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A postcard from the coldest place on earth Deciding whether to hitchhike to the moon (seriously; I emailed commercial space flight agencies and everything) or to travel from the North Pole to the South Pole was hard. It was a trip of a lifetime, and it was then that I got acquainted with my favorite place on Earth: Antarctica. I mean, my trip provided enough material for comparison: the lonely wilderness of Alaska, the extensive salt plains of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia and the colorful wildlife of Costa Rica, to name only a few examples. On the way back, the boat gets bigger and bigger again, until we’re making our way through the floating pieces of ice.

That’s why I would advise starting with a short flight of, let’s say, an hour or two. ’s first flight is to bring multiple outfits for the baby, even if it’s just a short flight. And on a recent flight from Greece, we sat across the aisle from a toddler who wore only his diaper (nappy) for most of the flight, having had trouser-ruining accident 15 minutes after takeoff. Backpack diaper bags are especially great for fliers; most backpack diaper bags fit carry-on requirements and fit easily under the seat in front of you.

I usually bring a canvas bag (don’t bring another backpack as it will probably get refused at the gate) and put all my electronics (laptop/e-reader) and my toiletry bag in it. I’m on team backpack, mainly because you can use one backpack as aeroplane luggage, a daypack, and even to carry food and layers of clothes on a hike. For people that don’t really care that much about the authenticity of hard copy books, like myself, I recommend buying an e-reader such as the excellent Amazon Kindle Paperwhite which I have used for almost 5 years now on sandy beaches, freezing mountaintops and in busy aeroplanes and local buses. If it’s cold, for instance, I’ve experienced first-hand that you’ll actually stay warmer if you wear 3 lighter layers on top of each other instead of a t-shirt and a bulky jacket.

Helping out at the International Mountaineering Foundation Film festival – Volunteering in a refugee camp in the north of France – Playing with kids and teaching English in Cuzco, Peru – Teaching English to adults in Poland and Hungary – Volunteering in disaster response in Haiti and Puerto Rico – Weeding and cutting down grass on a truffle farm in Spain – Volunteering on an olive farm in Greece – Volunteering on a farm and beach house in Brazil Contributed by Gemma from Two Scots Abroad (follow on Facebook) To help stretch our travel budget, Craig and I (Gemma) completed a handful of volunteer programmes with the work abroad site, Workaway. More on the Camaronal Wildlife Refuge Contributed by Christa from Expedition Wildlife (follow on Facebook) While studying abroad at the University of Adelaide, I volunteered for a short time with Conservation Volunteers of Australia. Conservation Volunteers host volunteer programs and getaways that allow volunteers to contribute to local conservation throughout Australia and New Zealand. Whether it’s a grateful homeowner who invites you over for some home cooking, or a fellow volunteer with whom you sweated under the sun, the friends you make while volunteering All Hands friends are friends for life.