If lying on a sizzling beach during the day and drinking yourself into oblivion every night doesn’t sound like your ideal vacation, Global Vision International may provide the answer to your traveling desires.
Global Vision International (GVI), a United Kingdom based company, has opened its first North American office in Boston. To commemorate this, the Boston office in conjunction with National Volunteer Week is offering an online contest to send one lucky winner on a five-week Costa Rican or Amazonian rainforest expedition.

The contest, “What kind of monkey are you?” involves participants logging onto www.primateprofile.com and taking a quiz to learn their monkey profile. GVI announces winners on April 15, the start of National Volunteer Week.

Since opening in 1998, GVI has sent more than 2,000 volunteers annually to international aid-related programs, ranging from wildlife conservation in South Africa, to teaching English in Thailand, to caring for abandoned street children in India.

“I’ve participated in two Global Vision International expeditions and they truly care for the communities they work in as well as the travelers who desire to do more than the normal tourist,” said volunteer Nicolas Flaherty after returning from the program in Mexico in 2006.

Because GVI runs long-term programs, volunteers are given the opportunity to volunteer year-round, for different durations ranging from a week to a year. Ten-week expedition members are eligible for an internship, and some can even benefit from receiving college credits for their volunteer work. Some programs require language courses or teaching certifications to assure each volunteer is well-prepared.

The closeout date of April 15 is fast approaching, so in order to become eligible to win this unique travel experience, log on to www.primateprofile.com to find out what kind of monkey you are.

Have you ever wanted to take part in a true Canadian springtime tradition? Then it’s time to dig out the lumberjack sweater and wool socks because there is just one weekend left to participate in the Maple Syrup Festival at Bronte Creek Provincial Park.

“This is our 10th year of the festival and we’ve made improvements each year,” says festival organizer, Shiela Wiebe, “The festival opened on March 3 this year and has experienced record attendance. If the trend continues we should see the monthly total reach 33,000 visitors.”

Responding to last year’s demand for more children’s activities, they have added an area offering family games and have made improvements on the Festival Passport Challenge.

This annual festival boasts a number of things to keep visitors busy, including a wagon ride to and from a heated pancake house where visitors can enjoy fresh, hot pancakes with freshly tapped pure maple syrup and sausage.

Other activities include a guided tour of Maple Lane, where 1890s-costumed interpreters demonstrate the method for tapping maple trees, and the processes involved in making maple syrup and maple sugar.

For more laid-back entertainment, visitors can relax while watching a movie in the Logging Theatre, view artifacts in the Maple Museum, or tour the 100-year old Spruce Lane Farmhouse.

For those wanting to leave with souvenirs, the Maple Gift Shoppe allows you to take home bottles of the fresh maple syrup harvested right on the Bronte Creek Park grounds.

Maple syrup festivities are open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. every weekend in March, including April 1 this year. With only one weekend left to take advantage of this unique opportunity, hurry out to Bronte Creek Park before the taps run dry.

General admission fees do apply, so for more information call 905-827-6911 or visit www.BronteCreek.org.

Festivities take place in the Day-use area of Bronte Creek Provincial Park, just north of the QEW on Burloak Drive (exit 109), between Oakville and Burlingon.