Voluntourism is a great way to have a meaningful vacation, but nowadays, the entire family can actually take a volunteer vacation together. So if your family is looking for a vacation where you can have fun and make a difference, there are more and more options out there.

The Crooked Trails organization has developed specialhome stays with the people of Peru’s Sacred Valley of the Incas for families with kids aged 9 and younger. The 9-day program is about $1700 for adults and $1000 for kids. For kids who can wield a hammer, Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village trips welcome families on their projects, which could have you and the kids building houses for needy families from Tajikistan to South Dakota. …

Editor’s Note: The following is the second of a series of columns about fitness on the road, by personal trainer Annette Lang. It goes without saying that you should always check with your physician before beginning any fitness routine.

If traveling is becoming a pain in your neck…or shoulders…or back, here are some quick tips for maintaining good posture and preventing aches and pains on the road.

FREEZE! Don’t move.

The first thing you have to do to improve your posture is to become more aware of it.

Are you slouched down in your chair?

Is your upper body curled forward, so that your head is out in front of the rest of your body?

Many times the …

If you’re interested in getting an inside view of a famous writer, don’t visit a museum or a library, get an inside view your favorite’s writer’s life by visiting their home. So where can you go to get an inside view of a writer’s life? One option is Ernest Hemingway’s former home and office in Key West. Everything is how he left it, right down to the furniture he used and the art he collected. Even the cats that stray around the property are descendants of one owned by Hemingway.

Mark Twain’s whimsical 19-room mansion is in Hartford, Connecticut. Twain’s personal library is there, too, so you can see what one of America’s greatest writers was reading. Edgar Allen Poe’s house …

While the majority of Americans use the Internet to research travel destinations, you may be missing out on good information in another language. There are now a growing number of online translation services that could open up more direct sources of destination information even if you can only speak English.

Online-Translator.com allows you to enter web addresses and will translate the pages into English from French, Russian, German, Italian, and Spanish. Google is also now offering software that translates entire web pages, offering the major Romance languages as well as Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, too. WorldLingo.com is free for phrases up to 150 words, but you’ll have to pay to translate more than that. Babylon.com offers …

The euro is already the currency for 14 countries in Europe, and more are slated to start using it soon. The strong euro is one reason why Europe has become more expensive, but there are still parts of the continent where you can experience European culture without paying with expensive euros.

For now, head for Hungary, whose foreign currency has been near all-time lows. And while Prague is almost as expensive as many western European cities, the rest of the Czech Republic is cheap thanks to the Czech koruna. And they may have cut five zeros off the Romanian leu currency in 2005, but prices there are still just a third of what they are in the euro zone.

But the euro …

If a honeymoon heralds your life as a couple, make it your nature to go green with a holiday that’s easy on Mother Earth.

Green is the new white… for weddings, that is.

With an increasing number of couples opting for eco-nuptials - everything from recycled paper invitations with soy-based ink to organic flower petal confetti - it’s only natural that the honeymoon gets a green makeover, too.

The prospect of a lower-stress vacation lures some couples through the eco door.

Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter got married last summer and says her honeymoon was simply an extension of her and her husband’s “green ethos.” (Coincidentally, she works as an editorial assistant with the popular eco-site …