Global Leadership Adventures (GLA) Reviews

I went to Guatemala for three weeks for the Mayan service, language and adventure program and it was absolutely amazing. From the moment I landed in the airport I was greeted by friendly staff and transported to a secure and pleasant hotel. True it is not a hotel like the west but that is exactly what I wanted. Each day was met with volunteering, cultural immersion like hikes, chocolate tastings, markets, and of course helpful spanish lessons. Of course it's not all work and no play, after volunteering for maybe 3-4 hours a member may expect a wonderful meal cooked by the staff and a good sized break. I was never exhausted during my time on the GLA trip and was able to keep up on any adventure or situation. My spanish was intermediate prior to leaving the United States and I came back pretty advanced after having spoken more often with native speakers.

I can honestly say that Tanzania changed my life. There is not a day I don't wish I could go back. I know that the peers and staff I met there are lifelong friends. Global Leadership Adventures Tanzania has given me a new sense of confidence in myself. While teaching at the local school, the students taught me more about myself than I could ever teach them. As a picky eater, I was surprised at how delicious the food was. I was also surprised at how safe and comfortable I felt at all times. I wish I could go back!

My trip to Costa Rica with Global Leadership Adventures was amazing. I was nervous first going there because I had never traveled alone to another country, and I spoke almost no Spanish. But from the moment I landed I felt very safe and my nerves went away. The counselors were very responsible and helpful, they taught us useful phrases and told us things that we should know, about the culture and where we were staying. I loved not knowing anybody going on the trip it was nice to meet new people from all over the world who shared common interests with me. This program has a great balance between service work and activities. Helping out the community and seeing the local people's positive reactions to our work was such a powerful feeling. It was important to me to feel be immersed in the culture, and to feel like I was a part of the community for the time I was there. We were at a local elementary school building a bio garden for our service work and also did things like beach clean ups. There were a few times where it rained and our counselors told us we had to stop working, but my group was incredibly motivated to get everything we could done and tried to stay as much as we could. It wasn't all hard work, we did fun activities too. That included things like zip lining, surfing, snorkeling, and going on hikes to waterfalls. We even played a soccer game against local people from the town! It was nice to have those fun things to do after working. We also did a lot of learning on my trip and would have things at night like watching videos or reading articles which led to great discussions among the group. This trip changed my perspective on the world and made me realize what my interests are and what I want to pursue after high school. I discovered a passion for environmental issues and learning about conservation. Although I was fine without knowing lots of Spanish, due to help from counselors and other students on the trip, I decided to switch from French to Spanish because I realized how much I wanted to travel to underdeveloped countries and do what I could to help. I loved this trip so much that I signed up for a joint program this summer to the Dominican Republic and the Galapagos. I can't recommend this program enough!!

Before arriving to Costa Rica, I did not know anyone and knew little to no spanish but that all changed. After spending three weeks with some of the best people in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, I walked away with a different outlook on life, improved spanish skills, and best friends. Going into the trip I did not anticipate how close I would come with my fellow adventurers, the locals, and the staff. While on the trip, I volunteered at an elementary school where I did things I never thought I would be doing like mixing cement, creating trenches, and re doing a playground. My favorite part of the service was the breaks because we would play soccer or other games with the students of the school. We did service 5 days awake usually from 8-11:30 and then would have lunch, some free time, and then an afternoon activity including spanish lessons, dance lessons, and exploring the town. On the weekends we zip-lined, horseback rode, white water tubed, hiked, camped, surfed, and even got to take a mud bath!(not all in one weekend) Traveling to Costa Rica, changed the way I view things such as the opportunities I have that others may not have, the true beauty of nature, and how it does not take wealth to be happy in life. This trip changed impacted me in a way I did not imagine. I undoubtedly recommend this trip to anyone looking for the summer of a lifetime! Pura Vida

I'm Tedra, a senior in high school who attended the Global Leadership Adventures excursion to Thailand this past summer in June 2013.

It may sound like an exaggeration, but this experience was unforgettable. The days were jam-packed with service that helped the locals and showed them they were cared about- on my particular trip we worked with HIV/AIDS affected orphans, single mothers shunned from their communities, and other Thai peoples in need of various things. This is not all we did though- we explored Chiang Mai and the deep culture within and the peaceful people who lived there. We went to an elephant refugee camp and bathed them, went to the tallest mountain in Thailand, went to numerous temples and had a blast learning about those who are not-so-different from us. Though our days were packed with service and adventure we always had a beautiful and safe home-base to go back to so that we could unwind and build long-lasting friendships with the other students.

On my trip I never once felt unsafe, alone, or invaluable in any way. Our mentors always made sure all of our needs were taken care of and they made sure we knew the importance of what we were doing and what we could do as Leaders, and I am forever greatful for that.

I highly reccomend any GLA trip to everyone. If you'd like to know any more about GLA, you can visit their website at experiencegla.org, and make sure to check out their Young Leader blog at blog.experiencegla.com.

