Program Reviews

Great experience!
* Good predepature support and informative volunteer handbook to refer to
* Excellent in-country support
* Accomodation is very basic but clean.
* Taught English and worked with Disabled pupils.

* Advice for future volunteers: the house in January is very very cold! A sleeping bag is definitely needed and slippers/thick socks along with warm lounge wear.

Plan your time well and the activities you want to do as time flies when you’re there. Ask Vishy about the weekend trips available and he will help you to organise them. A weekend in Amritsar was my favourite weekend trip to see the India/Pakistan border ceremony!

Whilst in Ghana, I spent two weeks volunteering at the local hospital, Manhyia Government Hospital in Kumasi. This trip was the first time I had ever done something like this and travelled alone, however PMGY made me feel completely safe and gave me support from the start, even from booking to after I had arrived home. Any worries, problems or queries I had regarding my trip were quickly answered by the amazing pre-departure team. PMGY allowed me to experience so many amazing new things and gave me the opportunity to work and learn about Ghanian healthcare.

I was able to shadow in the Operating Theatre and watch numerous cesarians and complex surgeries as well as viewing Ultrasounds in the scan room, and learn about neonatal care. Whilst the role was mainly observational, all of the staff at the hospital were incredibly kind and extremely willing to teach us and get us involved in the project.

Whilst living in the country, you will stay at the volunteer house with the other volunteers and you are looked after by the staff. The people I met were some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and we are already talking about all returning together in the near future. Furthermore, the staff at the house really go out of their way to make you feel so at home and comfortable. The project exceeded my expectations in every way possible.

Each of the projects are well worth doing and incredibly rewarding! To anyone considering participating in one of Plan My Gap Year’s programmes, I would highly recommend and jump at the opportunity. Thank you PMGY!

My time spent volunteering in Ghana was the best 6 weeks of my life. So many unforgettable memories and life long friendship made.

Prior to my departure I received copious amounts of helpful information and my questions were always answered by either Josh, Seth or fellow volunteers. I felt very prepared for my trip thanks to the PMGY team.

The PMGY house in Kumasi is basic but has everything you need. Including some amazing workers who will become your family within a short period of time. I felt very comfortable in the house as all the staff made me feel so welcome and I knew I could go to them if I ever had any questions or needed help. The food was incredible. We got a mix of local and Western dishes. I really enjoyed getting to try the local food.
PMGY coordinators Florence and Dennis were always super helpful when it came to planning things to do on weekends or afternoons, organising transport to and from places and were also great company. They always put your needs before their own and go above and beyond to make sure your experience is incredible.

I spent my time volunteering at the New Life Home which I thoroughly enjoyed. A typical day volunteering involved leaving the house at 6:30am and then getting straight into work once we got to the home. Transport to and from the orphanage was very cheap and easy to get. Once at the orphanage I spent the morning getting the kids changed and ready, I fed them, washed up the morning dishes, also helped with laundry, but most importantly got to spend the day cuddling and playing with the gorgeous children that just adore having someone to play with. These kids stole my heart very quickly. I admire the sisters at the orphanage and feel so grateful for the time and effort they put in to making sure the children get what they need in order to live a normal and happy life.

The weekend trips, Mole and Cape Coast, were definitely well worth the money.
At Mole you got to go on a Jeep Safari as well as a walking safari, which although there wasn't a whole lot of variety in terms of animals it was a fun experience. Beware of the baboons at the national park! They WILL come into your room if the door isn't locked!
We also got to go to Kintampo Falls where we got to swim, which was beautiful and refreshing. Then we went to the monkey sanctuary where you get to hold and feed the monkeys which is super cool.
Cape Coast was more of a relaxing trip but still heaps of fun. The first day we went to Kakum National Park for the board walks, stroked crocodiles, and went to the Cape Coast Castle which was very interesting. The Hide Out Lodge was amazing accomodation right on the beach so you could hear the waves crashing as you fell asleep. On the second day we got to go surfing, the instructors are very helpful. We also had a bonfire and got to sing and dance which was lots of fun.

To everyone considering going to Ghana I highly recommend you do so! The people over there have become my 2nd family and I have taken away so many amazing memories with me. This trip gave me a new outlook on life which I'm so grateful for.
Be sure to make the most of your time in Ghana. Speak to the coordinators to find out how you can get more involved, what you can do in your spare time (I guarantee there is always something), help around the kitchen, get to know the staff and the local families.

Thankyou to PMGY for creating such an incredible experience. One that I will never forget. I will be back Ghana ☺️

PMGY- honestly what an experience!!

I have just finished my programme with Sri Lanka and now am currently traveling the country.

