Rustic Pathways Reviews

I was hesitant to sign up for my first Rustic trip, I had travelled alone before, gone somewhere where I didn't know anyone else, but this was different. I didn't know what to expect from a trip, even though they provided an itinerary, I was still in doubt. After thinking about what kind of service I wanted to provide, and where I wanted to go, how long I wanted to stay, I had finally decided to choose Island Living. This trip was only 9 days and left me wanting more. This was 12 hours of service with plenty of beach days, so you can soak up the tropical sun on your off days. You will learn a lot about the island as well as providing eco-service, you'll probably end up leaving the Dominican Republic in hopes that you actually start your sustainable garden in your backyard just like my whole group did. You may be hesitant at first, especially if you go alone (without a friend), but it just makes your group that much more special. You aren't exposed to any other support system other than the people around you, and they become your family in such a short amount of time. I still talk to most of my group, about 16 people were on my trip and thats the maximum. It may seem small, but in reality, it just makes getting to know each other easier. We all worked really well together and our group leaders were fantastic. They all have stories of their own, and my group leaders were some of the most outgoing and adventurous people I've met, definitely take the time to get to know them too, they'll teach you a lot.

Island Living was such an amazing experience and even if you don't choose to go to the Dominican Republic, I would highly recommend you choose a Rustic trip of some sort because the experiences are life-changing.

This summer with rustic in Fiji changed my life! It was the best experience! My trip leaders were amazing and I made lifelong friends with everyone on my trip! The itinerary was the perfect balance between not so rustic and 'roughing it' rustic, making the trip super enjoyable. This program in particular was the perfect balance between adventure and service; I recommend this trip to any one that loves people, adventure, and the ocean! I have nothing bad to say about this program or rustic; it's truly a life changing trip every one deserves to experience.

My personal favorites on the trip were Somosomo and Sasa. In Somosomo, the safari tents are fine, but in such a beautiful place I wanted to sleep outside at night, so I brought an eno, and it was so magical sleeping under a million stars right by the ocean. When you take the sunrise hike, don't complain about waking up early, because the hike is one of the best parts of the trip. In Sasa, it's chilly at night, so don't neglect the packing list and make sure to bring a light sweatshirt. Definitely pack less than you need, I know it sounds scary but trust me. Also, for when your in the village and have to cover up, elephant pants are really nice to have because they're lightweight and cute too;).

When your on your trip, take advantage of every opportunity! Live every moment to the fullest because it'll be over before you know it. GO SKYDIVING! GO SCUBA DIVING! GO UPSIDE DOWN ON THE ZIPLINE! I know I would have regretted it if I didn't do everything. Make sure you enjoy every boat ride, you'll miss them; I sure do. Jump off of every big rock you can, never stay in the boat when you can get in the water, and never stand still when you can dance! This trip has inspired me to change the way I look at the world. I'm already trying to convince my parents to let me take a gap year and travel. Adventure and experience is the most valuable thing any young adult can have.

I felt so much life and love on this trip! Thank you Rustic for making these experiences possible for us!

Two years ago I had traveled with Rustic Pathways on a trip to Costa Rica, and since I had an amazing time I decided to sign up for a program this past summer to go to Australia on the 7 wonders program. It has everything I could've wanted and more. The trip was the perfect sampling of the continent, and the intructors were fabulous.
We began the trip flying into Brisbane on the group flight and then caught a connecting flight to Cairns with our group. Once we arrived we explored the Daintree and saw wild Cassowarys along side the road. After we went to the Great Barrier Reef and went snorkling. After Cairns we flew into the Outback where the trip really began to pick up. It was amazing the scenery and the people were great. I loved the outback seeing wild Kangaroos and Camels is a once in a lifetime experience that I will cherish forever. Uluru is amazing and going skydiving above it made it even better. We had even taken a sunrise camel ride through the outback which was absolutely phenomenal. To top off the experience we traveled to Sydney next where we saw landmarks like the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. We went to a little beach town called Manly and it was amazing along with surfing at Bondi.
The trip had expanded my knowledge about another part of the world and I am so grateful to have had this experience. The instructors were great and really spurred an amazing group dynamic and I still keep in touch with those from my group who live in different parts of the country. The accommodation were also what made the experience, we had group hangouts in our rooms where we watched movies. This trip has been amazing and gave me amazing experiences and memories I'll cherished forever.

