Alternative Travel Directory, 1998: The Complete Guide to Work, Study, & Travel Overseas - Softcover

Hubbs, Clayton A.; Cline, David.; Hubbs, Claton, A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1886732051 ISBN 13: 9781886732056

Publisher: Transitions Abroad Pub, 1998

Synopsis

Provides information and advice on independent travel programs, study abroad, and foreign employment

About this title

From the Publisher:

In 1977 I launched Transitions Abroad, a magazine of practical information for independent travelers who go abroad to live, work, study, or travel for reasons other than those connected with mass tourism. The title Transitions was meant to suggest the changes that occur when travelers leave home behind and truly immerse themselves in a new environment.

The modern traveler is increasingly interested in experiencing new people, places, and cultures on their own terms and precisely because they are unfamiliar. The transition is not simply a passage from one place to another; it is a change in perspective and perception.

Interest in alternative travel, or travel for enrichment, grew rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s, in part a result of international air travel becoming affordable to a much larger group of people. In 1989 Travel & Leisure magazine commissioned Louis Harris Associates, Inc. to survey thousands of traveling Americans to find out why they traveled. To their surprise, the interviewers found that three travelers out of four took their last trip to improve their minds, to gain new perspectives, and to meet new people. Asked to name their dream vacation, only 10 percent named a place in the U.S. The conclusion of the pollsters was that international travel for personal growth was increasing more rapidly than any other form of nonbusiness travel.

Detailing the ways to meet people of other cultures in a nontourist setting has been the major purpose of Transitions Abroad since its beginning 23 years ago. In each issue of the magazine we select and publish the most important sources of information on alternative travelincluding work abroadalong with a selection of programs and other opportunities for the curious and independent-minded. We revise and update this information continuously. At the end of each year we bring it all together in one volume: the Alternative Travel Directory. The three sectionsIndependent Travel, Study Abroad, and Living Abroadcontain our selection of the major alternatives to mass tourism. (A volume on work abroad is published separately and also available on Amazon.com.)

The experience of travel involves a continuum or a progression from the familiar to the new. On the one extreme are the unadventurous packaged tourists or mass tourists described above who spend a good portion of their trip in a literal bubble being whisked along on a guided tour, usually in an air-conditioned bus. They make virtually no decisions on their own and are taken, on a fixed schedule, from one attraction (often man-made for their benefit) to another. They observe and photograph but rarely actively experience their surroundings.

On the other extreme are those relatively few travelers who avoid the tourist scene altogether and strike out on their own. They are on no fixed schedule or itinerary and settle where they like for as long as they like, finding casual work when necessary to cover their modest expenses or to pay for moving on.

Between these two extremes are those of us in that growing group of travelers who like to go on our own, often to pursue a particular interest, but only after enough planning and preparation to insure that our limited time and money will be well spent. We dont want to be bound to a group or have our experience spoiled by hordes of tourists; on the other hand, we want to be comfortable and feel sufficiently secure to accomplish our goals.

Whatever your age, whatever your reason for travel, we think youll find the overseas travel alternative youre looking for here. If not, let us know and well try to include it in the next issue of Transitions Abroad and next years edition of the Alternative Travel Directory. Our address is Transitions Abroad, P.O. Box 1300, Amherst, MA 01004-1300; info@TransitionsAbroad.com;

--Clay Hubbs, Publisher and Founding Editor, Transitions Abroad

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Preface to the Sixth Edition

The Alternative Travel Directory, produced by the editors of Transitions Abroad magazine annually since 1993, is a one-volume selection of the most essential practical information on the overseas alternatives to "packaged" tourism: independent travel, ecotravel, educational travel and study, and living overseas. Opportunities for working overseas, along with a selection of placement and training programs, are collected separately in the biannual Work Abroad: The Complete Guide to Finding a Job Overseas. (Also available on Amazon.com.)

The growth in the number and variety of listings in each new volume of the Alternative Travel Directory indicates a burgeoning interest in avoiding the international tourist trails and traps that tend to isolate travelers from the people and culture of the host country. Readers of Transitions Abroad magazine are among the growing number of visitors to other countries who recognize the enormous rewards that come from seeing the world up close and from the hosts' perspective.

For a variety of reasons, our readers are spending longer periods of time abroad. Some go as working travelers, who pay for their extended journeys with short-term jobs. Others go abroad to find more permanent positions in the new global economy. Everyone from diplomats to students preparing to spend a year in Europe will benefit from the wealth of tools for overseas travel, study, and living found in the Alternative Travel Directory.

To stay up to date on all the latest practical information on work, study, independent travel, and living abroad subscribe to Transitions Abroad magazine. For an examination copy call 800-293-0373 or visit our continuously updated web site, where you can also sign-up for our free email newsletter, TA eNews.

About this edition

• Publisher: Transitions Abroad Pub
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1886732051
• ISBN 13: 9781886732056
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 375
• Editor: Hubbs Clayton A., Griffith Susan