The company- could not fault them and their support. Before I left I was very nervous- my first time travelling to a less developed country but Philip was my point of contact and he was so responsive to all my questions. The volunteer hand book we got had EVERYTHING you could need and answered all my questions. They even did a live webinar where the coordinator in Sri Lanka -Meena, spoke to us live online and answered any questions I had- it was nice to see a face who is out in Sri Lanka as a form of comfort for my arrival!!

I did the renovation programme and helped to paint the pre-school that PMGY are building. The pre-school is for the orphan's who are too young to go to school and for children of the local village who's parents need to go away to work during the day and need looking after. It was incredible to see how much impact I made during my time there.

All the local staff were super helpful- Emma and Ash were always around when I needed help and advised me on my travels that I am doing now.

I will definitely volunteer with PMGY again, I felt supported, I felt safe, I felt looked after! Also the accommodation and food is sooo nice, the sisters are really lovely, so thats a bonus!

Would advise anyone to volunteer with PMGY, the fee's are so transparent and the UK staff were all previous volunteers as well so they really knew how we were feeling and what we wanted!!

I volunteered this year in Bali with Plan My Gap Year as an English teacher. I volunteered with PMGY before in Cambodia and I also volunteered in India, I had such a great experience with PMGY before that I just knew I had to go again. I am so so so glad I decided to go to Bali because this one might have been the best so far! I already knew that PMGY is super affordable and helpful throughout the whole process, because I've been with them to Cambodia so choosing them again was a no-brainer for me. They answer all your questions, big or small within a few hours and I felt that they were always happy to help. Getting my visa for Indonesia was a bit more difficult than expected but I just gave them a call and they walked me through the whole process and gave me tips. They are also very clear about their fees which is really important to me, you know exactly how money goes towards covering your project and stay and I love how honest they are about this. It's something that I miss from a lot of other volunteer organizations. They also provide you with a volunteer handbook which literally contained all the information I needed, packing lists, weekend tips you name it! I felt that I was well prepared before I went to Bali also because I joined one of their pre departure webinars which gave me a chance to ask any additional questions I had.

My stay in Bali was absolutely phenomenal! If I could have given it a 11/10 I would! The volunteer accomodation is so beautiful that it almost looks like a hotel, it has a pool, an amazing rooftop terrace to watch sunset (and sunset if you want to get up really early, I did it once and it was worth it ;) ) and a lot of communal areas to chill around with other volunteers, all the rooms have AC as well! The food they did was so tasty and delicous as well, a lot of different options and also some western food once or twice a week. I am a vegetarian but this was no problem here! I've had the best fake chicken (tempeh :P) wrap here so far! The ladies in the kitchen are so nice and they are always happy to assist you if you want to cook something yourself or if you just want to cut up some fruit or whatever. Ketut (the host 'mom' ) always told us that we shouldn't go to bed hungry so we could always ask for some more if we wanted. Ketut is such a lovely lady who really felt like my Balinese mom, I was afraid I might feel a little homesick but she's is always there if you need help with anything or if you just need a chat or a hug. The rest of her family is also really helpful and nice, Indra (her son) and Rush (her husband) helped us arrange transport if we wanted to go out and they would also help with planning weekend trips etc. I felt like they welcomed me into their home which was such an nice feeling. Because the family lives next to the volunteerhouse we still had our privacy but it was nice to know that they were always there if we needed anything.

I volunteered at Akasa School which was established by Ketut to help the community, she told us that this has been her dream for years to be able give back to her local community and to teach the children English so that they can grow in life. I think it's so nice that she actually wants to give back and help, you could tell that she is so passionate about this and she is so grateful for every volunteer who comes and helps her continue her dreams! The kids at the school are so sweet and smart, they kept suprising me with how good their English was, it was so nice to see them enjoy learning and see their knowledge grow week by week! There's a lesson planning session every Monday to help all the teaching volunteers prepare their lessons and you could also get supplies like books and pencils from the local team, since I already had some experience teaching abroad I didn't really need help but it was nice to know that I could use all their supplies and printer to use for my project.

All in all I had an amazing experience and I'm already thinking of going back next summer to Bali! The island, the people, the food, the chill vibes, everything is just perfect in Bali! Because Bali is relatively small compared to other islands you can do a lot in just a short amount of time, I spent 8 weeks in Bali and got to do everything that I wanted: Canggu, climbing Mount Batur, watching the dolphins in Lovina, going to Nusa Penida and Ubud.
I got real ' eat pray love ' vibes wherever I went and I just felt so relaxed and happy exploring this beautiful island while also giving back and helping the local community!

I would definitely recommend the Bali Teaching program to anyone who wants the best of both worlds: volunteering and traveling!

