We need volunteers,” declared Shahla Ettefagh, founder and director of Mother Miracle School, which provides education for some of the poorest and most intelligent children in Rishikesh, India. That was all I needed to hear.

For several years I’d been sponsoring a girl, Kalpana, at the school and had always wanted to visit India. I am usually up for the most off-the-beaten-path travel experience possible, and this Rishikesh sojourn would turn out to be an immersion in...

In the Cyclades, a group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, trails are called “blue paths.” With every turn, you can expect a view of the sea. How prescient of our group of 11 walkers to have signed up to explore paths on three of these islands with an organization called The Blue Walk!

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, The Blue Walk (phone, in the US, 551/258-3955, www.thebluewalk.com) offers small-group walking vacations in Italy, Spain and France as well as the...

My wife, Lois, and I first considered visiting Dominica after being seduced by Paul Crask’s “Dominica” Brandt Travel Guide, but events got in the way — specifically, tropical storm Erika (2015) and hurricane Maria (2017), each of which devastated the country.

Nevertheless, Dominica retained its appeal, and in the spring of 2018 we asked ourselves, “Would it be wise to visit a country so recently overwhelmed? Would it be safe or even minimally comfortable...