My mother recently returned from a trip to New Orleans with her Methodist Church. They were there to rebuild homes, which, unbelievably, are still in shambles more than two years after Hurricane Katrina hit.

While my mother is retired and therefore can take a “vacation” anytime she wants, her trip fell into a new niche called “volunteer vacations” or “voluntourism.” And it just so happens that I wrote about this trend towards giving back during your time off in a new article in Executive Travel magazine, which is out now.

I’d like to go with my mom next year if she goes back to New Orleans to build houses. That seems up my alley, especially since my husband and I spent this past Thanksgiving long weekend redoing our upstairs bathroom (we got as far as hanging new dry wall). I’m not sure I could handle the “pee in a pit” experience that some of the folks I’d interviewed for my story had had, though. That’s roughing it a bit much for me–I joke that for me, camping = sleeping with the windows open!

Have you considered taking a volunteer vacation? As I mention in my piece, a recent Travelocity survey of people interested in volunteer vacations showed that 33 percent said conservation and the environment are their choice causes. Given who reads this blog, I’ll bet that represents a good chunk of you guys.

Let me know what you think–about my story and the notion of volunteer vacations.

As you probably already know, today is CyberMonday. It is the online retailers’ version of Black Friday, a day when online shoppers tend to place the lion’s share of their holiday orders.

I imagine that most people back from the long Thanksgiving weekend aren’t ready to get right back to work, so they log on to their favorite websites and finish up their holiday shopping (which I’m sure is totally illegal at some companies). In fact, a Shop.org survey, conducted this weekend by BIGresearch, shows that 84.6 million consumers plan to shop online from home or at work tomorrow, up from 72.0 million in 2007 and 60.7 million in 2006.

I got a jump start on my CyberMonday shopping over the weekend by taking advantage of Lands’ End’s free shipping offer (which I believe ended yesterday). And I could have sworn that tons of other people were doing the same–my Internet was slower than it’s been in a long time, making me think that all of my neighbors were online as well.

Nonetheless, e-tailers are not going to let CyberMonday pass them by without offering deals to lure shoppers to their websites. According to another Shop.org survey, this time conducted by Shopzilla (the comparison shopping site), here’s what shoppers can expect to find today–and they don’t even need to wake up at 4 a.m.:

* 83.7 percent of retailers will have a special promotion for CyberMonday, up from 72.2 percent last year.

* 24.5% of retailers will be holding one-day sales.

* 22.5% of e-tailers will offer free shipping on all purchases.

So how will you find all of your CyberMonday deals? I would recommend checking out CyberMonday.com, a website that Shop.org launched two years ago, and which features holiday promotions and special savings from more than 600 retailers. Starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern, CyberMonday.com will feature steals and deals from various online retailers.

Here is a breakdown of the day’s offerings, all of which you can access via CyberMonday.com’s homepage:

7-8 a.m.
KBToys.com
$5 off an order of $35 or more

8-9 a.m.
Overstock.com
Save $120 on Dyson Vacuum (Overstock is also offer free shipping on many purchases.)

10-11 a.m.
Sierra Trading Post
20% off with no order minimum, plus free shipping (excludes bikes, boats, and sport optics)

11 a.m.- 12 p.m.
eToys.com
$5 off an order of $35 or more

1-2 p.m.
Discovery Store
Receive 50% off plus free shipping when you purchase items from these Discovery Channel shows: the Planet Earth DVD Set, the When We Left Earth, The NASA Missions DVD Set, and the Blue Planet DVD Set

5-6 p.m.
Red Envelope
20% off sitewide (a couple of my girlfriends rave about this site for its unique gifts)

7-8 p.m.
eBags.com
Buy one, get one 25% off, plus free shipping (check out this site’s cool collection of reusable shopping bags)

8-9 p.m.
ProFlowers.com
20% off sitewide on holiday flowers and gifts

I’m sure other CyberMonday deals are going to pop into my inbox this morning, and I will be sorely tempted to check them out. Yesterday, Target and Circuit City both emailed me about their CyberMonday specials. Given that we’ve budgeted for holiday gifts and bought most of them already, I’ll probably just hit “delete” on all of those tempting emails. I’d really like to end this holiday season in the black, and right now we’re on track to comfortably do that.

Anyway, let me know if you score any great deals today.