I travelled to Nepal in May 2018 with Plan My Gap Year. I have volunteered with this company twice before in Ghana and India, therefore when wanting to volunteer in Nepal, I wanted to go with a company I knew and trusted.

The support from PMGY before arriving in the country is always so responsive and puts me at ease. Any questions I have are answered so quickly and their knowledge of Nepal and the projects were reassuring. As I was already travelling Asia at the time of booking the programme, Philip assisted in booking my flights for me and advised in getting my Visa.

We were picked up at Kathmandu airport as arranged (although I have been with PMGY before this is always a scary process as I always question- will somewhere be at the airport to pick me up??). The first few days were spent exploring Kathmandu and we were given 'orientation'. We were shown around the city and learnt a lot about the local culture, history and the language. After a few days in Kathmandu we were given the opportunity to choose the project we wanted to do- you can choose to volunteer in three cities in Nepal- Pokhara, Chitwan or Kathmandu. Our coordinator called Asim explained the programmes in each city and where more help was needed. We chose to go to Pokhara as there were no volunteers here and they needed help building the children's orphanage.

Everything was quite structured and it was very clear what we were doing and what was expected from us. The project was so eye opening, we were building in the day and in the evenings playing with the children from the orphanage and helping them with any homework they had to do. As the orphanage was being built it had no running water at the time therefore for the children's to wash we would walk them to the river nearby and everyone would go for a wash and swim.

Impact wise I felt as though I was making such a difference. I felt as though our presence was needed and even though some evenings there was no homework to go through or the children didn't want to play sports, some would just want to sit and chat and attempt to improve their English. I have recently seen photos of the completed orphanage and it just makes me so proud knowing I was apart of building it.

Whilst in Nepal we wanted to do some trips and explore and our coordinator in Pokhara was so responsive when we asked to do something and very helpful in arranging things for us. Some incredible things we did that was recommended to us is; rowing the lakes in Pokhara, the Panchase trek, Chitwan national park, watching sunrise over the Annapurna mountain range- we did this on my birthday and was truly incredible!!

I felt very safe in the country and although we were staying in a home stay we always had contact with our country coordinator and he checked up on us regularly. The homestay was an incredible experience, I would highly recommend that if you get the option to choose the homestay as you learn so much about the culture and you get to immerse yourself completely into the local lifestyle. All meals were provided and cooked by the mother of the homestay, dhallbatt is what we ate regularly- the traditional veggie curry and rice. Sometime's if we felt a bit tired of dhallbatt we would buy the mother looking after us some chicken and she would cook it for us- if you're not happy with something its definitely best to act on it rather than leaving unsatisfied!

If I was to advise anyone going to Nepal with PMGY, I would say go with an open mind and be pro-active!! Read the handbook- that was so useful and be flexible when you’re there, as their culture may mean things aren’t as structured as you expect them to be.

My experience with PMGY was overall extremely positive and the support from Plan My Gap Year is amazing. The company is organised and I couldn't recommend them more. I have volunteered with PMGY three times now and I will definitely be going a fourth time!

I had an absolutely incredible time In Ghana with Plan My Gap Year and would recommend this experience and PMGY to anyone and everyone. Philip and Josh in the UK team were so incredibly helpful from moment one. They went out of their way to answer any questions promptly, organise absolutely everything and make the booking process quick and easy. Plan My Gap Year is extremely reasonable with exceptional service. Seth, Flo, Dennis, Prince, Christie and Emmanuel out in Ghana are incredibly friendly, helpful and welcoming. I quickly felt welcomed into their big family. I took part in the medical program and was amazed by all the incredible experiences I had the pleasure of being involved with and observing. I also had the opportunity to help out in an orphanage and on an outreach program where Plan My Gap Year provide medical care to remote villagers who are unable to afford/ access it. I would highly recommend the Plan My Gap Year project in Ghana as the people, food and weather are just fantastic in every way. The people are the most open, fun and kind that I have ever met. This was to date the best experience of my life. I cannot wait to book my next trip. Plan My Gap Year is the best!!

Peru, Cusco 🌹. PMGY have established a project so worthy of recognition and accolade, it would be a crime not to post the beauty of the project. Cusco - the Pachamama of cities in Peru and in my eyes, of South America. It was everything I could dream of and then some ....

The children of the Colibri, the project I chose to work with, inspired my life and my thought patterns. These beautiful children, wide eyed and engaging were open to visitors and volunteers from across the globe making me feel at home in their home. Their personalities and strong individual personas carried me through this project and though my Spanish weak, the universal language of children was strong and helped my engagement in trying to assist whatever requirement of education, or game playing these people of tomorrow needed!

