Meet, Plan, Go!

Let's talk about volunteering during your travels! We all know that volunteering can be a rewarding experience, but come listen to past career breakers and volunteers talk about how they chose their volunteer programs, what they did, the rewards, the hardships, and how their travels and career benefited from that volunteering experience. We will have drinks, light food, and plenty of casual seating to go along with our career break volunteer discussions. You will also walk away with a useful list of resources about volunteering and some great in person contacts that you can follow up on as you plan your travels. This is a free, casual event that will be loaded with information and opportunities to ask questions. Don't miss it! Come early to the Sports Basement and shop with a 20% discount to get all of the travel gear you need!
ABOUT Your HOSTS
Sherry Ott is a refugee from corporate It who is now a long term traveler, blogger and photographer. Sherry has been blogging about her travels on Ottsworld: Travel and Life Experiences of a Corporate America Runaway since 2006. It was named one of the Best Around the World Travel Blogs on Bootsn’All travel website. While on a career break she traveled around the world to over 23 countries primarily solo armed with her camera. Since her career break she has spent a year living and working in Vietnam, wrote an ebook about her hiking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal with her father, traveled the globe house-sitting, participated in cultural exchange programs in the Middle East, co-created Career Break Basic Training online class & community, and organizes Meet, Plan, Go! events across North America. Sherry’s latest adventure is driving 10,000 miles from London to Mongolia in an inappropriately-sized car as part of the Mongol Rally. Website: OttsWorld | Twitter: @OttsWorld
Spencer Spellman Spencer is a traveling writer and blogger, originally from North Carolina and outfitted with a fierce Southern drawl, who currently calls San Francisco home. While he has traveled around the world, Europe is his first love, a love that is sustained back home by micro brews, fish and chips, soccer and golf. Spencer took a more non-traditional approach to his career break, choosing to use writing to support himself while traveling, instead of saving money to travel. This allowed him to travel indefinitely, spending most of his time road-tripping across the U.S. and living and traveling in Central America. When he arrived somewhere he didn't want to leave, San Francisco, he decided to settle down until the road calls again. Website: The Traveling Philosopher | Twitter: @spencerspellman
In 2008, Kristin Zibell left marriage and corporate life to begin living her travel dreams. She traveled around the world over the next two years to India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe—volunteering, touring, trekking, photographing and blogging along the way. To pay for her adventures, she used her past life's professional experience to consult between trips. Traveling long term has changed her forever and now she writes the blog Take Your Big Trip to inspire others to live their travel dreams. After her last big trip in 2010, Kristin chose San Francisco as her new home and travels around the city discovering its treasures with her Treasure Map Project. Website: Take Your Big Trip | Twitter: @takeyourbigtrip
Bartlomiej Jan Skorupa - Co-Founder and Executive Director of Groundwork Opportunities Bartlomiej held numerous management positions in 10+ Fortune 500 companies implementing efficient business practices in the USA and Europe. Bartlomiej also has 5 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector in the USA, Europe, Africa, and Asia, from front line jobs to systematic development work. But after his extensive travels around the world, he started his own nonprofit organization called Groundwork Opportunities (Go). Go is a 501c3 charity working to create a world beyond poverty by investing in groundbreaking ideas, empowering local leaders, and engaging communities. They also offer free volunteering opportunities to help achieve this mission.