Community Service in Other Countries: My Trip to Budapest

It is clear that Budapest and other Eastern European destinations are becoming hot spots for travelers. Just by taking a look at Arthur Frommer's blog, you can see how prevalent travel deals are to Budapest and Prague, two amazing Eastern European cities, one of which I just had the pleasure of visiting.

View of Buda from the Pest side. Courtesy of Rebecca Rochman

On my trip to Budapest, I did not get the typical tourist experience. I went on a trip through Texas Hillel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. According to the Texas Hillel website,
these were the goals of my trip:

• To learn about the long history of Jewish life in Hungary and to get to know today’s Hungarian Jewish community & what it takes to rebuild Jewish life following the Holocaust and years of Communist rule.
• To lend a hand by painting & refurbishing Jewish community spaces, facilitating activities for children-at-risk & repairing homes of elderly in need.
• To connect with the Jewish value of pursuing justice. Discussions before and during the trip will explore our social responsibility and how Jewish values inform the decisions we all make.
• To connect with the Jewish community of Budapest and with Jewish European peers. We will spend Shabbat at local congregations. You will also have the chance to interact with your Hungarian peers throughout the trip.
• To bring stories and lessons of the trip back to members of the Texas Jewish community in order to help support the Austin and Hungarian community over the long term.

As you can see, this was not your typical trip involving traipsing around the city, taking bus tours, and visiting all of the historical sites. However, referring back to Frommer's blog, more and more people are taking this volunteer tourism approach to their vacations. They, like me, want to experience a city through and through while also being able to serve the community in some capacity.

Even though my trip was only a week long, I felt that I grew as a person and that I made an impact on the Hungarian Jewish community. Here are some highlights of my trip that I found enriching and educational to my life:

• We went to Lake Balaton to meet with counselors of the Szarvas Camp who work with Jewish children from around the world for a summer. They help enrich their Jewish lives, being that many of these children did not even know they were Jewish until later on in life. 

• In one day we danced with mentally disabled adults and also played with kindergarten aged children at The Lauder School in Buda. This was by far my favorite day. The little girl I played with took my camera and had a photoshoot with her friends. Also, the most enriching part of this day was seeing that you can communicate kindness in any language. I did not speak a lick of Hungarian and neither of these groups spoke English yet we were still able to laugh, play and dance with no issues at all. 

• We cleaned out an old fabric shop to turn it into a charity store in which people in need can come and shop with dignity. This took hours and hours of our day, but was so rewarding to see our hardwork payoff. The shop was clean at the end of the day and everyone in our group felt great knowing that we could do our part to help out people in need. 

• The last weekend of the trip was an incredible experience in which our group was able to meet with teens from the international Jewish community. We were able to exchange perspectives on our religion and culture in our lives. This was also the most fun as they showed us the nightlife of Budapest and we bonded just like any other college age students would. They were so much fun and my group is trying to go to Switzerland next year to see some of them.  

Part of the photo shoot done by the kindergartners at The Lauder School. Hana(pictured above) love taking pictures of everyone. Courtesy of Rebecca Rochman

Me and my new international friend, Debora, from Florence, Italy. Courtesy of Rebecca Rochman

Some of the girls on our trip smiling with the mentally disabled people we spent time and danced with. Courtesy of Rebecca Rochman.

Part of the group after a completed day of work fixing up the future charity shop. We sure were smelly at the end of the day! Courtesy of Jessica Blair Goodman.

Overall, the trip was a huge success, with both the Hungarians and the Americans mutually benefiting from each others presence. I had the most amazing experience of my life, and cannot wait to continue doing short-term service projects like this. It can get me exposure to different cultures while simultaneously allowing me to serve local communities.

Although this trip was heavily based in the Jewish community, I am sure there are many different trips that allow for short term community service. I will certainly look into those and you all will be the first to know when I compile a list.

To compare this to my previous post on eco-tourism,  I think short-term service is a better option because you are helping the people. As much as I know the environment needs help too, I feel that as humanitarians, our first focus should be to help living, breathing people in need. So, shall I be the first to coin it? Let's all go out and experience some Volunteer Tourism!

Thanks for listening to my blather. Let me know about some of your favorite trips. See you next week!

My Travel Nightmare. Can I Wake Up Yet?

Readers, prepare for a long post. Sorry for the length, but some things just need to be said!

Spring Break sure was a rollercoaster of emotions for myself and my Texas Hillel group. We traveled all the way to Budapest, Hungary to volunteer and promote goodwill for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Commitee.

This trip brought two completely opposing experiences to my life: the most enriching trip I have ever been on and the worst travel nightmare of my life.

As a firm believer in venting the bad to get to the good, let's start with these past three days of my life.

Well really, it all started on March 13 on my way to Budapest. The flight took off from Houston and everything went smoothly all the way to London(minus the fact that I got a drink spilled on my lap).

First sign of trouble: we miss our connecting flight and have to spend six more hours in the London airport at the British Airways terminal. In all honesty, this part was not so bad because it was the start of the trip so everyone was just excited and ready to get to Budapest. Additionally, British Airways hooked us up with some food vouchers. Everyone knows that free food makes happy people. So, what was an extra six hours when you have free food?! It just was not a huge issue.

BA 747 courtesy of Flickr.

Now, fast forward to the next Sunday.

The group wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the Budapest airport for our flight. We catch the flight and arrive at around 9:45 a.m. in London. First leg of the journey: perfection.

We already knew we had a 4-hour layover so the waiting had begun. Not leaving until 2:20 p.m., my friends and I grabbed some breakfast and relaxed in the comfiest chairs we could find. Everything is going great.