Do take some time out to check out this trip and organization and try to go! You won't regret it!

Never felt like a tourist once in my three weeks with Global Leadership Adventures. GLA allows us to meet inspiring people like Julio, who walked up and down hill an hour each day to reach our service site, to Americo, an orphan in Cuzco who had a deep passion for soccer ever since he was young. Incredible program that delivers every wish you would want from a volunteer organization that actually goes to places a tourist would not have the connections to. And unlike a tourist, you are protected 24/7 by staff that actually understands you are a high school student!

Hello everyone , I am Max Bone I'm a sophomore in High School from Detroit,Michigan. This past summer i had the amazing, life changing experience to travel to, and live in Cuzco,Peru for three weeks with an amazing organization called Global Leadership Adventures. I know it may sound a little " Over Exaggerating" when i say this, but those three weeks changed my life, my views, and the overall person that i am forever. For all of you parents who are reading this, trying to decide weather to send you're child on a program to a foreign country, all that i can say is you wont regret it! I understand that it is a scary thought, waking you're child up to the security gate, saying your goodbyes then sending them off to a foreign country for an extended amount of time. but i can assure you , that you will be glad you did when you're Son/Daughter walks down to baggage claim a few weeks latter and you receive a tired, but smiling kid who is so excited to talk about there amazing experience that they just had and there how much they were changed. GLA does this through three main ways which are : Community Service , Leadership Activity's , and Cultural Exchange Activity's. The community Service obviously changes from country to country, But out of all of the people i have talked to who have been on 10 different Global Leadership Adventures programs in 8 different countries, They have all loved the work that they were doing, felt a strong connection to the work they were doing, and felt like they were making a HUGE difference on there host community. I am going to use my program for an example. My group was building a Green House out of adobe bricks in a small mountain community to help combat the highly increasing malnutrition rate among the youth of the Cusco region of Peru. It was amazing knowing that the work that i was doing will make a huge impact on this community for years to come, and change there way of life , and diet for the better. Seeing all of the hard work that we were putting in pay off and finish 70% more than we were expected to felt so good, And rely helped me realize how important hard work is and how much it pays off. The gratitude that the community expressed for our hard work can not be explained in words. The next way that Global Leadership Adventures will do this is through leadership sessions and mentor groups. This is something unique to Global Leadership Adventures that no other organization that i have seen does. These sessions focus on taking all that you are learning and experiencing and applying it to your life, and what you will do with it when you return home. These sessions also include talking about important quality's of leaders and aspects of life such as empathy, How one must hit rock bottom to make it to the top, Humility, Service, How to communicate with different groups of people, and decision making. As well as discussing current events. These sessions take place in large group settings, as well as small group settings. I truly miss these sessions, and they are one of the things i look forward to most when i return to Global Leadership Adventures next summer. The staff that Global Leadership Adventures has put together is also fantastic. They are all amazing, talented , smart, and inspiring individuals. I was able to get to know all of the staff rely well. From the cooks at home baser, to my personal mentor. There is also a large aspect placed on cultural activity's and fun. These included everything from getting my fortune told by a traditional, practicing, Inca shawman, to hiking and camping the Inca trail, to visiting Macchu Picchu , to learning about traditional Inca medicine, to getting to dress up in Andean attire and perform a traditional dance ! These activity's rely have given me a better understanding, and made me feel connected of the Inca culture, instead of just having knowledge of it. Global Leadership Adventures also does an amazing job with safety. There was not a single time during my program when i did not feel safe. GLA has a 5 point safety system that they fallow during everything that includes: safe and secure lodging ( The home base is ONLY used by GLA students and staff ) , caring supervision, Healthy meals and pure water, Expert local knowledge, and safe and comfortable transportation. Overall my trip to Peru last summer was a fantastic , life changing experience. And all that i can say to you, is GO,GO,GO,GO you will come home changed. if you have any questions about Global Leadership Adventurers, Or there Peru program please let me know via email at maxbone55@gmail.com . If you would like to see photos from my trip, please email me and i can share with you my Facebook page where you can view them, and if your parents would like to hear from a parent whose child has gone on a GLA trip, and who is trusting them again with the safety of there kid ( This time in Africa ! ) please shoot me an email and i will be more than happy to put you in contact with my parents. Thank You for your interest in Global Leadership Adventures ,and i am so excited for you to embark on a life changing journey !

