Do you have to give up your involvement in community projects to full-time travel?

For many people, the heart of their life, outside of work and family, is shared community activities such as coaching the weekend soccer league, attending a monthly book club, or leading a local volunteer group. These opportunities to share common interests are deeper than just creating balance in our lives; they shape our identity and carve our niche within the community.

But what happens when you’re making the transition into full-time travel? How do you sustain these types of bonds, redefine your role, and develop new opportunities? Keep in mind your overall list of current life responsibilities and how they’ll be affected as you seek out new community opportunities while you full-time travel.

Woman volunteering in a community while full-time traveling

Redefining Your Roles in Your Home Community

If you’re the chief organizer of a local charity event, your absence is undoubtedly going to create a void. But instead of a full-stop departure, is this an opportunity to step back and adjust your role or create a new one? Shift from leading charity events to providing virtual consultancy, serving on the board, or developing a remote position (e.g. phone calls and developing materials) which can be done from anywhere.

Reflective Questions:

  • How can you re-imagine your existing role in your community to fit into your travel lifestyle?
  • Can you leverage technology to continue your involvement, even if you’re not physically present?
Two men looking forward as they work at a desk

Passing the Baton: Training and Mentoring Your Replacement Before You Full-time Travel

Transitioning responsibilities and relationships you’ve carefully nurtured can be emotional. It’s also an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy, as most people will step away from a project and not look back.

Before you launch into full-time travel, take the time to help identify people in your community who are ready to step into your roles. You can foster their passion for these projects by sharing your historical understanding and introducing them to key participants and beneficiaries. By mentoring them before and after you’ve begun to travel, they’ll quickly build the confidence to make the role their own.

Reflective Questions:

  • Do you know people in your community interested in any of your roles?
  • Will you be responsible for developing their skills and knowledge? If not, who will be responsible? (Transition teams often miss this critical step.)
  • Can you offer your mentorship to your successor before and after you begin to travel full-time?
Man participating in a community opportunity as he full-time travels

The Value of Knowing Your ‘Why’

Travel opens up the world in many expected ways, but also in surprising and UNexpected ways. As you meet people from diverse cultures, there’s an opportunity to integrate, learn, and contribute if you slowly travel.

  • Your skills from your home community might be invaluable in a village halfway around the world.
  • A knack for organizing events could help a local community set up a fair.
  • Athletic talent and skill might introduce a new game to the local kids.

One of the main reasons people stop full-time traveling is they miss certain aspects of their former lifestyle. They feel stuck in a narrow definition of the full-time travel lifestyle.

Redefining Full-time Travel to Match YOUR Lifestyle

We will say this loud and clear – “There is NO single definition of the full-time travel lifestyle!“. This lifestyle provides a fundamental support framework, but personalizing it for you and your family is entirely up to you. Outlining it in advance isn’t to hold you back or fence you in; it’s to provide you the freedom to pivot or expand as needed from a firm foundation.

We’ve heard too many stories from people ready to give up full-time traveling because “we’re bored.” Fifteen minutes of conversation reveals that they aren’t bored; they feel stuck. The adrenal high from launching long gone, they settled into a pattern of doing the same thing year after year. After a few years of ‘experiencing everything’, they feel purposeless and directionless.

When you ask them why they started full-time traveling, they don’t know. This all ties back to the importance of defining (and redefining) your Why.

Life evolves; as people, we grow. Our interests and priorities change, and we must pivot our lives accordingly. If we don’t, we feel stuck. This need doesn’t go away because of the full-time travel lifestyle. With fewer distractions, it often becomes clearer sooner.

One solution? Volunteering.

Photo credit to World Central Kitchen/WCK.org

Established Volunteering Opportunities

If you’re looking for a structured volunteering ‘vacation’ Global Volunteers is a good place to start. World Central Kitchen (WCK) is always looking for volunteers. Both focus on domestic and international opportunities. (Disclosure: We aren’t affiliated with Global Volunteers or WCK. We have personally donated money to WCK.)

A quick online search brings up many creative options.

  • Take your time
  • Do your research
  • Ask lots of questions to confirm goodness of fit
  • Vetting can happen locally by asking respected members of the community.

Charity Navigator and Charity Watch are solid vetting resources for US based charities.

Not interested in traveling to volunteer? Create a short-term fundraiser for a program needing funds. For example, Charity Navigator highly approves of Global Giving. If you’re looking for a deeper dive from a philanthropy perspective – National Center for Family Philanthropy.

Discovering New Community Opportunities As You Full-time Travel

After being stranded in Fiji in March 2020, Nikki and Jason Wynn were in pandemic lock-down one short plane ride from their catamaran in Tonga. Long-term full-time travelers, they’d done a major pivot from RVing to sailing. Due to the pandemic lockdown, they now had to hard pivot. After they settled into a rental, they cleaned the beach on their daily walks and focused on saving animals. Once they made it back to Tonga, they supported the local library’s ukelele program, Vava’u Ukulele Orchestra.

These volunteer opportunities weren’t planned in advance. Nikki and Jason accidentally found each opportunity as they searched for direction and purpose in the midst of a chaotic period of their lives. The stress of the pandemic lock-down turned into action for good!

Take the time to do your due diligence, then jump in and be creative!

Reflective Questions:

  • Are you familiar with national or regional organizations allowing volunteers to work nationwide?
  • What unique skills or expertise can you share as you travel full-time?
  • Do you know your Why so you can pivot as needed?

Embracing the full-time travel lifestyle brings challenges and opportunities. While transitioning away from local projects might be bittersweet, it’s also a chance to contribute in entirely new ways. Every place you’ll visit has its unique rhythm and opportunities. As you journey, you’re not just discovering new landscapes but also new facets of yourself, new roles you can play, and new communities you can touch.

Know that every community, old or new, values contribution and passion. Your journey might take you miles away, but the bonds you’ve built and the ones you’ll form are lasting. Safe travels and happy discoveries!