Their influence and strong attachment to Cusco was influential on my stay and no doubt my learning from the children tripled from their input! THANK YOU Colby Robinson Pmgy!

Besides from the obvious beauty of Peru, there was something so pure about choosing Cusco as my destination. Prior to booking, feeling worried (and parents worried) I pestered Colby almost daily about the ins and outs of the place and project. Colby took it into her own hands to look after me so well and set me up with a family so honest, lovely and welcoming, I didn't dare dream about missing home! My Peruvian family were active, engaging and encouraging in everything I was in Peru for and extra. They had their own children and like minded volunteers, therefore I was never short of company in their home! I am vegetarian, eating no meat and fish, and my Peruvian Mama went out of her way daily, to cook me fresh clean food! I could not have been more grateful and not once did I feel sickly or unwell. My peruvian mother would even wake up on my early morning 3am tours to make sure I was ok!!! Therefore I could not be more grateful and in favour of Colby and PMGY for setting me up with such due diligence, safety and well being.

Also in Peru there was the 'base camp' set up, for us volunteers to touch base with (daily if you would like) and a chance to meet other international volunteers and/or participate in activities for bonding. I think the offer of Spanish lessons and other engagements was a bonus I was not expecting and a sure welcome of validity and safety in Peru.

I would rate PMGY 5 stars on the basis of the following things I felt important to me and my stay: the project cause and what it represented; the country/city PMGY have chosen to set up base in; the touching base/in country team support and project/peer engagement available they offer while in country; the family and their home; and finally the BEAUTY OF PERU CUSCO!!!! I could not speak more highly of such exquisite scenery and for a company to set up meaningful projects in such areas is a fortune.

Thank you PMGY and Thank you Colby - memories made in love.

I took part in the medical program in India Summer 2017 for two weeks. This was one of the most rewarding, jam packed two weeks of my life! Firstly, I was thoroughly impressed with the breadth of activities available for you. A typical day consisted of a 9 am start in either the hospital, slum clinic or dispensary. I was able to learn and reinforce basic medical examinations and I found scrubbing into surgery very useful as I experienced first hand how a busy hospital is run in a developing country. Then in the evening you could explore the local town or volunteer in the orphanage or disable school, which I particularly looked forward to.
You are well looked after by Vishi, Kranti and the family with three cooked meals a day. The volunteering housing facility is equipped as well as can be for the extremely warm climate, with a fan in each room.
On the weekend you have the opportunity to visit different cities which I organised myself. I visited the beautiful Amritsar, which was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

Thank you to everyone out there who made my experience a thoroughly rewarding one!

The Sri Lanka Real Experience was amazing! The two weeks travelling was tightly planned, it felt like we saw as much of Sri Lanka as possible in the time we had. We were constantly supervised by our tour guide which made the whole experience feel really safe - I came as a solo traveller so it was reassuring staying as a group the entire time. The hotels we stayed in during the two weeks had everything you could need, we were all warmly welcomed. We mainly ate in hotels during the two weeks, however, I didn't feel like I missed out on the Sri Lankan culture. Most of the food we ate were traditional Sri Lankan curries, I am coeliac and all the curries are naturally gluten free - so there's no issue eating in Sri Lanka! A particular highlight of the trip was going on a jeep safari through Parakrama Samudra. We were able to give presents to the children in the village, and saw so much nature as we were driving through. Our tour guide kept on stopping the jeep to explain what we could see, it was just amazing! We finished the journey off by watching the sun set over the river, we were incredibly lucky to see an elephant basking in the water. It was truly magical and my favourite memory of the trip!
The two weeks volunteering was equally rewarding - but in different ways. I volunteered with the elephants in the morning and did teaching in the afternoon. I absolutely loved the elephant experience, however, I think you get the most out of it by understanding that in Sri Lanka, elephants are working animals. Once you understand the cultural difference, and therefore appreciate that the elephants you look after are working elephants that are almost having 'time off', you understand the impact your care has. I loved it, and felt like cleaning them and feeding them made their situation a lot better.
Teaching was one of the challenging, yet one of the most satisfying experiences ever. I taught the lowest ability class which ranged from 4-9 year olds. Once we found ways in which we could communicate to them (through drawing pictures and asking the teacher to translate) it was so much easier! They are so willing to learn, I learnt so much about myself just from the happiness they get from living such simple lives. You really realise how little you need to be content, and how precious these children are.
I stayed in the River House. The views are amazing, you see such beautiful sunsets at night! Make sure you bring a blanket with you, the beds only have pillows so many of us had to go and buy scarfs etc. from the nearby town! The whole team are really friendly and willing to make your experience the best it can be. I had the most amazing time and would recommend it to anyone!