Global Leadership Adventures is an amazing program. I attended their Galapagos trip in 2013 and attended their Thailand program last summer. If you are considering stepping out of your comfort zone and helping in a foreign country this is completely the program for you. GLA is extremely safe and professional. All the home bases are beautiful, the food is delicious, the activities and excursions are always amazing, and the staff is kind and extremely knowledgable. GLA gives students an opportunity to immerse themselves in the culture. Part of the staff usually lives in the country year round and knows their way around. For example: In Thailand we got to eat Mother's day lunch cooked by our drivers family and had the opportunity to help their neighbors plant rice. No other program is like GLA. They constantly keep you busy and active and give you an unforgettable experience. Volunteering is such a rewarding experience. In Thailand we worked at three locations: an orphanage for children with HIV, a home for mothers from hill tribes, and an orphanage for trafficked children. Although it was very sad and upsetting, the experience of working at these organization was completely unforgettable. This trip is designed for those that want to step out of their comfort zone no matter to what extent. I decided to try bugs and live shrimp and a fish spa while I was there, others did not. This trip is designed to give you opportunities to immerse yourself completely into a different culture; It is your choice to what extent you choose to immerse yourself. Nevertheless this was an amazing trip that I would recommend to everyone. The sights, the food, and the atmosphere helped me fall in love with Thailand. I know I will be back in Chiang Mai very soon.

I have had the opportunity and privilege of going to the Dominican Republic with Global Leadership Adventures in the summers of 2012 and 2013. I am also a current 2013 ambassador for the program (I advocate for the program). Like many other alumni can attest to, it was a very unique, fun, and life changing experience. If you (potential participant) or your child (for parents) are interested in this program, I cannot speak highly enough about the staff and experience. The staff consists of the program director, mentors, and a few alumni conducting research or projects in the Dominican Republic. Though the program puts teens in some environments that, honestly, can be quite uncomfortable given that the Dominican Republic is a developing country, at no point during both of my trips did I feel unsafe or in any sort of danger. I based my college essay off of a visit to the Haitian refugee camp and I admit that I was uncomfortable at first but I like many others from both groups I went with think that it was the highlight of the trip.

Global Leadership Adventures balances service and fun very well. While service is an emphasis on all Global Leadership Adventure programs, it is well understood that teenagers like to have some downtime. On the Dominican Republic trips the programs take the groups to tourist beaches including a day of snorkeling. The home base is just a stones throw away from the beach as well. The program also takes groups to an eco-park where there are sports, swimming, and a zipline that participants go over before dropping into a lagoon.

The home base is located in Las Cañas, a small town outside Puerto Plata. The participants stay in rooms that accommodate about 7 people and have showers, sinks, and bug nets over the bed. There is always purified drinking water and the food is cooked by a Dominican family that has been working with the Dominican Republic program for a few years so the food is always safe to eat. There is also a pool in each part of the home base (two pools).

Global Leadership Adventures has a high emphasis on safety and makes sure participants are supervised or otherwise with at least one other participant at all times. Again I cannot speak highly enough about the Dominican Republic program and Global Leadership Adventures. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or go to "experiencegla.com." There is also a lot of information on the Global Leadership Adventures Facebook page as well as specific GLA country pages.

I attended GLA’s 21-day Building a Sustainable World trip to the Dominican Republic this past summer. I can state without reservation that those 21 days singlehandedly altered my perspective both on global issues—poverty, international relations, and our population’s relationship with the environment—and on what I want to do with my life.

From my experience, what I imagine sets GLA apart is the experience, knowledge, and passion of the staff (two program directors and several counselors), who are inspiring, to say the least. I felt absolutely comfortable throughout my stay. Maintenance and food are handled by a couple of families who live in the surrounding, relatively impoverished community of Las Canas and have worked with GLA for a while. The food was simple, delicious, and healthy; our home base was rustic but clean, cozy, and safe.

Our service centered on three main sites: Ascension, a Haitian refugee village, home to extreme poverty and political difficulty (the refugees in the village are stateless and cannot leave their community whatsoever), where we helped on the foundation for a bottle school; Las Canas, where different groups worked on assorted projects, like rerouting a river, paving a gravel trail, and digging for an aquaponics project; and La Boca, where we helped on the construction of a bottle school. The service was concrete and fulfilling; I think we were genuinely useful during the hours that we worked.

Educational activities included trips to historic Santo Domingo, an eco-institute in the mountain town of Jarabacoa, and the shocking market and Haitian border at Dajabon, which I don’t think I’ll ever forget. These experiences, combined with the service, the documentaries on the environment and other world issues that we watched, and our lecture-discussions, truly changed me, for the better. :) We also got to enjoy snorkeling, ziplining, the Dominican Republic’s spectacular beaches, and plenty of fun!

The other kids on the trip were amazing. It’s hard not to become close over 21 days! It was awesome to meet kids from all over the country, as well as England. Reading reviews on other websites for similar trips before I went on my own, I wondered if our trip would be filled with “snobby” kids who didn’t care or didn’t want to work, as some reviews described; thankfully, it wasn’t at all.

Some notes: It isn’t necessary to speak any Spanish for the trip, though it’s definitely a good idea to brush up on some words before you go. It also isn’t required that you know much about environmental problems or sustainability before you go—I didn’t, but I learned so much on the trip; I’m now inspired to learn more on my own. That said, you do need an open mind and a strong willingness to work hard. Another recommendation: it’s a great idea to keep a journal during your trip, because you’ll see and experience so much.

I can’t stress how strongly I recommend GLA—my experience this past summer was fantastic!