The Passport Party Project – giving girls a chance to travel

Today I’d like to give a shout out to the Passport Party Project - started by Tracey Friley of OneBrownGirl which has the aim of helping more teenage girls in the USA the opportunity to get their own passport and get out into the world for life changing experiences.

Tracey pitched the idea at TBEX Vancouver in June last year and fortunately Expedia were listening and stepped up to support the idea by offering a prize of 6 trips of a lifetime that can be won by girls who have participated in the Passport Party and applied for their very first passport. Here’s the Press Release from Expedia giving more information about their Sponsorship. The US State department for passports have also created a Passport day on March 10 to enable applicants to get their passport more easily in regional centres around the US.

Why do I love the idea of the Passport Party Project?

I live in the UK where it’s no big deal to get a passport at birth for your baby. We have Europe on our doorstop and foreign lands are a ferry ride across the channel or an inexpensive flight away from our local airport. But I know that with the USA being such a big place with plenty of holiday opportunities and flights abroad being so expensive many of our friends across the pond don’t travel outside their own country until they’re grown up and maybe not even then. And I think that’s a shame.

I have a 16 year old daughter who has been travelling since she was tiny on family holidays in Europe, to visit family in Greece each year and even further afield. She has grown confident in dealing with new situations, she has seen how other people live, how different customs can distinguish us but how we are all essentially the same in what we hope and dream for. She has met children who walk up to 2 hours each day to get to school but seen that happiness is not necessarily connected to an affluent lifestyle.

Last year she was on a school trip to Nepal, where she and her friends trekked through the Annapurna foothills, visited a nature reserve and pitched their tents on the old rice paddies beside a school high in the mountains for a community construction project.

Now she’s taken on a position at her school which involves raising money for worthwhile causes and she’s planning to take a gap year before university to travel. My wonderful daughter is citizen of the world and I believe that travel will give her boundless confidence and kindness in whatever she ventures – that’s why I’d like to wish the same life changing experiences on other girls of her age.

More information about the Passport Party Project - Tweet it on #PassportPartyProject and on Like it on Facebook

Read more about Sophie-Anne’s travels in Nepal

My teenage daughter’s trek in Nepal
My daughter’s elephant safari in Chitwan, Nepal
My daughter’s community project in the mountains of Nepal

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com - Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

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Happy Christmas from Heather on her travels

I wish a very Happy Christmas and holiday season to all readers of Heather on her travels and my friends around the blogsphere.

I’ll be spending Christmas with my family and hope that you will also be enjoying a relaxing time with those you care for most.

Peace and love to all the peoples of the world and happy travels in 2012

Santa Baby, please bring me a library in Zambia from Passports with Purpose

If you are part of the travel blogging community, or even if you’re not, hopefully it won’t have escaped you that there’s a travel blogger’s charity initiative going on in the run-up to Christmas called Passports with Purpose. The initiative ends in a couple of days on Friday 16 December, so now is your last chance to support and win one of the great prizes on offer.

Passports with Purpose was started in 2008 and is a great way for travellers and travel bloggers and just anyone who wants to leave the world a little better than they found it, to give something back to communities that don’t have as much as we do in the UK. Things that we take for granted – like a school to go to, or a library where we can find books to read that give us a window on the world of possibilities.

Each year Passports with Purpose supports a different charity project in the developing world and this year we’re trying to raise money for two libraries in Zambia with Room to Read. The charity works with local communities to provide a library of books relevant to that school or community with resources for children who might struggle to even afford an exercise book can learn and develop their education through reading.

It’s a fantastic project to support, but even better, you can win any number of travel related prizes that have been donated by travel bloggers working with sponsors. I counted over 80 different prizes, from tech travel gear like a Kindle Fire or a digital camera, to luxury hotel stays, travel vouchers and tours. All you have to do is pledge $10 for the prize of your choice and you’re in the draw for that prize – the more pledges you make, the more chances you have to win one of these prizes. To check out all the prizes, go to the Passports with Purpose Donate page and follow the links to the individual blogs that have donated prizes, to find out more.

The Fund raiser ends in just a couple of days this Friday 16th December 2011 – so don’t delay – just hop over to the Passports with Purpose donate page and decide what you’d like Santa to bring your this Christmas. I wish you every luck in winning the prize of your dreams and every hope that we’ll raise enough for those two libraries in Zambia.

Here are some of the prizes that are tempting me;

A Kindle Fire – so much lighter than carrying travel guides and novels around, from Mother of all trips and a nunber of other bloggers too

A Nook tablet – from Foxnomad – an e-reader that is also wifi capable for a quick check of the e-mail or facebook page

A Sony Cyber Shot digital camera – from Amateur Traveler – A neat little camera to slip in your pocket

A stay at the Luxurious Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale Troon North – from My Itchy Travel Feet – the perfect place for a romantic gettaway

$500 stay in an apartment in a European city – from Ottsworld – Ideal for those who love to immerse themselves in local neighbourhoods when they travel

1 year’s worth of wifi with Boingo – from Everything Everywhere – Enabling you to login to any Boingo wifi point around the world

Hopefully I’ve encouraged you to head over now (before Passports with Purpose ends on 16 December 2011) and make your bid for a great travel prize and support the last push to fund those two libraries in Zambia. Go on – you deserve the chance to win, and those kids in Zambia deserve the room to read.

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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