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way to travel free is by organizing your own tour or group.
If you can enlist enough people, you can get your entire trip,
long or short, for free. Some travel agencies recruit teachers
who receive a free trip if they bring six students. With 12
students, the teacher's spouse also travels free. Traveling
free as a teacher is a very popular way to see and go places
that would otherwise be financially prohibitive.
United Airlines has developed the United
College Plus Volunteer Miles program through which you can
earn frequent flier miles simply by helping out in your community.
To qualify, you must volunteer with at least one of the following
nonprofit organizations (two maximum):
America's Promise -- The Alliance for Youth
http://www.americaspromise.org
Phone: 703-684-4500
Best Buddies International
http://www.bestbuddies.org
Phone: 305-374-2233
Habitat for Humanity -- Campus Chapters
http://www.habitat.org
Phone: 912-924-6935
"I Have a Dream" Foundation (IHAD)
http://www.ihad.org
Phone: 212-293-5480
Make-A-Wish Foundation of America
http://www.makeawish.org
Phone: 800-722-WISH (9474)
The
National Mentoring Partnership
Phone: 202-729-4345
Special Olympics
Phone: 202-628-3630
Similarly, anyone willing to organize folks
for a special-interest tour can earn a free trip from the
travel agent who helps puts the tour together and books it.
For example:
A wine aficionado might organize a group
to the French wine country.
A church member might enlist others to take
a religious pilgrimage to a Holy Land.
An opera buff might arrange a trip to Vienna.
A tennis enthusiast might get friends to
meet at Wimbledon.
Special-interest trips focus on photography, architecture,
theater, music, history, golf, food, or anything that people
have a special passion for. Working with a creative travel
agent or directly with airline group travel representatives,
hotels, and resorts can produce some fantastic trips that
are 100 percent free to you.
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