2012 Passports With Purpose

In the nearly three years that I've been running this little website, I've learned that the travel blogger community is a pretty awesome bunch. Sure, we have the squabbles and in-fighting that is inherent to any group - especially one full of strong willed people - but if there's one thing this community is great at it's giving back to the world we so desperately love to explore. Easily the best example of our ability to come together for the greater good is the annual Passports with Purpose campaign.

About this time last year I learned of Passports with Purpose for the first time. The campaign brought together numerous of my blogger friends who had secured donations of trips, hotel stays, gift certificates, etc. which were given away in a raffle style format to those that made donations. The 2011 campaign raised over $80k which went to Room to Read for the construction of two libraries in Zambia. Back then, I resolved that this year I too would take part, and hit up one of my hotel partners for a donation to the cause.

And then I forgot about it for a year.

Thankfully, in addition to being a generous group, the rest of the travel blogger community is apparently more on the ball than I am. While I may come to you empty handed, with a new sponsorship by Expedia this year's Passports with Purpose promises to be bigger than ever. The goal is to raise over $100k for water.org and the building of wells in rural Haiti. This country has gone through such unimaginable suffering, unsafe drinking water should be one less thing for Haiti's citizens to endure. With your help, we can bring life's most basic requirement to those that desperately need it.

So how can you help? Well, you can start by perusing the items donated to my more proficient colleagues. Donations are taken in $10 increments, and you can select from the enormous list which prize you'd like to have a chance of winning. And boy are there some doozies....
Yes...this is a prize

Perhaps you'd like to take the Amazon River cruise offered by my friends at Green Global Travel. Or how about the 26 day Silk Road tour through Asia scored by the WanderMom. Then there's The Provence Post who's week long visit to, well, Provence, has certainly caught my eye. Of course, you don't have to bid on some extravagant adventure on the other side of the planet, there's plenty of great prizes a bit closer to home. I'm thinking the 110k Hyatt Gold Passport points offered by BoardingArea would make for more than a few weekend getaways.

As you can see, there are some incredible prizes at stake for those who contribute to the cause. Although, these are all merely diversions from the things I've donated to myself. Sorry, it might be for charity, but I still want the odds to remain ever in my favor. 

Yes it's cliche, and yes there are tons of places vying for your charitable dollars this time of year, but win or lose what's important is the cause that you're helping by doing so. Passports with Purpose isn't a huge international charity with overhead expenses well into the millions. They are simply a group of travel bloggers - and friends - seeking to give back to the world that has given us so much. 

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