Global Leadership Adventures (GLA) Reviews

My GLA experience in Bali was amazing and one I know I will not forget!

By being on this trip, I have developed leadership skills and better yet, friendships that will last a lifetime. Being a leader is not easy and can be a difficult task. However, on GLA's Bali program, each student was required to lead the entire group for one whole day. During the program, I realized that a leader must have deep convictions of his goals, be clear about what needs to be achieved, find the strength of each individual, and work with those strengths.

Being a leader was also very important in the classroom. On the first day of volunteering, we began with thirty students. And by the end, we concluded with almost ninety students. We taught English in meaningful subjects such as health, hygiene, body parts, animals, colors, numbers, and much more. Being a leader was important in the classroom to achieve the task at hand. We had to work with each other to create meaningful lesson plans. Meaningful lesson plans would then result in a transformative experience for the students we taught as it was just for me.

If you are thinking about joining GLA's Bali: Land of Discovery program, it is perfect for any person of any character. Bali is truly a land of discovery where you will always have a place in your heart for and a home to go to!

Bali is full of many fun activities to take part in and the staff will be sure that every student gets the most of their experience their! From getting off my flight in Denpasar, to going on an ultimate scavenger hunt in Ubud, to relaxing at a resort in Lovina, to taking a spider boat ride in the sunset, to going Scuba Diving for my first time in Amed, and most importantly volunteering at local schools in Singaraja, it was a fun and life changing experince I will never forget!

This was seriously the best experience I have ever had. Going into the program I was nervous since I was traveling alone, first time out of the country, and I didn't know anyone, but that's what made my experience even better. I made amazing friends who I miss dearly and the GLA mentors and Hotel Playa Garza staff were so amazing and supportive during my 3 weeks in Guanacaste. They don't lie about cultural immersion. Thoughout my whole stay we were talking with locals, participating in common acts, and comparing our lives with their during feedback every night. The adventure is no joke! Zip lining, surging, hiking, and whitewater rafting were extremely fun and something I had never done before. And not forgetting the main purpose, the children we met changed my point of view and I now hold a special place for them in my heart. The moment we finished the park for them, the smile on my face was from ear to ear just like the little ones faces were. That moment will be one of my favorites forever. I am so proud of myself for pushing my limits and it definitely paid off this summer and I would love to do it 20 more times if I could.

I went to Ghana this summer on the children of Africa program. I was there for three weeks. Those three weeks couldn't have been any better. The cost is completely worth it, the things you see and things you get to do are a priceless experience. I have traveled a lot but no trip has stuck to me like this one. It has opened my eyes so much to what I can do and has really helped me in deciding my future.

I absolutely loved getting to know the local staff and just walking around the village that we stayed in was so wonderful. Everyone that we encountered was so welcoming and kind, even though we were mzungus (white people). Whenever we passed people on the streets, a simple smile and hello would always be exchanged. That is possibly what i miss most about the trip; the common kindness that everyone carried with themselves.

I traveled with Global Leadership Adventures on the Children of the Maya trip to Guatemala, and I can truly say that it was one of the best experiences I have ever had. I not only met some amazing people from the country itself, but I met other students who are now some of my closest friends. Working with the kids at the schools where we volunteered was so heartwarming. We were all able to connect with these kids and to feel like we were making an impact. On top of all that, I gained a whole new understanding of Guatemalan culture that I never could have gotten without traveling with GLA and learning from the mentors and the local people we met. It was truly a life-changing experience, one that I will never forget.

I traveled to Peru last summer with Global Leadership Adventures and was completely blown away by the experience. I hadn't done a trip without knowing anyone going into it, so I came into the experience more than a little nervous and wary. But GLA exceeded all of my expectations. I felt completely safe and secure at every moment, and that was a big deal to me. The accommodations on the trip were great and the mentors on the trip were absolutely fantastic. Right from the start, I felt welcomed and supported, and as the trip went on I only grew more in awe of how cool they were. The other great aspect was they really take leadership, adventure, and cultural immersion into account, almost as much as they do meaningful service work.
Yet what made my trip truly exceptional were the other students. Before the trip, my friend who had done GLA Costa Rica told me that GLA attracts really cool people and I was going to make some really great friends, and that proved so true. Somehow I was lucky enough to get to explore Peru with 30 of the coolest, nicest, funniest people I had ever met. Lasting friendships just formed instantly and I'm so grateful for the relationships I formed, and my trip wasn't an exception to the norm. As I look at my opportunities in the future, I really don't know how anything could top my trip with GLA last summer.

