World Cup 2010 Logo

I don’t find it the least bit unusual that many of my fellow travelers are football (soccer) fans and usually insist on referring to the game as football and not by the American term – soccer.

When you travel, two things usually happen.

One – as many of you reading this post probably already know – you start to use words and phrases that are generally accepted worldwide and specifically in the location you are in and some of those carry-over to your everyday life once you get back to the States.

Two – you start to enjoy things that you may not have before as you start to understand their worldwide importance.

One of the things that falls into both categories is football. Not the American variety, but the world variety. And this weekend, the U.S. qualified for the 2010 World Cup, so the Yanks will be heading to their sixth straight Copa Mundial next summer.

To learn a little bit more about South Africa, check out some of these awesome posts from our World Traveler Interns journey to Cape Town and Johannesburg:

• Volunteering in South Africa
• What’s Going Down in Cape Town
• Swimming with Sharks in South Africa

I have an awful memory, which is why I spend half my days scribbling notes and lists in order to actually remember things.

Lindsay Clark in India

And as my mind sifts through the chaos of this summer, sometimes all I can remember is, whoa – that was wild and nothing else! Therefore, I made a list of things I did over the World Traveler Internship that were either new or incredibly exciting for this absent-minded, globe-lovin gal.

1. Drank kava in the Fijian Highlands in a special ceremony sat in by 20+ people just for me, fit with singing and schoolyard games
2. Tandem skydived from 10,000 feet
3. Dove in a cage surrounded by great white sharks
4. Visited a new continent: Australia
5. Dune bashed in the desert
6. Laid eyes on Mt. Kilimanjaro and flew next to her
7. Volunteered at a township in South Africa
8. Belly danced with an actual belly dancer
9. Came within ten feet of a male lion
10. Hiked Table Mountain from bottom to top

As much as I love the idea of picking vacation spots based on beaches and the cheapness of beer, it gets old…fast.If you love to travel and are looking for something more unique to do with your free time, look into volunteering. From your own backyard to every corner of the globe there are programs that invite you to help out.

Volunteering in South Africa

Think of what you would like to do. Be it teaching English, conserving the environment, coaching sports, building schools, playing with kids – whatever – there are opportunities to do what you love, make a difference and explore the coolest places on earth.

Some programs are just a week long, others can go on for months if you find yourself loving it, and you will if you give it a shot.

In South Africa, Lindsay and I met up with a group of about thirty girls (reason enough for me to return but that’s besides the point) who were all volunteering on a variety of projects in and around Cape Town.  Everyone was able to choose which project fit them best and at the end of the day they all returned to a communal house that was as cool as any backpacker hangout I’ve seen anywhere in the world.You get to meet travelers from around the world who have been brought together with a common purpose of trying to make one little part of the world a bit better.

Lindsay and I agree that some of our best travels have been when we volunteered in foreign countries and both of us will always be looking to do more of it. It’s an amazing experience and I promise you will have as good of a time helping out than you would have had pounding Coronas and getting sunburned in Cabo.

Wine Tasting: a classy concept that seems to inspire smarter ensembles, a listening ear and a more discernible palate than one actually has.

Chris, Lindsay and Carly

Wine tasting isn’t something you can’t do elsewhere. And during our planning sessions for South Africa, we almost vetoed this idea because of that fact. But that would have been a mistake, as everyone – travelers and residents – that we asked for suggestions on activities in South Africa mentioned we needed to spend a day trying the grape products of the Western Cape. Not only is there delicious alcohol involved in the equation but beautiful landscapes, a little bit of learning and no doubt fun people in it as well.

We were in.

Our guide, Merinda, picked us up in the morning along with five young others who all possessed that wine sparkle in their eye. Our schedule was to hit four or five vineyards that all had something special to offer: unlimited goat cheese tasting, sparkling wines, stunning views, and the best, most varied selection of Pinotage around.

And it was here we found the one thing that made wine tasting in South Africa unique: a combination of Pinot and Hermitage (so I was told…can’t remember exactly for some reason…hic!). The king of Pinotage had white, blush and red versions of this South African specialty, and we tried every single one of them. I tried to differentiate the tastes between an oaken barrel and steel tank fermentation and decided wood trumps steel any day.

The drive back was dramatically different than the drive there. Everyone had a plastic glass sloshing recent purchases and chocolate fingers. Red teeth dressed up every photograph captured. And a massive sing-along of Aussie national songs and American classics like “American Pie” commenced that probably rocked our driver’s ear drums. The day ended at 5 p.m., and for some of us, that was pretty much all we could handle.