the opportunity to help people and experience new cultures and places, but volunteer experiences are a great way to boost up your resume for colleges, grad schools, and jobs.


    We also see volunteering as an amazing experience to travel and experience the world. If any of these things strikes your fancy, then read on and learn a little bit more about volunteering and travel!

    In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards volunteer vacations. Some of these vacations last months at a time, some last years (think Peace Corps), and others last just a week or two. On several of our FrugalMonkey pages we feature travel opportunities that surround the idea of volunteer vacations. Take some time to learn if a volunteer vacation is right for you, and get excited about unique and valuable vacation opportunities.

    If you want your volunteer vacation to have a ‘green’ approach, then consider learning more about an eco volunteer vacation. These types of vacations situate volunteers with organizations and areas that are showing a special focus on ecotourism, or sustainable ideals for that particular region. For example, there are vacations in Latin America where volunteers help to clean up villages and show locals how to live in a way that is not only better for the village but also in sustaining the environment. These types of experiences are great for those that are interested in sustainable agriculture, ecotourism, and the green effort that is sweeping the globe. On our volunteer vacations page within our ecotourism section, we provide a number of links to organizations, like the American Hiking Society, that provide opportunities of this kind to travelers.

    Although it is nice to have a narrow focus, like ecotourism, to your volunteer vacation, there are those that choose a much broader type of experience through a volunteer job abroad. Perhaps the largest number of opportunities of this kind exists through universities and non profit organizations. In fact, the largest demographic of volunteer job employees are college-aged students. The types of volunteer vacations that provide an opportunity to work with a cool organization and experience travel are practically endless. While most people think about non profits like the Peace Corps, there are thousands more that place people in volunteer positions abroad that last only a few weeks, or months at a time. Volunteering has an endless amount of positive outcomes for those who volunteer as well as for those who are on the receiving end of the volunteer effort.


    Find out more about volunteering abroad through a job with an organization overseas and expand your horizons both through travel as well as through the experiences you will entertain as a volunteer. In this page we highlight government agencies, and technical information like procuring a visa or work permit.

    Also, consider working abroad if you want to travel and gain valuable work experience. There are always paying jobs available through organizations that will allow for travel, even if they may be more difficult to uncover. Also consider a teaching job. You may know already that one of the most popular jobs abroad are teaching English abroad jobs, an experience that anyone who is willing to train can procure successfully. Find out more about exciting work opportunities through pages like this through FrugalMonkey.

  • Air Couriers Are A Great Way To Travel Cheaply

    Find out about becoming an Air Courier and save potentially hundreds on airfare.

    Although traveling as an air courier isn’t as popular as it was before 9/11, and before the emergence of recent technologies, the practice is starting to make a comeback.


    Air courier travel allows hundreds of travelers the luxury of cheap travel for the exchange of a simple errand: delivering a package. You see, packages or special baggage cannot be sent on a commercial flight unless it is accompanied with, or being carried by a passenger on the flight. Often times, businesses need to send priority packages, deliveries, merchandise and other important documents on a very strict time schedule. Additionally, the cost involved in mailing, freighting and using other sending methods is more expensive than the cost of a commercial airline flight. Air courier companies purchase coach class airfare tickets and then resell those tickets to air courier travelers at a discounted price. In exchange for the discounted airfare, travelers supplant their luggage space with the shipping materials or documents.

    While travel discounts vary for air courier travelers and depend on several factors such as the timing of the ticket, most air courier travelers will receive 35%-50% discounts on commercial airfares. When companies are in a bind however, some travelers can receive discounts as high as 85% on ticket! This is an excellent way to cut down on travel costs and see the world. If you’re having a hard time booking airfare that fits your budget, then consider being an air courier. It represents a way to take advantage of some of the largest travel discounts available to travelers.

    Air courier travelers will often find cheap flights to popular travel locations around the world. Cities such as London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and even tropical countries like Greece, all have businesses that employ air courier companies to help them access and send documents. If you’re looking for a way to save money while traveling, consider looking into working for an air courier company.


    Not only is air courier travel a good idea for vacations but, it is ideal for last minute travel deals because airfares are highest the closer they get to departure dates. Therefore, businesses are constantly looking for travelers who are leaving right away or at the last minute.

    To make yourself the most ideal candidate for air courier travel keep in mind that your luggage space is often exchanged for the shipping materials. Thus, packing lightly is key for air courier travelers. Also, wanting to see the world is one thing and flying to the Caribbean during peak travel months is another. Air courier travel offers the best deals for cities known for high commerce and often the best travel discounts will be in flying to Copenhagen in the winter as opposed to Rome in the summer. That isn’t to say travel discounts to excellent vacation spots don’t exist, but air courier travel ultimately exists for the purpose of varying business exchanges.

    For any traveler looking for a way to save on airfare, transporting documents for an air courier company should be a serious consideration. With airfare representing such a large portion of travel expenses, when you can save in this one area you can save a lot on the overall budget of your trip.