Volunteering

I just sent out three emails regarding possibilities for volunteering while I'm traveling. Two to some people I was referred to in India and one to an organization I've known about for years in Romania. I'm excited about the possibility of getting in to the real part of the country. Getting my hands dirty with the "unlovely" parts of the places I'll be going. And it also helps calm my spirit, knowing I have the possibility of meeting other people who are like minded. It's like an instant friendship. Which I already know I will love while I'm out on my own on this adventure.

Also, I've been thinking about making some severe modifications to my itinerary. I'm supposed to go to Egypt around the second half of July. While the travel agent assured me that everything will probably be calm by then, we also agreed we'd see how things look when it's time to book that ticket. Either way, I've been really apprehensive about going to Egypt alone. Now with all the unrest there, I'm thinking I'm going to just cut it out all together. We'll see what happens, but for the moment this is how I'm leaning. Even though I would LOVE to see the pyramids. The other major alteration I'm considering is cutting out Western Europe. This would include France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. My budget for the day is the low end of the travel books budget scale. And I'm using the "shoestring" budget books. So I think I'd rather wait when I've settled somewhere and am working and go to each on on their own trip for two weeks when I have more money to spend per day. Rather than have my lodging eat up 2/3 of my daily budget and not be able to enjoy and experience the country. This change would allow me to spend more time in Eastern Europe which could possibly result in more time working in Romania with the street kids there.