What is your favorite travel memory?
It is difficult to pick one specific memory. When I was contracting in the outdoors, I spent five of NZ Winter’s working at a summer camp in Upstate New York. For three of these years I was a Trip Leader for groups of up to 32 students.
I think when it comes to traveling; it’s who you share the memories with, that helps to create the most memorable experiences!
We would fly out to Denver, Colorado and spend the next 4 weeks traveling through 5 states, finishing our journey in San Francisco, California. Some of my highlights from this trip were watching my students overcome their fear of heights while rock climbing in Boulder, Colorado. Seeing my raft of campers develop as a team while we white water rafted down the Arkansas River, and finally helping my campers to build resilience and learn to never give up whilst climbing some massive hills in Yosemite, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
I frequently hear from students I have worked with over the years. More often than not it has been years later, the reason being it can take a long time for reflections to happen in an individual after a personal and social development program.
My favorite story is about a student who got in touch after nearly two years of no contact. She explained to me, that after taking part in our program she felt inspired, driven and motivated to do more. She was now working and saving hard so that she could, she was planning a trip to Canada and she would work there as a nanny.
We still keep in touch now and I can tell you that she is an amazing young lady. She strives to be the best she can be and has already achieved so much in her life. It is stories like this that make all the hard work worth it
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
If I could choose any of TheGapNZ programs to go on myself, I would definitely choose the 8 week summer program. The reason being that I absolutely love the NZ Summer, it’s warm and dry which is perfect for seeing some sights. Also, this program takes its participants to some of the most spectacular parts of the country in both the North and South Islands.
If I was a participant on this program, I could expect to experience rock climbing in the beautiful mountains of Queenstown, hike some of the well-known Queen Charlotte tracks in the Marlborough Sound, learn more about NZ’s culture by experiencing overnight stays in traditional Marae’s, swim at some of the most beautiful beaches in the World and have a life changing experience all at the same time!!
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
What makes TheGapNZ unique is that all of our staff are fully trained facilitators, who regularly work with a wide range of participants from all walks of life, making it easy for them to identify areas in their lives where positive change can occur.
Our programs are not just about traveling around NZ and doing some “fun activities” along the way. Our focus at TheGapNZ is more focussed on the personal and social development process that occurs throughout the participant’s time on their chosen program. TheGapNZ has a huge focus on experiential learning, meaning that everything we will do on our programs, we do for a specific reason.
All of our activities will be fun, but there’s a deeper meaning behind it.