The Giving Journey
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In the summer of 2018, I embarked on a unique journey across Central America with my boyfriend at the time. Backpacking on a tight budget, volunteering on a farm, an ecological research center, at a school and in a hostel in exchange for meals and accommodation.
“The Giving Journey” is a travel documentary series exploring ecotourism and responsible voluntourism as a means of making travel more meaningful and affordable.
We spent 80 days backpacking across 4 countries (Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Mexico), using WWOOF & Workaway to find work exchange opportunities, stayed at eco-lodges and took tours that encompass sustainability principles to explore what “ecotourism” truly means. We also collected interviews with other travelers, hosts, non-profit and foreign government staff, and professionals in the ecotourism industry.Â
From scuba diving in the Great Blue Hole in Belize, hearing a jaguar roar next to our tent in the Belize jungle, climbing an active volcano in Guatemala, camping around Costa Rica in a van, and swimming with whale sharks in Mexico- the journey was never dull.
After the trip was over, my partner and I broke up and I ended up working full-time on my mom’s legislative campaigns in 2018 & 2020. Therefore, editing this series has been put on the backburner. However, I still intend to create content out of the months of footage I captured.
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You can see a video I produced about some of our time in Guatemala here:
You can watch our week traveling Costa Rica in a camper van rental here:
The Giving Journey Premiere:
Coming Eventually on Patreon and a shorter version with ads will also be available on YouTube!
What is Patreon?
Patreon is a crowd-funding platform that allows people to directly support creators they believe in! You can pledge as little or as much as you can afford (starting at $1/month).
Why you should join me on Patreon:
All of my patrons will have access to the extended version of the docu-series without ads when it’s finished, and receive various other rewards based on how much you pledge.