Program Reviews

Traveling with ISV is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Traveling to a different country can be scary, and a bit of a hassle when it comes to planning everything. I did not have one worry throughout my entire trip because everything through ISV is pre-planned by the program down to meals and accommodations. The best part was that we had tour leaders who lived in Thailand and they were always knowledgeable and teaching us fun facts and recommending what to try every step of the way! Our tour leaders were fun and participated in every activity with us. I never once worried about my safety because my leaders made me feel very secure and confident with where we were, what we were doing and who we were doing it with. Aside from the outstanding program coordination, I had so much fun and learned so much on this trip. The volunteer portion of the trip was very rewarding in that every single day we did something productive. We got to go to bed knowing we were making a difference and that is why most of us were on the trip. The adventure tour was better than I could have imagined. I can't believe how many fun things we did; zip lining, white water rafting, snorkeling, island hopping, a Thai boxing class, a cooking class, canoeing, and more. We did more in this portion of the trip (2 weeks) than most people can say they have done in a lifetime. I absolutely recommend this program to others, and I hope to continue traveling through ISV myself!

Honestly, there are so many amazing stories from this trip, that picking just one is too difficult. What I can share with you is that this trip helped me form life long friends, learn the value of being environmental friendly, see first hand how much one person can make an impact on this planet, and how to live a life which extends far past your comfort zone. I would recommend this program to anyone.

I had the best time of my life while traveling to Australia with ISV! For the first two weeks I volunteered at Wild Mountains. While at Wild Mountains I learned about the environment and sustainability. We focused on eco-friendly ways of living and doing our part to help the environment, like planting trees and weeding. While at Wild Mountains, I was forced out of my comfort zone as we unplugged from our technology, embraced the environment around us in every way possible, and enjoyed some delicious vegetarian food! The volunteering at Wild Mountains changed me and opened my eyes up to all the environmental aspects of the world. The second two weeks of my trip were spent exploring the eastern coast of Australia. We skydived in Cairns, visited the Great Barrier Reef, went white water rafting, surfing in Byron Bay and even visited P.Sherman 42 Wallaby Way in Sydney. I experienced more in my two weeks in Australia than most people get to experience in a lifetime! I made lifelong friendships and memories. This trip was life changing for me, I tried things I never would have if I wasn't asked to get out of my comfort zone. I would recommend traveling with ISV to anyone and everyone! It will change your life in so many positive ways!

My name is Kathryn and I went on the Australia program from May, 26th to June 24th. I'm an avid traveler and have been to about twenty countries from North America, to Europe and Africa. You can imagine my excitement when provided the unique opportunity of immersing myself into Australian culture, being able to explore the beautiful continent and make a huge environmental impact as well. For the first two weeks, I worked along side other volunteers to plant trees through a government funded project called 20 Million Trees which worked to fill gaps for animals to be able to move through the continent more safely when they migrate. Also, as global warming makes living more uncomfortable in the north, animals will want to travel further south. I absolutely loved the group of people I worked with and it was a real thrill to be working in the Australian wild, living amongst the kangaroos! The second two weeks, we went on the adventure tour and it was definitely the trip of a lifetime. We went to so many unique places that many other tourists would not have been able to visit such as Fraser Bay and Byron Bay. My favorite activities were scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, learning to surf, white water rafting through a rainforest, and bungee jumping! I 110% recommend this trip for all travel lovers and adventure seekers and those who want to learn how to become a responsible tourist!

I have never been overseas before so this was a new experience. I volunteered on Phillip Island where you get to see and learn amazing new things each and every day. I learned more about the different type of weeds that are not indigenous to the island as well as more about the little penguins and koalas. After volunteering on Phillip Island, we met up with the other groups and moved our way up the coast doing things that I never thought I would ever get to do. I met so many amazing people that we can look back on our memories from when we were all a part of this amazing experience. Highly recommended to those who have never gone overseas before.

I'm afraid of heights. Deathly afraid. I can't dive and I hate being anything but right side up. So, logically, I went bungy jumping. I did the highest jump in New Zealand, the 134 meter Nevis bungy- that's an 8 1/2 second freefall, folks- and I didn't hesitate for a second.
Of course, the surge of adrenaline and the celebratory post-bungy Fergburger really made that particular experience memorable, but the jump really marked a turning point in my entire ISV experience. The pride I felt in myself not only encompassed the fact that I had overcome some of my greatest fears, but it also made me realize that I had more to be proud of: the volunteer work that my fellow students and I had done in Northland. My group planted 11 1/2 thousand manuka plants in the span of two weeks, shattering the previous record of 9 1/2 thousand. I am proud because the work we did will have a definite positive impact on the local environment; the manuka we planted will help purify the waterways, and it's pioneering property will help ensure the continuation of the practice of sustainable forestry. The work we did may also have a noted social impact, and will one day help to create jobs in a notably poor part of the country.
As my pride grew, so did my appreciation of those with whom I had worked grow. During my entire experience with ISV, I found the staff to be extremely obliging, helpful, and understanding. They answered all of my questions by email or phone. Additionally, the payment method was simple, and the information provided by ISV was very clear. The project leaders and adventure tour leader made sure that we were safe and happy, and rally took the time to get to know us. The entire experience was very well organized, and I never felt unsafe.
The grates souvenirs that brought back from New Zealand, however, are the friends that I made. I truly believe that we will be friendsfor life- we are already planning our own trips together- and I left New Zealand grateful that I'd been able to make my own, small, positive impact on the country, and mindful of my personal impact as a tourist on my host country.
My experience with ISV was truly and undeniably incredible. It was worth every penny. My admiration for New Zealand and its culture has grown immensely, and I'm sure that I will return, if not as a visitor, then as a resident.
Kia ora.