My trip with Rustic Pathways was the greatest gift that my parents ever could have given me. I had never traveled without my family before so I was nothing short of apprehensive but Rustic made all of my nerves go away. Before my trip even began I received a box with a shirt, a journal, informational material, and some fun stickers and patches. This got me so excited and also made my parents and I both feel 100% better about the organization that I was traveling with. When I went to get ready for my trip I was of course questioning what to pack and I found a packing list right on the Rustic Pathways website which made it so much easier and literally had everything I needed the whole time I was there on it. When it came time to leave for the trip I was traveling with school and when all twenty some of us arrived in New Orleans the rustic staff was so prepared to start our trip with us! They did everything possible to make us comfortable from accommodating food allergies that group members had to stopping at stores for anything that we needed along the way. The base house that we stayed in was absolutely amazing and it gave us the opportunity to connect as a group by cooking our meals and spending time together in the common areas.

The service part of the trip was the best experience of my life. I was able to connect with people form all walks of life and listen to their stories and how they were impacted by Hurricane Katrina as it destroyed their home. I was able to rebuild houses, help at a food cupboard, and learn about the area. We spent the majority of our time doing service but we also had time to appreciate the culture and the history of the city that we were helping.

Since I have come home from this trip my life has been directly affected by what I experienced. Once I got back to school, the other girls in my group and myself gave a presentation to our school about what we did and what we learned and we did continuing service projects to benefit New Orleans. I fell so in love with the city that this past year I took my mom and grand mom to New Orleans so that they could get a glimpse of the same thing.

All around this trip with Rustic Pathways was an amazing and life changing experience and I am overly confident in saying that it would not have been the same if I did not go with the Rustic company. I am still to this day in touch with the leaders that I had on my trip. I loved the company so much that I went on another trip to Costa Rica the next year and I am currently planning my next trip to go on hopefully next summer.

I traveled with Rustic Pathways for the first time this summer and spent a month in Thailand. I made so many friends from all different parts of the world and my perspectives on happiness and friendship were changed forever. Getting the opportunity to sit down with Thai children and engage them in English vocabulary and make a strong connection with a person who doesn't speak my own language was mind blowing. We may not have spoken the same language, but friendship is able to transcend all barriers. I loved being able to bond with so many new people who were all compassionate, caring people. Also, the program leaders were so amazing and were a large reason to why I had an amazing summer being that I got sick and had to go to the hospital twice and they were extremely professional. During my program, I was able to to see how kindness is the best medicine and how it can really change a life for the better. I only learned these extremely important lessons because I traveled with Rustic Pathways, and I will always be grateful to have had that opportunity.

This summer I went on Big Fiji Explorer. It was my first Rustic Pathways trip, and my first time truly being away from my home for a long period of time. I can not recommend this trip enough. It was the perfect amount of time to see Fiji. We were able to explore so many aspects of the country in just 16 days. We stayed in a variety of accommodations, all of which were different from each other. You were on the move from place to place every few days, however it was exciting to be able to stay in a hotel in the city one night and stay in the mountains the next night. Throughout the 16 days we were there, we participated in so many awesome activities, from zip lining to snorkeling to taking the “leap of faith” at a high ropes course. Each activity we did was always so fun, and it brought us so much closer with our group. One thing I can not commend Rustic Pathways enough for was allowing us to totally immerse yourself in the culture. We always had the opportunity to talk to locals. While on this trip, we visited the village of Somosomo, and this was the most amazing experience of my life and something that I will never forget. At this village we participated in service, and we also got to go to a school to play with the village children and got to take part in a Sunday school service. These kids were so cute, and it was obvious that they all had an impact on all of us. Somosomo was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Overall, this trip was so amazing, and if you are even considering going on it, I would encourage you to! The opportunities we were able to take advantage of were opportunities that you won’t have again. I can’t recommend this trip enough!

