TravelBud

I went with Travelbud to teach in South Korea with my fiancée. As we were going out there as a couple, we wanted to be in the same area (walking distance to each others schools). In the initial calls we were told it would be easy to get us into the same school, and worst case scenario it would be two different schools in the same area very close by. After we'd been promised this, we were passed along to another organisation, one of TravelBud's in-country partner. TravelBud's in-country partner didn't seem completely aware of what we'd agreed to with Travelbud, so we were a little concerned that the two organizations weren't working as closely together as we would have liked. Still, we kept going with the process. We were passed along to another organization later down the line, who were the "team on the ground" in South Korea, and a nightmare to deal with. We eventually got our placements in two different districts of a large city, which meant we were a 25 min subway journey away from each other, a far greater distance than we had agreed to in the beginning. On top of this, my contract was 14:00-22:00 and my fiancees was 09:00-18:00, meaning we could only really see each other at weekends. Having both left our jobs in the UK, and only a few weeks left before we were supposed to fly to Korea, we thought this was our best option. We'd previously turned down an interview at a notoriously corrupt hagwon which seemingly caused huge concern with TravelBud's in-country partners, despite being promised we'd have plenty of options to choose from.

Once contracts were finalized, TravelBud's in-country partners were incredibly rude and unaccommodating, demanding that my fiancee and I fly out to Korea a week apart, despite our contracts starting on the same day. After a week at her new job, my fiancee was moved to another campus, which was a 50 minute bus journey away from me, which really defeated the purpose of moving to Korea together and going through what we thought was a supportive organisation. We asked Travelbud and TravelBud's in-country partner for help negotiating with my fiancees school as we didn't want to be even further apart. They did absolutely nothing to help, presumably their duty of care ends the moment they get paid.

Travelbud also claims to only use vetted schools. A friend of hours was placed in a school who coincidentally another friend of ours worked in a few years ago after being placed there by Travelbud. This friend complained to Travelbud who ensured her that they wouldn't be working with the school anymore. Low and behold, more empty promises. My placement hadn't had a foreign teacher from a recruiter for at least the past 2 years, and considering how often management changes in hagwons, I'm not sure how this can be considered "vetted". Our contact at Travelbud even told us that the first 3 months would be awful, which turned out to be the only truthful thing we heard from the organisation.

Just know that if you sign up through TB or TravelBud's in-country partners, you're getting passed around to recruiters and no one really has a duty of care. They'll promise as much as they can over skype calls, and when it comes down to actually supporting you in Korea, you'll get nothing.

Going to a new country is always difficult but exciting at the same time. I learned to adapt and always have a flexable mindset. ESL teacher is my occupation and there has been many obstacles in this position but I hope to talk to xploreasia more about how I can improve my teaching. I do feel homesick such as how I miss the food I usually eat and my stuff back in the states. But I do love to travel around Korea and it has been an amazing experience so far to meet new people and travel too while working here.

This was my first time traveling internationally and it was, without a doubt, a life changing experience. With the help from the staff of GoOverseas and XploreAmericas, the transition into living overseas was smooth, organized, and supported every step of the way. I am a solo traveler, but being a part of this program gave me a sense of community from the very beginning of my journey. During the first month in the program, I had the opportunity to go on adventurous, yet affordable excursions, find work, and build a support system made of friendships that I will have for a lifetime. Although I wish my work pay was a little higher, I now have a job that allows me to travel internationally, and nothing is more exhilarating than the sense of freedom you receive from that. My job allows me to create my own work schedule and I can work as much or as little as I desire. I have never been happier.

My experience with Travelbud, and Kim especially, was an overall positive one. They were available to answer all my questions from day one and made this process a very easy one. It could have been more daunting than it was, but they made it very simple and put my mind (as well as my mother's) at ease, especially as a first-time solo traveller going overseas. I was kept in constant communication from the day I applied to the day that I flew to South Korea. The follow up was excellent and they come highly recommended.

Before reaching out to TravelBud, I was struggling to find a teaching job in Thailand on my own. What I didn't realize was that most schools only hire through agencies, making it incredibly difficult to apply to jobs without going through a company. I had only an English Bachelor's degree and an online TESOL certification behind me, making it impossible to find a job on my own. I found TravelBud after several weeks of unsuccessful job searching. Kim was incredibly helpful in guiding me along my journey- her bubbly personality and demeanor helped me to feel at ease and comfortable with the program and the people who would help me get to Thailand. I was prepared to research and complete all of the stressful documents and other hoops before my trip, but TravelBud guided me through the process smoothly and with the least amount of stress possible. The process was very quick as well- I contacted TravelBud in July, received my placement details in late August, and was in Thailand in early October. I have been in Thailand for two months now and I am incredibly grateful that I followed through with this experience. I have learned so much not only about solo traveling and Thai culture, but also about myself. Had it not been for TravelBud, my experience would have been completely different and definitely far more stressful.