The best part of my trip was the people with whom I was grouped. None of us were particularly involved in environmental efforts before the trip and we all said at one point or another that this was not the type of trip we would normally sign up for. Yet, we had all signed up, we were all there, and we were making the absolute most of our time there. I was so impressed with the way that we all came together to complete tasks, the way that everyone gave their best effort every day, and the way that we were able to support each other during the trip and after. We became a sort of family, which is something I never expected.

I was shocked at how invested I became in New Zealand's flora. I learned more about the native plants of New Zealand than I know about plants in my own state back home and I started to care for them almost the way you would for a pet. I became concerned about their safety and got excited when I saw one out in nature. I also became really interested and invested in the culture of the Maori people, the native people of New Zealand. I hope that this attitude will continue to grow in me and that it will be a lasting, positive change.

Lastly, you could not ask for better adventure activities than the ones that ISV has planned for their groups. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so the opportunity to do OGO, Black Water Rafting, and Bungee (yes "bungee", not "bungy") Jumping was a definite highlight of my trip. If you aren't quite as keen to do those things, though, they have plenty of other activities that you're sure to enjoy, like Hobbiton and Whale Watching.

Overall, I really enjoyed and highly recommend this trip.

(If I were to do it again, though, I would make more of an effort to fundraise. If people are unsure why they should donate money to this trip, tell them that a majority of New Zealand's unique habitat has been destroyed and that restoring it is crucial to ensuring that we continue to have clean water and diversity in nature. Any trip that you are a part of in New Zealand will be working toward these goals by planting trees, building fences, cutting down invasive species, educating the public, or building habitats for native bird species.)

I'm not too sure that typing my experience through text will come anywhere close to actually getting the real life experience. To say the least my eyes were opened up more than I expected from this amazing trip and I definitely recommend volunteering abroad to any, and everybody. This was my first time out of the country and I feel that Thailand was the country for me. The people, the cities, the villages, the culture, the climate, everything about Thailand I fell in love with. I was there for a month and I feel that was the perfect amount of time to see everything that I saw on my trip. I volunteered for two weeks in Northern Thailand, at the DEPDC which was the most amazing two weeks of my entire life. I am hoping that someday soon I can already go back and visit all the kids again. Then I spent two weeks sight-seeing throughout some of Northern Thailand and some of the Southern areas as well. Overall, this was a trip and an experience of a lifetime. A trip I will never forget with some of the most amazing people I have ever encountered. I can not even stress it enough how amazing it was to get the experience to make a difference and volunteer abroad in a different country. I just want to thank ISV for making this all possible for me.

Traveling for the first time out of the United States honestly scared me, and not knowing a single person who I was traveling with also scared me. After the first hour of landing in South Africa starters quickly became friends. Throughout my five weeks in Africa I worked with and met the most amazing people, form the staff of International Student Volunteers to the other volunteers to the other travelers and locals. I did more in those five weeks than I could have ever imagined doing in my life. I have an unreal fear of heights but I went bungee jumping from the highest bridge in the world. I do not like the ocean very much because of the unknown but I learned how to scuba dive and surf. Also, I went caving, cliff jumping, white water rafting, and more! I saw over a hundred giraffe and elephants, many lions and buffalo, and even rhinos. I was able to sleep inside a national park listening to lions roaring and leopards purring. I saw a night sky that was filled with countless stars. It was the most breath taking sight I have ever seen. I did this all with the support and encouragement of my leaders and fellow volunteers. No matter what adventure we faced and took on that day, we had such an amazing support system for each other. I couldn't have done any of that without being apart of ISV. This program allowed me to make memories and friendships that will last a lifetime. We are already making plans for a reunion and to return to Africa! You can choose different countries and lengths of your program, but I recommend five weeks. "You can never spend to much money traveling."

ISV was an amazing program to travel with and I plan to take more trips through this program as well. I took a month long volunteer trip to Thailand and had never really traveled outside the United States before. Everything was well planned and directed; I never felt in danger during the time I was there. There are so many things that I would not have been able to do if I had made this trip by myself or even with others that have never been to Thailand before. All the staff and leaders that were with my group were very informative and had lived in Thailand, so they were able to share special information all throughout the trip. I learned so much about the culture and language with the ISV leaders help. Not only were there many activities planned, but there was also free time to go out and explore on your own which was very cool. I highly recommend taking a trip with the ISV program and will never forget this trip of a lifetime.