* Solo travelers of the same sex room together -- and avoid the single supplement -- on tours through Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door (425-608-4217, http://www.ricksteves.com).
* TravelAloneandLoveIt.com (http://www.travelaloneandloveit.com), run by longtime flight attendant Sharon Wingler, includes a helpful Q&A column and links to other solo-travel sites and the Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory (http://www.towd.com).
* Those both single and attached can sign up for a trip buddy through Travel Chums (212-787-2621, http://www.travelchums.com). The free membership provides an info database, notification when someone else with similar travel criteria joins and access to subject-specific message boards. For $95 annually, you can post photos and send messages to other members.
* 2insteadof1 (http://www.2insteadof1.com). The travel companion site's catchphrase may be cheesy ("twosome instead of lonesome"), but the impressive Quickfinder feature lets you search member postings by travel date, destination and activities.
Students/Teachers
STA Travel (800-781-4040, http://www.statravel.com) is the self-proclaimed "world's largest student, youth and budget travel organization." According to STA Travel spokeswoman Cristi Day, the organization recommends the following resources:
* The International Student Travel Confederation (http://www.istc.org) is a nonprofit membership association endorsed by UNESCO that works with travel agencies focused on student, youth (under 26) and teacher travel. Its identity cards, available fromhttp://www.myisic.com, provide discounts worldwide. The site also links to a worldwide embassy directory (http://www.embassyworld.com), handy if your passport is stolen.
* The Web sites for Travel publication companies Lonely Planet (http://www.lonelyplanet.com) and Let's Go (http://www.letsgo.com) provide blogs, downloadable playlists and RSS feeds -- "making them very interactive and useful for students," said Day in an e-mail.
* Social networking sites such as MySpace.com (http://www.myspace.com) and Facebook.com (http://www.facebook.com), among others, can host forums and discussions about where to go and how to get there. There are specific travel-related pages, such as the STA Travel page (http://www.myspace.com/statravel).
Among other resources we found:
* Founded in 1947, the Council on International Educational Exchange (207-553-7600, http://www.ciee.org) provides high school- and university-level study abroad opportunities and "gap year" information, plus programs for teaching abroad.
* The comprehensive Web site StudyAbroad.com (http://www.studyabroad.com) offers info on educational opportunities worldwide.
Vegetarian/Dietary
John Cunningham handles consumer questions directed to the Baltimore-based nonprofit Vegetarian Resource Group (410-366-8343, http://www.vrg.org). He suggests consulting the following organizations, as well as logging in to vegetarian/vegan-focused message boards (such ashttp://veganforum.comandhttp://www.veganfreaks.net/forum/index.php):
* Maryland-based Green Earth Travel (888-246-8343, http://www.vegtravel.com) is run by Donna Zeigfinger, "a travel agent with lots of experience that can help a neophyte veggie traveler," Cunningham says. Kosher, halal and medical diets can also be accommodated.
* The Travel page on the Happy Cow's Vegetarian Guide (http://www.happycow.com) includes a guide to vegetarian B&Bs, picks of the world's top five veg-friendly cities and information on health stores and restaurants in 96 countries.
* The International Vegetarian Union (http://www.ivu.org) offers a multilingual database for the traveling vegetarian who wants to patronize like-minded organizations.
* The Online Guide to Natural Foods Restaurants in the U.S. & Canada (http://www.vrg.org/restaurant), hosted by the VRG, is a search-by-location database of vegetarian-friendly eateries.
* The VegDining.com (http://www.vegdining.com) restaurant directory is free, though the $4.95-per-year subscription gives access to full listings, recipes and other info. The fee is waived for those with the $10.95 VegDining Card (discounts at Vegdining.com member restaurants).
* Run by an executive of the British-based Vegan Society (http://www.vegansociety.com), the Vegetarian Guides site (http://www.vegetarianguides.co.uk/index.shtml) posts vegetarian and vegan events and festivals worldwide and markets the destination-focused Vegetarian Guide titles.
Among other resources we found:
* For those who keep kosher, Shamash: The Jewish Network (http://www.shamash.org/kosher) offers a database of 2,500-plus kosher restaurants worldwide.
Volunteer
The nonprofit Action Without Borders (212-843-3973, http://www.idealist.org) is a great place to start; with more than 65,000 member organizations worldwide, "I don't know of another huge collection of resources in one place," said Executive Director Ami Dar. Volunteers can search the database by location, area of focus and dates. The travel-specific page (http://www.idealist.org/volunteer/travel.html) lists organizations seeking volunteers, from ACDI/VOCA (two- to four-week all-expenses-paid international development placements) to Youth With a Mission (one-week to one-year projects with a Christian focus, for which the volunteer covers expenses).
Among other resources we found:
* The American Hiking Society (301-565-6704, Ext. 206, http://www.americanhiking.org) offers field trips for rebuilding trails and fences on public land in about 30 states. Trips cost about $130. The AHS is also working with the Patagonian Foundation on volunteer trips to Chilean Patagonia.
* Global Volunteers (800-487-1074, http://www.globalvolunteers.org) is a nonprofit international development organization that places about 150 teams each year in one- to three-week projects. The educational, social or medical projects (chosen by the local community) start at $750 per volunteer. In addition to about 20 overseas programs, there are also sites in eight states.
* Habitat for Humanity's Global Village (800-422-4828, http://www.habitat.org/gv) offers nine- to 14-day home-building placements in the States, Canada and overseas; cost runs between $900 and $2,200, plus airfare. Habitat can provide fundraising resources, such as a Web site to accept donations.
* Health Volunteers Overseas (202-296-0928, http://www.hvousa.org) runs 65 clinical education programs in 25 developing countries and places medical professionals in one-month teaching and training programs. Volunteers cover their transportation to and from the work site.
* The International Volunteer Programs Association (201-221-4105, http://www.volunteerinternational.org) site could use some updates and a spell check, but its list of volunteer organizations casts a wide net, and it includes fundraising and scholarship information.
* Volunteer Match (415-241-6868, http://www.volunteermatch.org) pairs volunteers with the U.S.-based organizations seeking them. If you know what city you want to travel to, type it and your interests into the advanced search form and see if any opportunities (such as post-Katrina cleanup) pop up.
