Greenheart Reviews

I was extremely fortunate to receive the First Time Traveler scholarship from Greenheart travel. This scholarship enabled me to pursue a year studying abroad in Argentina. Greenheart in association with their partner in Argentina, EduQuality, made the experience unforgettable. In all honesty, I had no clue what to expect before beginning the program. A year away from my family in a foreign country was simply unfathomable. However, It has proven to be more valuable and enjoyable than I could ever begin to express. I encourage prospective travelers to take the leap, whether it be a trimester, a semester, or a whole year. A whole world of new incredible experiences awaits you.

I used this agency to find a place to teach English in Korea and please do not use this agency. Please use XploreAsia directly instead. They ripped me off and they didn't do anything other than connect me with different agencies as such Hands Korea and XploreAsia.

It's a total scam because to even have a meeting with their person to learn more information, you have to pay 300 dollars deposit. They should have more information on their website about what to expect. After the initial meeting, you have to pay another 300 dollars to continue with your process. They are not clear about the whole money thing in the process. They just send emails saying I have ____ amount to pay due certain date. Finally, I paid 2,270 dollars to fully commit to the program.

2,870 dollars is too much to have one meeting and get connected with two agencies. I wonder how much I would've paid if I were used other agencies. For sure, I know I paid too much money to get a job that's paying around 20k dollars in a year.

I wish they were more upfront and clear with their payment in the beginning. I have no clue why there are no bad reviews on them.

Anyway, I'm glad I got to expose this company’s scheme.

I'm grateful to have gone to Japan through Greenheart Travel. Here is my honest opinion on my experience. Overall, it was great. My flights to and from went smoothly, aside from my broken laptop :( , and my host family's home was, honestly, bigger and more comofortable than mine in the US. My schoolteachers were very understanding of me and the other students, and pushed us to practice Japanese in a variety of ways. They occasionally scolded us for speaking in English while in between classes! My experience was faithfly immersive, and I got to learn a lot about the Japanese way of life along with their historical culture. This was done through organized field trips, or outinfs with my host family. I enjoyed my time there, and received reasonable communications from the language school of events and schedule changes. However, Greenheart Travel's communication itself disappointed me. While I was preparing for my trip to Japan, the program manager seemingly changed between 2 or 3 different people at different times. There were times when I didn't know who my main point of contact was because of the confusion, and it was very scary for me because I had never been abroad, and had no idea what kind of information I needed to provide along the way, or who I would ask my questions too. I was grateful that Greenheart had the ability to provide scholarships for students like me, especially because I was paying for the program myself, but aside from that have limited good experiences with the agency. My program handbook mentioned that I was supposed to have at least one video call with my host family before I left to get to know them before departing, but this never happened. Instead, I wasn't even given any information about them until less than a week before my departure. I'm glad to have had this experience, but have now ascertained that I'm unlikely to travel with Greenheart again until they build a more reliable team. It was the people I met while abroad that truly made my experience so wonderful, and I hope that Greenheart can give future students a better experience!

I was initially so nervous to travel to Thailand, especially due to the COVID pandemic- I even put it off for another 6 months because of this! But I could not say enough good things about Greenheart and how they helped. They completely understood when I wanted to push back my start date, and stayed in contact with me the whole time. At one point, I was even worried I was sending too many emails and annoying them- but they always consistently answered and never seemed annoyed by my anxiety! Right before I was due to leave, I ended up having a ton of visa problems, and they answered almost immediately to help me work through my issues. Luckily, I haven't had many issues since arriving in Thailand, but I know they are just an email away if need be. If you are looking for the opportunity to visit Thailand, I recommend going through Greenheart- this company has your back!

We were disappointed with our Greenheart experience.  We found communication very challenging. 
The complication arose when our 14 year old was left at the airport in Spain alone and no one was answering emergency numbers.  We paid an additional $75 fee for a chaperone to meet him, his flight arrived at 6am which was outside the "normal" time. We did not have an issue paying this fee, however when the chaperone failed to show our son called us.  At just after 1am EST (just after 6am in Spain) my husband and I called both the emergency phone numbers we were given, one in the USA and one in Spain.  The number in the USA was an answering service (much like a doctors after hour number) and the service said both people who were supposed to be on call were not responding.  As for the number in Spain no one was answering.  So neither of the emergency numbers we were given worked and our 14 year old son was 3000 miles away in a different country.  We entrusted our son's care with Greenheart and they failed.   We were given instructions on the exact meeting location and our son confirmed with Airport security that he was in the correct spot. We were told later that the chaperone went to the wrong location.   We finally were able to get through to Spain at 8:25 Spain time.
When I finally did connect with  Ana at Greenheart she apologized and said it was a good "learning experience" for our son and they would be refunding the chaperone fee.  However I followed up a week later she told me that they would not refund the fee as despite the fact the Chaperone went to wrong location he was there.  I had to send screen shots of my call logs to Emergency numbers and the length of time he was left alone to finally get them to refund this fee. 