The Thai Elephant Conservation Project was my first program that I had done with Rustic. To be honest, I was very nervous because a few weeks prior to my Rustic program, I had done a different service program with a different company. It was not a good experience to say the least. I won't get into it, but because of my experience with that company, I was very nervous. I was also nervous, because I would be traveling across the world with a group of people that I've never met before. The only other time that I had gone to Asia, I was with my school for an exchange program and had my sister and my friends with me the whole time. Lastly, since I'm deathly allergic to nuts, I was worried that I would have an allergic reaction. But, I was really worried about nothing, because Rustic was so amazing and I had a life-changing experience.

Right when I got to the airport, our flight leader made sure that everyone knew each other's names and played a lot of ice breaker games. I don't know how, but I became friends with the people on my program before we even stepped foot in Thailand. So, my worry about going to the other side of the world with strangers disappeared, because it was like I had known all the students for the longest time.

Rustic was also so helpful and accommodating with my nut allergy. My program leaders already knew that I was allergic to nuts and there was not a single nut in any of the food options. In addition, the program leaders carried med kits with them at all times and there was an epi-pen in the med kits just in case. It was amazing that Rustic went out of their way to make sure that I wouldn't get an allergic reaction and feel safe eating anything.

With my actual time at the elephant sanctuary, it felt like I was in a dream. I was doing things that I never dreamed of doing. Ever got assigned a partner randomly and an elephant with their respective mahouts (elephant handlers). Within the first 10 minutes of meeting our mahouts, they were already joking around with us and teaching us everything about elephants. We got to ride elephants, bathe them in the river twice a day, feed them sugar cane, corn, and potatoes, and, of course, clean up their poop. It was one of the coolest experiences in my life. I will never forget how amazing it was getting up on Red Moon, my elephant, for the first time and seeing the world from so high up.

One of my favorite days was when everyone rode their elephants into the jungle. On the way there, my partner, my mahout, and I were singing at the top of out lungs and having the time of our lives. We got to the jungle and everything was so peaceful. We hiked to a waterfall and swam. We collected bamboo to make cups and plates. We had a huge bonfire where we danced, sang, and played games around the fire. Lastly, we slept under the stars with elephants all around us. I don't think many people can say that and it just shows how in every Rustic program, the students do once in a lifetime experiences.

In addition to just riding the elephants, we got to make paper out of elephant poop. We went to the night markets and mall. Mostly though, we did a lot of conservation work. There were group discussions about the poaching and logging industries and how we can work to end them. We planted grass and sugarcane for the elephants to eat in the future, and spent an afternoon in the elephant hospital to see how the people at the conservation center take care of the elephants and help them if they need it. I loved how we didn't just ride the elephants all day, we did an array of conservation work to make a lasting effect of our time in Thailand.

By the end of the 11 day program, I was an certified amateur mahout, I made some amazing friends that I still keep in touch with to this day, I learned what mahouts dedicate their lives to caring for elephants, and I got to have a connection and bond with an animal I thought I would never have. I could not have asked for a better trip and Rustic has forever changed my life. I would not be where I am as a person without Rustic. I was a leader, a change maker, a person that was heard. I am forever grateful for the opportunity and experience that Rustic gave me.

The Intro to Community Service program was my third program that I had done with Rustic. And like my previous programs, it was an absolutely amazing experience like no other. I got to go step out of my comfort zone and go skydiving, I got to interact with the local community, and I got to have fun while doing service.

First, most of the Fiji groups stay in the Eco Lodge base house. I loved having not only my service group there, but also meeting all the other kids that were on a range of programs. On the first day we all went to the beach to get to know each other and it was like we were already best friends by the end of our time on the beach. There's a huge sense of community and camaraderie with every single person, wether it be a student or a program leader. I think that having people in a base house together, interacting with a bunch of different people, while still doing service with your primary group, is great and I got to be friend with so many people that way.

One thing that I loved was that all groups have a local Fijian person as one of the leaders. This gives you the opportunity to ask them questions and really dive deep into what life is like in Fiji. I honestly learned so much about the customs and different practices that Fiji has from my leader Villie. I also got to know the other local, Fijian program leaders really well, because all of the different programs that are at the base house becomes one big family and community. My Fijian program leader even wrote us a song at the end of our program! I was crying and I loved the song and it definitely came from the heart!

