Find out about your chosen destination(s) before you travel. It is important that you get to know at least the basics of things such as language, currency, how to get around, climate (to help you choose appropriate clothing), health provision, diet, water quality, crime, etc...things that will help you decide what you will need to take and help you prepare your trip in advance. It is all part of your general preparation, it takes a little bit of time but you can spread it out over a few weeks if you give yourself some time in advance.
Check out our volunteer country guides here.
It's really crucial that you know what's going on in the countries where you are travelling to. It is daunting enough sometimes just going on holiday to unusual places, but when you will be volunteering and living there for some time too, it will help you so much to know at least a little bit about things beforehand. It can help reduce any home sickness and any unexpected surprises. You'll find out loads more when you get there, but go there with some basic knowledge to give you a good starting base from which to enjoy your trip and make the most of your travelling and volunteering experience.
We have some country guides which can help you with the basic information. The countries listed in our guides are only those that normally have volunteering opportunities and contain some basic information to give you a flavour of the country and perhaps can give you an idea of where you would like to travel and volunteer. There are also some websites listed below which contain more extensive general country gudies for countries of the world and we recommend that you always visit the Foreign and Commonwealth office (FCO) site for advice given to British nationals travelling abroad and perhaps one of the other sites for more general information. We also state here and elsewhere on the site that you should definitely invest in one of the various travel guides out there as they are an invaluable source of information which you can refer to during your travels and may rescue you from a difficult situation more than once!