Program Reviews

I went on the Escape to the Fiji Islands trip with Rustic Pathways this past summer and could not have had a better experience! The activities were super fun, the scenery was breathtaking, and the locals were so kind to us. My group and I bonded so much over the course of the week and we still talk all the time! My program leaders were absolutely incredible and I miss them an insane amount. Overall, SO worth it and SO perfect!

My experience with Rustic Pathways has been life changing. Through quickly learning about a new country and new people, I learned a lot about myself. I enjoyed the accommodations, the food, and every single activity that we did throughout the course of the trip. I am nothing but grateful and happy that I chose to travel with Rustic because I have gained important knowledge of myself and lifelong friends.

My trip to the Rustic Pathways Children's Home was fantastic. I made strong connections with not only the other people travelling with me, but also the local children who stayed at the children's home. On our trip, we also spent time teaching English at a local school, which I though was an incredibly rewarding experience and really fun. I had such an amazing time and would recommend it to anyone interested in a global trip.

On this trip, students could spend four hours serving the communtiy doing different activities such as mixing concrete or moving blocks across a field to help build a locker room for a soccer field to make money for the community. On the last day if the service, a little girl came to visit our group ehich made all of the kids in the group realize how much we were making an impact on the community and how we can inspire students do to the same thing thag we are.

I’m 14, going into my first year of highschool. I went to Australia this summer with Rustic Pathways for the trip of a lifetime, and that’s exactly what it was. Even though I was the youngest at least by two years, everyone was so kind and I quickly became the little sister. I really loved this trip because of all the adventurous activities such as skydiving and bungee jumping. It was an amazing trip. I will always remember this trip and the people on it!

I had an amazing time on the trip to Mongolia and met some lifelong friends. We spent most of our time staying in gers in more remote villages, but we spent multiple nights in a guest house called the Lotus, which I really enjoyed. The highlight of the trip for me was the Buddhist temple or the camel riding. I enjoyed the temple because it was unlike anything I’ve seen before and I enjoyed the camel riding because I like animals

Honestly I have never been a sleep away kid who has ever wanted to go away from my family for more than a day. It took every ounce of courage for myself to explain and convince my parents why it was necessary for me to travel 29 hours around the world to do service that could have been done within the United States. For me Thailand had always been on my bucket list and I needed to have an extremely that I could keep to myself. As open as everything is now I have so little that I can do and not have everyone knowing exactly what I'm doing. But when I first got on the plane to Thailand I was already starting to feel homesick from my parents and I convinced myself that this was the worst idea ever to go on a trip with a bunch of people I didn't know completely across the world. Everyone told me that I needed to go alone but I regretted it so much as I was sitting on the 29 hour plane. After we got there we got our room assignments and thats when my whole perspective changed. Everything started to fit in place and I finally started making friends but never would I have ever guessed that I would form closer bonds with these people that I had gotten to know for two weeks than my friends from home that I had known for 13 years. I cannot tell you enough GO WITH NO ONE YOU KNOW. It lets you form the relationships for yourself and have something that you can always cherish and keep to yourself. These kids were so amazing and I feel so blessed to have gotten to know so many amazing people in such a short span of time. Additionally Rustic pathways completely changed my perspective on countries seen as inferior to Americans. I very much saw my culture as above other culture but as I began to actually emerse myself I began to realize their culture is not better nor worst than ours; its just different. I always thought that not having running water is so horrible, not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, and using "bum guns" was such a horrible idea but as I began to really look at the cold hard fact if their was of living were so awful, then why are so many Americans (many of which are my best friends) struggling with depression, yet these people who had so little were always smiling? One experience that really struck me was bringing food to the hospital. American hospitals can be busy but I can guarantee there is no hospital as busy as the one we brought food to. The line was out the door and when I asked how people were in line to get food or to get inside the hospital someone said about 500 people. The reason we brought food to it was because many of the Thai family members could not work while their family members were in the hospital, so as a result they were losing money while trying to pay expensive hospital bills. This stressful situation leaves many hospital experience starving because they don't have the money to buy food. As one can imagine this is an extremely stressful situation, yet when they came in lines to get food they were very patient and everyone always said thank you in english and we responded in Thai. Everyone gave me a smile and most either shook my hand or hugged me. This relatives opened my eyes because it showed me how appreciative they are even when they are in appreciative tough situations.

I did the rustic trip to the Australian zoo and it was filled with once in a life time experiences. From the small things like bike riding to the big things like petting a tiger, this trip left a huge impact on me. The people on my trip made it even better. You see and touch so my animals it’s insane! The behind the scenes work zoo keepers do are super interesting and it was wonderful to get hands on experience in a zoo. Working at the rehabilitation center was the most rewarding service I have ever done. You really make a difference volunteering there and the woman, Trish, who runs it is amazing. She is an inspiration. I highly recommended this trip for animal lovers.

My experience was near to perfect. I loved all of the people I met, like my host family, my friends, and my counselors. However, Rustic Pathways runs two different language programs (1 week and 2 weeks) and it was really hard when our group changed each week. The majority of the activities we did were pretty fun, but a couple were a little bit boring. This program helped me see another perspective and lifestyle and I honestly believe I’m a different person because of it.

This was the best thing that I have ever done. I have traveled before, but this was completely unique and absolutely amazing. We had the perfect combination of sightseeing in the cities and also doing meaningful service in the village. The leaders of this group were absolutely incredible and took care of each and every one of us. That being said, they were also fun and we had an incredible time. I am the type of person that tries to learn everything possible about a place when I visit, and the leaders answered all of our questions and taught us so much. One thing that I really value is service that is actually needed. I think too often, westerners will go to a place and enforce their values on a community and do what they think the community needs, and then leave. This isn't sustainable. This program felt completely different, because we were doing activities that the local village had asked us to do, and everything that we did felt respectful of the lives of the people we were helping. I learned so much on this trip, about Khmer culture and about the daily life. This program has had a huge impact on me. I just finished a very hectic junior year of high school, and this trip really made me reevaluate what the world has to offer and how I can impact other communities. The friends I made on this trip taught me so much about myself, and as I go in to my senior year and then on to college, I think that I will take many of these lessons with me. My advice would be to ask as many questions as you possibly can. Ask about the food, the culture, the history, the language. Ask your local guides about their own personal experiences. Ask as many questions as you can and try to learn as much as you can and immerse yourself as much as possible because that is how you will come home feeling the most impacted.