With these eight emotional words, Ken Budd embarks on a quest to help others—from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to a special needs school in China, from climate change research in Ecuador to projects in Kenya, Costa Rica, and the West Bank. A moving memoir of sacrifice and
self-discovery, The Voluntourist is part love story, part travel tale; a book about losing your father and finding your destiny; and a wry yet wise treatise on changing lives—including your own. Learn more
Starting this month, I’ll be writing and compiling stories for a monthly 650,000 Hours e-newsletter. The focus is on travel, inspirational people, giving back, and making the most of our […]
Read moreHere’s a long-overdue update on some recent stories! I have a piece in the February/March 2019 issue of National Geographic Traveler on global volunteering for the “Why It Matters” section. […]
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Ken Budd has written for The New York Times, Smithsonian, National Geographic, The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, and many more publications. After volunteering in New Orleans and Costa Rica, Ken volunteered in four countries in nine months—China, Ecuador, Palestine, and Kenya—for his award-winning memoir, The Voluntourist. Read More
- Publishers Weekly“In this sincere and subtly written memoir, Budd gracefully—and often humorously—records how he changes ‘emotionally, physically, spiritually’ as he travels to work with ‘people with real problems and different perspectives.”