Summer holidays are great, but if mum and dad aren’t paying, the chances are you’re going to spend most of your time working in the local supermarket and then grabbing a cheap week somewhere in the south of Spain right at the very end. Again. Don’t you just wish you could go away for weeks on end to somewhere a bit further afield?

Well, we thought we’d bring your attention to some companies that combine the necessities of summer work with the urge to actually escape from the family home to bring you just that. Camp America is probably the best known of these – its been putting chubby US kids through their paces since 1969 – and is a brilliant way for a poor UK student to spend the summer. The current year’s jobs and information on how to register can be found at www.campamerica.co.uk.

Alternatively, for all sorts of up-to-date seasonal jobs – winter and Easter breaks, as well as the long summer period – around the world, log on to www.seasonworkers.com and start looking forward to holiday work again.

Alternatively, if you don’t need to work, you can sign up on one of the many hugely worthwhile volunteer projects that take people around the world to work in all sorts of situations. These can carry an up-front charge, and obviously you’ll need some living money when you’re out there, but in most cases accommodation and food is included. Expect to work hard, but in return you’ll be bringing something to people less well off and making some fantastic friends along the way – both those you are helping, and your fellow volunteers. Your university union will be able to help out with more details, although www.frontier.ac.uk and www.vso.org.uk/volunteering are both excellent places to start looking.

By Nick Sidwell