With all the service, you will absolutely be working with the community and kids. On the second day of service, we got to go to the Laloma house, a women's shelter, and cook a meal for the women and children there. We cooked the meal before going with Shilini, one of the base's chefs, so that we could spend as much time with the kids as possible. When we got there, all the kids ran up to us and immediately wanted us to pick them up and play. We all danced, played duck, duck, goose and had a great time before dinner. We then served them dinner, talked with the mothers about their life, served them ice cream, said our goodbyes, and then went back. I usually don't do service with kids when I'm in New York, so I really enjoyed grtting to play and dance with a bunch of kids.

If you like kids, then you'll love to hear that there's a day where my program got to teach a local kindergarten. We spent a long time working on our lesson plans and preparing to teach the kindergartens and then the day came and it was amazing. We worked one on one and with the whole class to teach them our lesson plans. After teaching, we got to play with them outside for recess and the moms even made us lunch. We spent a long time running around and playing with the kids. I loved that day, because teaching the kids and playing with them was so much fun.

Another example of Rustic really engaging the community is when we did service in the Bavu Village. This was personally my favorite day, because of how much my program interacted with the community. We first drove to the village with Rajesh, Shilini's husband and a local carpenter. When we got there, we immediately participated in a welcoming ceremony in our Sulus with the village chief and spokesperson. I've never seen a village chief before, so it was a very cool experience. After the ceremony, we went to work for the day. Throughout the day, we were never working by ourselves, because Rustic really believes in including the village in its service projects. One of the most memorable moments from that day was when I was shoveling cement into the mixer and I looked up and the village spokesperson was shoveling right next to me. We then got into a conversation about the banana tree that was a few feet away from us. I was in awe, because a person that is in such a high position is working right beside me and having a normal conversation.

After we were finished with our service we then got to do a Kid's Club with the children in Bavu. We got to play soccer, rugby (which I found out I'm really bad at), talk to them, sing songs from Moana, and overalls just have a great time. The kid's club sadly came to an end and we then concluded our welcoming ceremony. That day happened to be on of the other student's birthday, so during the last portion of the welcoming ceremony, the women in the village surprised him with a cake, tea, bread, crackers, and a bunch of treats. That's when I really understood how great of a connection Rustic had with the local villages that they work with.

There are so many more examples of the great interactions that Rustic has with the local community. I loved my experience in Fiji and now I see why so many people do a Rustic trip in Fiji. The people were so nice, the service was amazing, and I got to step out of my comfort zone.

I had started my Rustic experience last year, when I did the Thai Elephant Conservation Project and I absolutely loved it! I knew that I had to do another program and I wanted to work with animals again. I decided to go on the "You, a Roo', and the Australia Zoo" program. I would definitely recommend this program to any animal lovers and any person that wants to go to Australia.

The first great thing about my Rustic trip (and with all international programs) is that everyone on the program took the same flight to Australia. We all became really close just be being together in the airport and on the plane with an adult flight leader and it definitely helped calm my nerves about making friends. While we were waiting in the airport, everyone on my program had dinner together, played ice breaker games, and really got to know each other and make those great bonds before we even stepped foot in Australia.

When we arrived in Australia, we went right to doing fun activities. After ice breakers, a down down of the schedule, and a few rules, we went right into our first activity, climbing Mt. Ngungun. Climbing Mt. Ngungun was definitely very hard and I thought that I wasn't going to make it, but the other students and program leaders were so encouraging and I can now say that I hiked up a mountain! Climbing Mt. Ngungun is just one example of how we're never sitting, doing nothing. There's always something to do and all of our days are jam packed with fun activities. When we weren't working at the zoo, we would go to the beach, walk around Brisbane, go shopping, play games, go sand boarding, snorkel, have karaoke jam sessions, or just sit around and talk.

