Travel: Lend a Helping Hand

Volunteering to help others in faraway places is an increasingly popular vacation option, in which you can combine your zest for travel with the desire to do good.

TAKE THE ALTRUISM EXPRESS

Nice as it was, Pat Carnright's cruise to Alaska two years ago just wasn't quite enough. "It's so much more fun to go and learn about a country and the people," she says. This past summer, when she ventured from her home near Tacoma, Wash., it was not to Rome or Rio but to West Africa, where she did as much as six hours' worth of volunteer work each...