We were stunned that no one bothered to answer the emergency lines despite knowing there were students scheduled to arrive.  We were also surprised that even though Greenheart had our sons cell number as well as ours they never shared this with the chaperone who could have just called us or our son when he was unable to locate him at the airport.
The other issue was what is promised on their website and what the kids actually get is not the same.  The greenheart website says:Students that arrive at the Madrid airport before 11am travel by train to SalamancaStudents that arrive at the Madrid airport between 11am and 4pm will take the group shuttle that departs after 4:00pmSince my son was arriving at 6 am I assumed he would be traveling by train to Salamanca, however I was told that he would have to wait at the airport until 4 pm (10 hrs of waiting) to depart by shuttle.  When I pointed this out, Greenheart finally agreed to coordinate two groups so that early arriving students didn't have to wait at the airport for 10 additional hrs.
As for supervision and host experience the kids are pretty much left on their own to do whatever they want.  The host family was very nice but there were a lot of people staying in their home, not all of them students,  it seems they also rented out rooms to travelers.  Greenheart also did not know who else would be staying with the host family which was not comforting.  The students were given keys and allowed to pretty much come and go.  Our son is used to NYC streets and is outgoing so he had fun exploring but if you are concerned with supervision there was not a lot.
The classes at Estudio Sampere my son enjoyed and I would recommend going directly to them and skip using Greenheart.
All and all it was a very disappointing experience.  Communication is too challenging. I realize that we all make mistakes but what is telling is how people respond when a mistake is made.
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Although disappointed I couldn't experience the program in Thailand (due to Covid), all's well that ends well. The online program ended up working out great. Switching from Thailand to the online platform was quick and easy. The course material was rigorous and there were several times I wished I had access to more free teaching resources like lesson plan templates, but the instructor was helpful and quick to respond.

I was most dreading my Practicum since I wouldn't have the in-person teaching experience. I thought my dread justified when I didn't receive a respond from my first assigned student for tutoring. However, the adult student I was assigned next was a dream. His enthusiasm to improve English and gratefulness for our tutoring time really made the experience wonderful.

Still looking forward to one day actually going overseas to teach...

Many people use Greenheart and have good experiences. Had everything gone smoothly with our child’s host family placement during her high school semester in Spain, that might have been true for us. However, if there is a need to move host families, you might not be able to count on Greenheart. Our daughter had to move due to domestic violence. Greenheart and their in-country partner CCI bungled just about every decision from the moment they were informed of the emergency up until our child’s last day with the program. After moving her to a new family and location, the local coordinator was a particular problem. She was strangely critical with our child and made statements that interfered with her relationship with the new host family.

Throughout the ordeal neither Greenheart nor CCI were proactive about ensuring our daughter’s well-being. Many organizations are suffering now with such low participation during the pandemic. But nothing can explain their insensitivity and poor judgment. Greenheart was having staff turnover so perhaps if they get their house back in order they can provide kind, attentive service. I wrote to the Greenheart CEO after our child was safely back in the country and was told that the problem was our daughter’s inability to adapt and make a success of her situation – they accepted no responsibility.

Greenheart Travel was among my first choices of travel agencies for my year abroad in Norway. I started the process long before I actually needed too, but they were always there for me along the way. 2020/2021 was a very difficult year for any student, let alone a student going abroad. The Greenheart staff was beyond supportive, and was always there whenever I needed any advice. They gave me amazing support with the whole application and visa process as well. I will continue any journeys abroad with Greenheart in the future.

Amazing program for students who are interested in teaching abroad. You will receive all the support and guidance you need throughout the whole program, which is definitely helpful for individuals who are going abroad for their first time. Ana is very helpful and supportive throughout the whole process. She made the whole process go by smoothly and easy. Any questions or concerns I had she was always there to assist me. Thank you for all your support and guidance. I am beyond excited to be in South Korea teaching English. It’s a dream that I’ve always had and I’m so happy to be pursuing it. Again, thank you Greenheart travel and Ana for all your help!

Everything from the people that I’ve met, the support I’ve received, and the experiences thus far, have been worth taking that leap of faith into the unknown! My journey is only beginning and I’m excited to see what my new home in Thailand holds. I’m looking forward to making a difference by teaching students English as well as getting to know the locals. I know there will be challenges but, that’s all a part of the process. Greenheart was with me every step of the way to prepare me before I left and I would choose them again!