HELLO
Summer is officially over and Christmas stuff is appearing in the shops already. It that's not enough to make you want to jet off to somewhere warmer, this newsletter will!
We've got a great heap of stuff for you today - new volunteer projects in Cambodia and other new career breaks, lots of free things, inspiration from blogs, videos and photos, plus our usual helping of useful information and links.
So grab your cup of tea (no, it's not quite hot chocolate weather yet, sorry), sit back and enjoy the read.
SPONSORED FEATURE - VOLUNTEER IN CAMBODIA WITH PROJECTS ABROAD
If you are a professional (even recently qualified) Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist, then why not put your skills to use as a volunteer in a developing country?
Home of Hope in Cambodia is a centre for children and adults living with disabilities. Volunteers are desperately needed to help train local staff and to provide the specialised stimulation needed by the patients. If you think you fit the bill, click here fore more information and to apply.
And if you like the sound of helping people, but don't have the right qualifications or experience for this placement, then check out these other worthwhile projects in Cambodia. Projects Abroad have something for everyone, and like all our partners, they're vetted and approved by us.
FREE STUFF ROUND-UP
100 sites where you can download free books - all legal so they claim!
Care about wildlife? You can join Butterfuly Conservation for free, saving £30! This link takes you to the page with the promotional code.
If you own a Nokia Lumia 930, you can get a free wireless kit for it.
Free hotel stay in Italy - you have to climb up a mountain to get there though! Probably the weirdest freebie we've ever included.
30 gb of free storage with OneDrive - very useful on a career break, you can keep copies of documents and your CV there, as well as your photos.
Free hot dog when you open a rewards account - unfortunately it's from Gregg's, but free food is free food.
Free iPhone 6 protectors from Endsleigh - they won't stop it bending though!
We put these freebies and offers in the newsletter as a service to you, our lovely readers. We don't get paid for putting them in. (We wish we did though!)
NEW AND UPDATED CAREER BREAKS
Here are all our new and updated career breaks.
PHOTO CORNER - YOUR MONTHLY DOSE OF INSPIRATION
A round-up of beautiful paths around the world - these will make you want to walk!
VIDEO CORNER
This cute video from South Africa shows a dog getting spooked by a sneaking lion cub.
And because that's only 20 seconds long, here's a bonus video for you - advice from a backpacker on whether you should visit New Zealand's north or south island.
ON THE BLOG
This month's guest post comes from the amazing Exploramum - an Australian single mum who sold her house to go travelling (on a budget!) with her son. Read her story (with lots of pictures) here.
You may have heard of the recent collapse of a gap year company, and in response to this, we published a piece called How to avoid bad gap year companies. Once you've read it, please send the link to any gappers (or parents of gappers) you know - we're on a mission to make sure everyone has a great gap year or career break!
Finally, we unearthed a strange document called Expected Conduct of a Teacher. It's from a school in Zambia and we think it's from the 1960s. Makes for an amusing read anyway!
All these, and the rest of our blog posts, can be found here: http://www.thecareerbreaksite.com/blog.
NEW SECTION: ELSEWHERE ON THE INTERWEB
The excellent Countryside Jobs has us listed in the directory (because of the conservation volunteering placements we feature).
Also, we published a guest article on mini career breaks on The Travel Talker.
TIP OF THE MONTH
If you're going abroad, contact your mobile company before you leave - even if you already know the roaming costs. They sometimes have special deals for travellers which you might not know about.
USEFUL THING OF THE MONTH
If you're thinking of living abroad for a while, you'll find the Xpatulator very useful. It's an international cost of living calculator, so you can see what you can live off (you have to pay to use it though).
FUN THING
One for our London readers - can you guess which tube station is missing from the map?
JOKE
"Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?"
"Neither, it's my new iPhone."
FINALLY
There's rumblings afoot here at The Career Break Site - we're having a bit of a rebuild! The new(ish) site will make it easier for you to find career breaks, and will have more information to help inform and inspire you. If there's anything you'd like to see on the site, just reply to this email and we'll make sure it gets to the right people.
Thanks for reading.
Until next month,
The Career Break Site
xxx