Program Reviews

I was so excited to go on my trip for into to community service. That was until I got to the airport. I realized that maybe I made a mistake. Half of the time I felt very left out at base camp because of my social status. There lacked minorities and people of lower economic standing. The kids were privelaged, made awful jokes, and didn’t care if the things they said were hurtful. A lot of kids came in groups or partners too. It was hard to meet people when they all came together. The service however was wonderful. I enjoyed supporting the community I was at. The activities were unbelievable. Zip lining was amazing, and I’m afraid of heights. White water rafting was personally my favorite thing. The staff were so great. They were kind and they listened and they genuinely cared about each and every one of us.

This program was amazing!!! I learned so much about Peruvian culture and history and so much about myself throughout the week. The food was amazing, the staff was amazing. The homestay was quite a humbling experience and my host mom was the sweetest and made the best pancakes every morning :) Rustic pathways did an amazing job leading us through Peru and the Leadercorps portion was extremely informative and empowering. 10/10 collab.

My first summer with rustic was definitely one for the books. Thailand itself was fantastic and the elephants there were amazing but the true memories were made with the people I met through the organization. I owe rustic everything and I am so thankfully that they exposed me to an experience that allowed me to see the world and discover other people and how they live. It was truly and amazing experience and I have already booked my rustic trip to Australia for next summer!

This was my first trip with Rustic and the overall experience was amazing. The people ofThailand are some of the most genuine people I have ever met. They always have smiles on their faces! The friends that I made on this trip are amazing and we still keep in touch. We are planning to do another trip next summer and are excited to explore another country and culture together. My experience in Thailand is one that I will remember for a long time. From building homes, to teaching children English, to walking on the beaches of Phuket. This program has a wide variety of activities and is a great way to do community service.

We did a lot of fun activities all around Costa Rica. We learned about how the Costa Ricans lived, the food they ate and their slang. We also spent an amazing 6 days with the Costa Rican kids which were definitely not long enough. We really connected with the kids even though we hardly spoke their language. I am still in touch with some of them today. The food was also amazing. Every single meal was so good and they were very accommodating about food restrictions.

I had an amazing time! I could tell safety was a top priority which I appreciated. At no point did I ever feel unsafe and if that was the case our leaders always checked in on us and made sure we were feeling our bus. Whether it be something a simple as a headache or the stomach bug, rustic staff was very aware and caring to all my needs. The service was hard but very rewarding. It was so much fun and all the girls on my trip were awesome and made the service so much more fun. The elephants and the thai school kids were so adorable.

This was an amazing program. Because it was the intro program, we never did the same community service twice. It was so interesting to experience all the different aspects of service as well as the culture. The people and program leaders were wonderful and the accommodations were better than you would expect. The service was also well balanced with fun activities that I loved such ad going to the hot springs, zip lining, and white water rafting. I would definitely recommend this program!

The Rustic staff is incredible: from the flight leaders, to the group leaders, and down to the local staff, everyone is so enthusiastic to learn about you and to share a bit about themselves and their culture! The trip was very organized and although it may seem daunting to travel to a new place alone, it was the best decision I ever made; I met so many wonderful people and made so many friends. Through activities and service I was able to truly become a part of the community in Udon Thani and learn more about the culture firsthand.

This trip was absolutely amazing. I made friends that are going to last a life time! The community service is hard but so rewarding. Also the connections that you are able to make with the local village kids is amazing. We had dance parties with them which was so fun. The boat trip down the Mekong was so fun it was a really good experience to bond with everyone from our trip and to see Laos. The village people are so kind and welcoming, I didnt feel like an outsider at all. Overall this trip is extremely rewarding. I wish I never left!

I was on Rustic Pathway's Souqs and Service program to Morocco from June 26-July 10, and I was in very good hands even before I got to my home airport on the way to our gateway airport. I was scheduled to land in New York (where we were to meet out group to fly to morocco) significantly earlier than any one else, and I was in contact with the airport coordinator before I even took off to New York. They assured that I was in good hands the whole time.
I was one of the unfortunate ones and was sick almost the entire duration of my trip, which was just due to the drastic change in diet, and being in a new place. It was never anything too major and I was still able to participate in everything almost the entire time because my program leaders (and one of the airport coordinators at JFK) kept me in great hands. It was good to know that my health was always a priority, and they stuck to it and did whatever they needed to to keep me as healthy as possible the entire trip.
As for on the trip itself, I had two of the best weeks of my entire life. This trip left a major impact on my views of Moroccan and Muslim cultures, and an impact on me as a human being in today's society. We spent about a week in a small village in the High Atlas Mountains called Zaouia Ahansal and worked very hard with The Atlas Cultural Foundation there. Our week in Zaouia was definitely the highlight of my trip. I was slightly shocked on the accommodations we had there, I knew what to expect, and Rustic's website was good at explaining exactly what we would have access to, but it still came as a bit of a shock to me. The closest thing I am able to relate our stay in Zaouia to would be "glamping". The community service we took part in was so much fun. Much more fun than I was expecting. We never worked too hard, but we got things done, and we had fun bonding with our group and the locals while doing it. One thing I did not expect with our service was the amount of breaks we took, and they weren't just stop for 15 seconds for water, they were full on 5-10 minutes, sit down and drink a cup of tea every 30 minutes. Especially during construction, it almost didn't feel productive. It wasn't strenuous work either, I moved a large pile of rocks. each rock weighed only a couple pounds and it was quite easy work. We also helped out with gardening in the community garden, and tutoring kids in the community center with games and activities. In the evenings and free time, we would go back to the guest house and take naps, play games, and hang out with the people of the house.
Zaouia was by far my favorite part of the trip, but I loved the rest also, we went to 3 other cities, Marrakech, Rabat, and Chefchaoen. We spent 3 days in Marrakech wandering the souqs, learning calligraphy, talking with local teenagers, getting henna, and my favorite, eating the food! I am a huge "foodie" and getting to eat a completely different type of cuisine for two whole weeks, I was in heaven. I will say, the souqs are not designed for people with ADHD. I can say from experience. There is so many smells, people walking buy, people asking for money, people trying to get you to buy stuff, motorcycles and scooters (vespas), donkeys and carts, did I mention smells, both good, and bad, you have to keep an eye out for your program leaders, and your group, I had a friend staying in Marrakech at the time, so I would be looking for them occasionally, and I was trying to shop and buy things. There is a reason the souqs are called sensory overload, and it's true.
Rabat was fun, but it was fast and not near as interesting as everywhere else. If vague tours of international governments are your thing, then you'll enjoy this, but me personally, it wasn't my thing.
Finally Chefchaoen. Only the best city on the planet, the blue city. The way they set up the Chefchaoen itineraire was perfect. And my program leaders changed things up a bit and told us to lead and they would point us in the right direction we got lost, some guided us being in charge. kind of. Chefchaoen was definitely towards the top of the best parts of my trip. We ate at some really great restaurants, did some fun activities, and it was a fantastic place to watch the final moroccan sunset with my 13 new best friends.
Overall, I had such an incredible experience in Morocco with Rustic Pathways. This was a trip I will not soon forget.