Hello everyone! I was in the GLA Peru: Service in the Sacred Valley trip. My three weeks in Peru with Global Leadership Adventures were amazing! From hiking the Inca Trail to building a greenhouse for a local village in Cusco, the projects we worked on and the activities we did every day were unique and forced us out of our comfort zone to figure out new ways to achieve our goals. Our service project was to build the foundation for a greenhouse, and a major challenge was figuring out a system of transporting huge rocks up a hill and into the walls of the greenhouse. With the help of our mentors and other locals, we broke up into teams and built up the wall with impressive speed. The mentors on our trip were consistently dedicated to our success; they are inspirational people who taught me to look at the world in different ways and have helped me understand what I want to do in the future. At the end of my trip, I felt that I had made a definite impact on the village I worked in, and also that my worldview and understanding of problems faced by developing communities was deepened. I definitely recommend Global Leadership Adventures to anyone interesting in making a change while immersed in another culture.

If interested, you can visit their website at www.experiencegla.com or you can search "GLA Peru" in Facebook to read more about the trip and have questions answered from GLA Alumni.

As my high school graduation waits right around the corner, I've reflected quite a bit on the things that have most impacted me throughout the past four years of my life. I feel that I've done a lot here at home, but being president of student council, playing softball, and excelling academically don't even begin to measure up to the impact of my experiences I had through GLA.

In the summer of 2013 I travelled to Guatemala through the 2-week "Children of the Maya" program. As my first experience ever out of the United States, the program was well organized, immersive in the local culture, and all-around showed me the amazing way that traveling abroad can bring new perspective. Through everything, including an unfortunate incident in which our van crashed on the way to a weekend excursion (everyone was okay!), GLA was nothing but supportive. I built a commitment to service and global consideration in everything I do. I came home from the program looking forward to future endeavors internationally.

Initially after the Guatemala program, I didn't think that another GLA program would be an option. However, in March of 2014 my dad mentioned the possibility. After much debate about which program to choose, I decided on the 3-week "Building a Sustainable World" trip in the Dominican Republic. If I thought Guatemala was life-changing, this experience completely flipped my world upside-down. Not only did I meet my best friends on this trip, but I also saw the true value of sustainable development and community. Upon my return home, teachers, friends, and family alike commented on my newfound happiness and passion. To put it simply, I was invigorated with a new drive I didn't even know existed.

Because of GLA, I was lucky enough not only to find my passion, but also to express it through my application to the Tulane University Deans' Honor Scholarship, which I actually received. I will attend Tulane starting this fall to study public health and international development. (See my video for the DHS scholarship at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lWbOR7JYfg )

GLA - this is my love letter to you, an expression of my undying gratitude for your programs, your staff, and your commitment to doing "voluntourism" right, thereby giving volunteer travel the good name it deserves. You have changed my life, and for that I thank you.

If you're looking for a way to volunteer while having a great time and making new friends, Global Leadership Adventures is the way to go! I had the best experience with them and learned a lot while having fun. I went to the Dominican Republic (Beach Adventure) for 10 days. I made a lot of wonderful new friends there, some of whom I'm still in touch with 7 months later. During the trip, we built bottle schools and played with the children there. That was exhausting... however, we were not even 2 minutes walking distance from the beach and could relax there on any given night. I had an amazing, eye-opening experience there and I would 100% recommend this trip!

My trip to Peru was amazing! As a 14 year old, I was the youngest in my group and was nervous at first, but as soon as I arrived I realized there was nothing to be worried about! My group had 30 kids in it with 4 consolers, and I was lucky enough to get to know them all. I made many friends on my trip (man whom I am still in contact with) and together we made every day exciting. My group worked on improving sanitation in a small community. Every week day we would volunteer and then take Spanish lessons, and during the weekends we took many adventure trips. Overall, I had a great time and would highly recommend Global Leadership Adventures.