In addition to always having something to do, the program was exactly what I had hoped for in terms of working with animals. I had the opportunity to work with zoo keepers in the reptile, koala, general mammals, tiger, and birds exhibits. In the reptile exhibit, I watched a vet give snakes shots and medication, I got to be in a room with 20 venomous snakes, which made me feel empowered, and I got to watch the croc demo, which teaches the zoo patrons about how to stay safe with crocs living near them. The koala exhibit was definitely my favorite to work in. After cleaning the poop off the floors in all the koala enclosures and putting in fresh eucalyptus branches in, I got to take a koala to the front of the zoo and patrons would come up and pet the koala and take pictures with him. The cool thing was, I was also in the picture, because I was holding the Koala. It was amazing to see how my trust the Australia Zoo and the zookeeper had in me to have me represent the Australia Zoo by being in the patron's pictures with the koala. After that, I went to the photo studio and helped with taking pictures of zoo patrons holding the Koalas. In the general mama exhibit, I cleaned up the kangaroo enclosure, cleaned the main floors, made enrichment activities out of clay for the echidnas, and help zoo patrons take pictures with the echidna. I had never heard of an echidna before, so it was so cool to be able to spend hours with a new type animal. The keeper also allowed us to go backstage and go into the new meerkat exhibit. He let my partner and I sit down and have the meerkats walk all over us! It was so cute and one meerkat even climbed up onto my shoulder to get a better view of the sky! Lastly, in the bird and tiger exhibits, I mulched the enclosures. I loved working side-by-side with zoo keepers that have dedicated their lives to animals and I got to be right up close to all the animals.

After working with the animals at the zoo, the zoo let us have a free tortoise encounter, echidna encounter, and a free picture with a koala. In addition, we got 10% off everything in the gift shop and a free day at the zoo. During the free day, I did a tiger encounter, a cheetah encounter, and a Komodo Dragon encounter. I loved all of my encounters and I got to see that even though people view these animals as dangerous and to stay away from them, they're actually pretty amazing animals.

The Australia Zoo portion of the trip was absolutely amazing and working at the Grassroots Wildlife rescue and Rehab Center was incredible too. One women runs this center and she hasn't taken a vacation day in 25 years, so our help was greatly appreciated. We got to work with kangaroos, birds, echidnas, emus, and even a bat! We helped build new fencing renovate old things. While we were working at the rescue center, we were supposed to be camping in tents in a nearby camp site. Well, the first night we were there there was a freak cold wave and the temperature got down to just above freezing. Everyone was huddled together and the program leaders tried to do everything they could to make us warmer. No was knew that this was going to happen, as it was so unexpected and really hot the past few days. The next day, we were all basically frozen and the it was supposed to be even colder the next night, so out program leaders called the country directors to work out a solution. The country director was amazing and so nice and got us hotel rooms for the next two nights. I loved this so much, because it shows just how accommodating Rustic is.

Lastly, the program leaders, Kate and Harry, were the best. Honestly, both of them were so nice and amazing and weren't the type of leaders that just shuffled us around from place to place and didn't care about us. They were like an older sibling and a friend to me. They put every single student over themselves. Since I'm vegan and deathly allergic to nuts, they always made sure that I had food to eat and would go our of their way to get me food. I just loved them both and they were amazing program leaders.

My Rustic Experience in Australia was one of the best experiences in my life. I made friends that will last a lifetime, had once in a lifetime experiences, had amazing program leaders, stepped out of my comfort zone, and had the best time of the life. I am forever grateful for the opportunities Rustic has given me and I think that every single person should do a Rustic trip at least once.

So, I chose to do the Surf and Service program located in Uvita, Costa Rica. I don't think i would've chose to do any other program. I met 20 amazing people that I bonded with so much that the east coast side of our trip met up at the beach and we spent a weekend together after the trip. The councilors were inspiring, we bonded with them so much and had a lot of dance contest, and we shared a lot of information and memories. I will never forget how we went to a soccer field and i got really down on myself because i couldn't score a goal and ethan ( one of our councilors) kept trying to help me get one and when i finally did we celebrated like there was no tomorrow it was an amazing feeling. I will never forget being in the ocean and someone screaming "PARTY WAVE" and we all start paddling for our lives trying to catch that wave ad when we did it was the most amazing feeling. The community service was amazing and it felt great helping out the community and meeting the local ticos. I suggest this program it was amazing!