HELLO
How was your Easter? Did you eat far too many Easter eggs, (like us) or make the most of the 4-day weekend and loll around in bed far too much? Or both?!
Back to work now, and we're here to lift your spirits with our inspiration-packed newsletter. It's a pretty big one this month, with tons of the usual freebies, discounts, useful stuff, lots of new career breaks and a few new bits and pieces.
So stop scratting around in those bits of foil to see if there's any Easter egg left, and have a read!
SPONSORED - VMM INTERNATIONAL
VMM International has been sending volunteers abroad for over 45 years. Here's the story of just one of them, Luke.
"I went on a 4-week volunteering placement in Uganda. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit apprehensive at first. But the local team we were partnered with were so welcoming! We were working in a school that had been damaged in an earthquake. The children and teachers were all lovely - I especially loved playing football with the children at dinner. Even though the work was very hard, especially with the heat and humidity, it was such a fulfilling experience - and a real eye-opener too, to see how other people live their lives. VMM and their partners are doing such great work there and I can't wait to go back!"
To find a VMM International placement that suits your skills, interests and time, see the VMM website.
FREE STUFF, DISCOUNTS AND COMPETITIONS
Kids go free on Ryanair - like all things with Ryanair it's not really free, but you still save!
Free travel safety app from New Zealand - tons of features to help you enjoy safe travels.
Free web app to generate a packing list when you put in where you're going, the kind of trip you're taking etc. It even has a weather forecast!
Wiffinity is a free app that finds you free wifi wherever you are in the world.
Free sim with GiffGaff, plus extra £5 free credit.
Free sim with triple credit from Tesco mobile.
YHA membership for just £1 (under 26s only).
Win a trip for 2, plus travel clothing.
Wn a trip to New York, with a fun game from Cheapflights.
NEW AND UPDATED CAREER BREAKS
Find all our new and updated career breaks here. We've just added 2 new partners and lots of lovely interesting volunteer placements, with training included.
ON THE BLOG
Just one new post this month, a fun one called The 20 worst things about gap years.
There's absolutely stacks of useful stuff on our blog, on travel, careers, money, working abroad, volunteering and lots else. If there's something you want to see, or if you'd like to be interviewed, tell us!
PHOTO CORNER - YOUR MONTHLY DOSE OF INSPIRATION
The winners of the Smithsonian 2015 photo contest have just been announced. Categories include travel, people and the natural world. The link also shows the finalists - there's some amazing stuff there!
VIDEO CORNER
Are gap years a waste of time? (Spoiler: no). This is a debate on Sky news that includes Marcus Watts of GapForce (one of our whitelisted organisations).
Weekly video diary of an 11-week ski instructor course (the link is to episode 1). This is by another of our whitelisted organisations, NonStopSnow.
ELSEWHERE ON THE INTERWEB (AND RADIO!)
If you listen to Radio 5 Live, you would have heard a fascinating piece on sabbaticals, with various interviewees talking about the benefits of them. They asked us for career breakers to interview, and we gave them Heilwig from our very own partner Kaya Responsible Travel. She talked about how her own career break inspired her to set up the company, offering opportunities for other career breakers to get involved in the types of valuable programs that she had become involved with on her travels. Well done Heilwig and if you heard the programme, we hope you found it informative and inspiring!
USEFUL THING OF THE MONTH
A new website connects backpackers with a free lift to where they want to go. It's called Bum a Ride. Usual warnings about safety etc apply.
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Bit tricky this month as we don't want to identify our correspondant with her profession, so we'll just tell you it's a mainstream medical occupation (but not a doctor). She wanted to know if she could use this experience in a volunteering or TEFL capacity. So that's really two questions!
To answer the first, absolutely. You can use almost any qualification or experience in volunteering - there's someone, somewhere in the world who can learn from that. And if you want to broaden your experience, volunteering in a different culture, with different resources and ways of doing things, is enormously educational.
To answer the second, no. To teach English abroad, you need a TEFL qualification, and the ability to speak English fluently, and that's pretty much it. There's not really any call for other skills (although if you can speak the local language, that obviously helps).
If you've got a question, get in touch! We never reveal your name (unless you want us to!)
JOKE
My Czech mate is surprisingly bad at chess.
(by @baddadjokes)
FINALLY
"I don't know the key to success but I know the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
Until next time,
Love,
The Career Break Site
xxx