Travel FAQ’s

We are officially traveling again! We resumed traveling in August 2021 to Honduras and since have resumed earned trips, private trips and public trips.

Our goal is to continue to send travel teams to Honduras, Guatemala, and the U.S. throughout the year. We realize that the pandemic isn’t over and due to the fluidity of the situation, we’re ready to pivot and pause travel if the safety of our travelers, trip leaders, and people we serve are at risk. We are following CDC and U.S. Department of State travel requirements and recommendations and will continue to do so, evaluating each trip before we go. Your safety, as well as the safety of the people we serve, is our top priority. 

The pandemic allowed us time to take a step back and take a fresh look at how we can best structure our travel program in order to better serve our supporters. This led us to make several changes:

We are only traveling to those countries where we have an established micro-enterprise program. Currently, that includes Honduras, and Guatemala—and we will also schedule US-based trips. However, we may expand that list as we develop stronger micro-enterprise operations in Africa and other regions. We reached this decision because we feel it’s important to give travelers direct exposure to the work that is at the core of our mission.

We plan to schedule 12-15 trips per year. People and companies who have earned free trips through their shoe collection or fundraising efforts will continue to be given first priority for registration. We will then open any remaining spots to those who want to pay or raise funds for their trip.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate these changes. Traveling with Soles4Souls has been life-changing for hundreds of people, and we look forward to many more Global Experiences in the years to come.

The main difference is that we are no longer offering a tier system of location options. Earned trip winners still have the choice between Honduras, Guatemala and the United States. We’re excited about this because it gives you a chance to bring your shoe collection efforts full circle by seeing through our micro enterprise program how shoes like the ones you collect benefit families in these countries.

Please talk with your point of contact at that organization/institution/company. They will determine when/how they want to reschedule their S4S trip and work with you on how that affects your participation and next steps.

They will be 5-days in length on average to Guatemala, Honduras and the United States. They will continue to include direct service and cultural immersion, with an emphasis on our micro-enterprise programs in these countries. We will still have S4S travel leaders that communicate, prepare and travel with you.

We have resumed offering customizable private group trips.

Volunteers are able to earn trips with S4S when they collect 10,000 or more pairs of shoes and/or participate in one of our large fundraising or procurement initiatives. For more information about these programs, please contact communitypartnerships@soles4souls.org. Anyone else is considered a “paid traveler.”

If there are available spots, we’ll post the trip here. If you find a trip you’d like to join, please click on the trip to register. Be sure to continuously check this page for updates. 

Please click here to read our policy around COVID-19 vaccinations and testing.

To experience hands-on, humble service, see firsthand how shoes create opportunity in partnership with Soles4Souls and local leaders, authentically experience unfamiliar cultures off the beaten path, and create meaningful relationships along the way. By learning about our own and others’ values, strengths, similarities, difficulties, passions and more, we are more equipped to be active, compassionate citizens throughout our life journey upon our return.

Our global experiences are unique in that we spend quality time immersed in local communities and embracing human connection in the purest, most powerful form: washing the feet of a child, hugging them and their parents, talking with and learning from local leaders, playing, serving and spending time within their community face-to-face. We serve hundreds of children and families while also forming incredible relationships and creating moments directly with the local people. These moments will stay with you for a lifetime.

Our trips are a perfect balance of comfortable and modest; adventurous and safe; educational and exciting; intimate and purposeful. Not to mention, we are professional and handle all travel logistics down to every very last detail. 

You will see and do something new, different and worthwhile every day.

• Day 1 – midday arrivals, team meeting (orientation & project preparations)
• Day 2 – morning and afternoon service, evening team reflection
• Day 3 – morning cultural excursion, afternoon micro-enterprise education, evening team reflection
• Day 4 – morning and afternoon service, evening team reflection
• Day 5 – morning activity midday departures

Yes, this is our favorite part of our work: getting off the beaten path and working directly with people and communities. In every volunteer location, we work through local vetted partnerships and teams to serve responsibly. Our partners are either native to the country or have lived there for 7+ years, so they know their communities, language, and culture best!  We work with them to build our itinerary in the most intentional manner, identifying the greatest needs and understanding our group abilities. 

Just about anyone! Because our work is relatively low impact, almost no one is discouraged from joining a global experience.  We do ask that you join the team in good health.  Extenuating circumstances (i.e. heart conditions, pregnancy, etc.) may require additional doctor’s approval if requested by Soles4Souls.

Those under 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult and/or a parent/guardian must sign both a parental release form and a travel agreement on behalf of their minor(s). We ask that travelers be at least 10 years old to withstand the emotional and physical demand of our experiences that can be relatively challenging. If you want to travel with someone younger than 10, they must be well traveled and accompanied by a guardian. For these reasons, Soles4Souls does reserve the right to disapprove of a traveler under age 10.

For all youth travelers, we require them to be respectful and open to learning from our Soles4Souls team and partners throughout the experience.  We cannot be responsible for disrespectful behavior during such a meaningful, cross-cultural experience.

Yes!  We welcome all travelers from around the world. There are no restrictions/fees from our end! You will be required to check whether a tourist visa is required to travel to your preferred destination given your citizenship/status, as well as letting your travel leader know your status so he/she can assist you.  You will be responsible for any additional fees incurred to secure a visa/additional paperwork to travel with us.

A passport is required to enter several of the countries we travel. Please visit the State Department website to check requirements specific to your destination. If a passport is required to travel and you do not have a passport, or if your passport will expire within six months after your travel dates, please apply for or renew your passport. Standard processing time for your first passport is minimum 6-8 weeks, and routine passport renewals are estimated around 2-3 weeks. We encourage you to take care of this immediately upon booking.

Yes!  We have an online fundraising platform that is free, customizable & user-friendly!  You can create your own fundraising page and share it with your family and friends via social media/email.  It’s a great tool for others to help you, allowing them to be part of your journey. All donations go directly to S4S and are credited to your account to offset your total amount due.  No fundraised money will be refunded directly to the traveler. NOTE: do NOT fundraise through Facebook – there’s no way we can trace donations back to you to credit them to your travel account.

We pride ourselves on excellent customer service and take care of every last detail. And not to brag, but we know what we’re doing-we’ve taken more than 2,500 people on over 200 service trips around the world. You can trust us to take care of the details. We’ll be with you every step of the way!

The health and safety of our travelers are our highest priorities throughout our journey together, therefore we take every precaution, including:

• medical and evacuation travel insurance.
• safe, secured accommodations.
• private transportation for the entire duration of our experience, and make every effort to be off the roads before nighttime
• registering all travelers with the State Departments’ STEP program.
• operating based on a thorough risk and crisis management plan, and train our leaders based on this protocol.

• following current events on the ground where we stay & work throughout our network of local partners, making real-time and appropriate decisions accordingly.