Then, 1:45 p.m. rolls around and the departure board informs of our impending delay. Really London airport? Really?! I have certainly gotten used to waiting on the transit system by then. So some more waiting goes on and we take off around 5 p.m. Everything is perfect now. A little waiting was bad but what more could go wrong? We are already in the air! I felt great. See you in 9 hours America!

NOT!

Suddenly the pilot gets on the speaker and announces that he smelled gas in the cockpit and we were reverting back to London because he did not feel comfortable crossing the Atlantic. Oy Vey!

Now, I know it is frustrating to be delayed and even more frustrating to have to turn around, but I was alright with this. After all, I would much rather be heading back to London than sinking into the ocean. Wouldn't you? Oh yes, one other minor detail. He had to drop fuel from the plane! I freaked out when he said this. It was scary! But all in all, once we landed back in London I felt safe again.

This is when the real trouble begins. We had to work on re-booking flights for 25 people which is no easy feat to accomplish. The British Airways people were no help and basically gave us our hotel vouchers and sent us on our way.

Left to deal with this alone, our group went back to the airport at 5:30 a.m. to solve this. After 4 hours of talking and waiting and more talking and waiting, everyone was heading back to America. Some to Dallas, some to Chicago, and some to Raleigh. At least we were heading back, right? Wrong.

I was placed on the flight to Raleigh which was in a different terminal and was leaving shortly. So my small group ran to the terminal, checked our bags, rushed through security, and ran to the gate only to find that this flight was delayed for THREE HOURS! Oh yeah, and this time we were on American Airlines.

This delay assured us of one thing: we were not getting back to Houston on Monday because this delay would make us miss the last flight out of Raleigh to Houston. Our only hope was a small window of opportunity. There was a flight from Raleigh to Charlotte, North Carolina that continued on to Houston and landed at midnight. The trouble was that we had exactly one hour to make it to that flight after we landed in Raleigh.

I'll let you take a wild guess. Do you think we made it? Of course not. Looked like another hotel for the night. But wait, American Airlines put us in a hotel with no rooms left! Yet again, we were left to fend for ourselves and find our own hotel. Oy vey again!

After the hotel hunt was finished and the Hilton Raleigh-Durham Airport at Research Triangle Park took our poor souls in for the night, our ordeal was nearly finished. All we had left on our journey was a flight at 6 a.m. back to Houston and then a 2-hour drive to Austin.

Finally something went right! We even landed in Houston EARLY and after some pleading with my parents they even let me stay home for a few hours, get some sleep and do some laundry(did I mention EVERYONE in Budapest smokes?!).

All there is left to do after retelling this story is to breathe a sigh of relief. I am back in Austin(granted I am extremely behind on work), and have my health, safety and peace of mind. What more can I ask for?

This took so much our of me it's like I didn't even go to Budapest! Look to my next post for the details on the most inspiring and enriching week of my life.

So bloggers, what are your travel horror stories?

Eco-tourism: The Real Deal or The Next Big Scam?

The "going green" movement has finally hit the travel industry. No longer restricted to cleaning supplies, fuel emissions, and compost heaps, more and more people are integrating this movement into their daily lives as well as their vacation time.

Referred to as Eco-tourism, this latest craze is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel according to The Community Based Eco-tourism Project in Chi Phat, Cambodia.

These trips are becoming increasingly popular. Chi Phat has even be featured recently in The New York Times travel section.

"In Koh Kong province in Cambodia, new eco-friendly resorts are drawing both backpackers and more luxury-oriented travelers. Among them is 4 Rivers Floating Lodge, on the Tatai River."(New York Times March 4, 2011)

According to this article, travelers can eat by the light of fishing cages, bird-watch at sunrise, mountain bike across rocky streams and swim in a waterfall. Oh, and one other minor detail: they have to fend off rain forest leeches!

Forgive me for not jumping for joy at the thought of rain forest leeches. Traveler David Lambert might think that the bite is no worse than a mosquito bite, but I happen to cringe at the idea of some worm-like thing sucking the life out of me!

Now don't get me wrong, I am a huge proponent for "going green" (after all, I do live in Austin, Tx), but I fail to see the attractiveness of running off to some remote village to camp out for a week during my vacation time. Call me old-fashioned, but I am perfectly fine with laying on a beach reading a book, hitting the slopes for a ski vacation, or touring Europe with my family.

However, society seems to disagree with me and is ready for a change.These villages like Chi Phat are unique because until recently they have had little contact with the outside world. Government is now stabilizing there, and more roads are being built, leading to this rise in environmentally-conscious travel.

These eco-tourists seem like pioneers to me though. I understand the desire to explore untouched terrain. It actually seems fascinating, even though I am not sure I personally am that adventurous.

It all seems so counter-intuitive that these pioneers come in a set up shop to explore the natural beauty of the country while simultaneously building luxury lodgings and golf courses. They finish their "roughing it" adventure then tell the world, opening up grand opportunities for big resorts and luxury vacation hot-spots. It just makes no sense to me. How are you conserving a nation by importing luxury feature from home?

If the whole point of eco-tourism is to conserve and improve the area you are visiting, why are they encouraging luxury amenities? Sure, I appreciate a good Hilton or Ritz Carlton, but can eco-tourists really tout the benefits of helping the uncharted territory of Cambodia while resting comfortably in a king-sized bed?

When breaking eco-tourism down to it's fundamentals, I completely get it. It may not be for me, but it is certainly commendable. I just feel like, if implemented improperly, this could end up being the next big ploy for big companies to "strike gold" in previously undeveloped countries.

I guess I will have to wait and see if I should be avoiding the Cambodian leeches or if I should be packing for my next luxurious vacation.