Program Reviews

So little space but come on this trip!

I made friends for life on this trip and got to see and experience things that you wouldn't normally by travelling solo. One of my favourite (or many) memories was swimming in the natural hot springs after our 2nd day of the trail to Machu Picchu followed by a bonfire and smores at the hostel!

It might not change your life but it will change your heart.

I don't even know where to start here. If you're ever in a situation where you think your life is stagnating and you need to try something new, I would highly recommend this program as it gave me so much to do, see and experience.

Our group was very lucky also to have 2 very good leaders in Joe & Frank. They definitely helped make it an awesome 2 months!

Everything from Cusco to Quito was just absolutely amazing (even the 20 hour bus rides!), I really can't pick a favourite week even though I thought it would be the trek to Machu Picchu before I started.

Cusco offered a great city life and definitely unique and it was a great place to meet the group and get to know them. The homestays and Spanish classes were also very interesting and I got a lot out of the first week.

The second week was all about Machu Picchu which was just stunning and worth all the blisters I got from hiking about 10 hours a day! I really can't explain how amazing it was to finally get to Machu Picchu and take it all in.

Next up was a journey up the west coast up to the beach town of Mancora, which was a really lovely town. There was nothing like chilling beside a pool, swimming with turtles, banana boating, swimming in the sea and having a few drinks at night with your mates after the tough trek the past week. Such an enjoyable week.

The next 2 weeks were spent in a really cool animal sanctuary and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would! Some of the animals were just so unique and cool I wish we could spend more time with them! The family running the place were cool too as one of them took us out to a cool waterfall one day after work! Spending the weekend between the 2 weeks here at a town called Baños was really cool too as it was full of things to do!

Into the jungle we went in the 6th week to stay and work with the Shuar Tribe, which was just such an unique experience you won't really find easily anywhere else!

The last week in Quito was also really good, there were loads of places to eat/drink/relax after teaching the children at school some english. It was just the perfect place really to finish things off and I was very sad to leave the place and the wonderful people I'd met!

Definitely worth every penny. Thanks!

Just after finishing the First part of the course in Wales our group was of to the paradise called Costa Rica.
Away from all the harsh weather, out of the mountains and into the jungle.
We got to experience all the hardships and started learning what challenges it brings to become a leader.
We've learned so much and everyone had there own personal challenges to face, which for me were almost all conquered.
I feel like a new man and feel like I can take on any challenge.
All in all the course was life changing.

I have recently returned from a short stint in Australia. I arrived in September to be greeted by the rep of OzForce, at the time Bec. She was so helpful and was always there when we needed here. The first 2 weeks she introduced us into Sydney life and showed us the ropes. Without her guidance I dont think my friend and I would have had such a good time during our 4 months over there. Having known people who tried to go about doing it themselves it seemed alot easier with OzForce. Through OzForce I met some awesome people who I actually ended up living with in Bondi and travelling with in Australia. Bec helped me throughout my time in Australia and I was always in contact with her, as were the boys I was with, when travelling letting her know my next stop and my plans. I met some incredible people through my trip to Australia and my OzForce experience. If I was to do it all over again I wouldnt change a thing!!

I had an absolute blast during my trip to Europe the summer of 2015. I made friends with people vastly different from me, a few of which I still keep up with now despite living on different continents. Terry (our trip leader) was awesome and let us explore on our own while still making sure he knew we were alright. The sequence of cities we visited were great, and they helped me get a sense of Europe's culture while making note of where I'd like to go back and visit again. It was hard to get all we wanted to see in each city in with the time we had in each place, but overall I think our time was managed well. If you are looking to go on this trip, I would say don't be afraid to go off and do your own thing. Group activities are fun but I know the day I went to Pisa by myself was one of the more relaxing times I had, which I really needed to recharge. I would also say to spend the money on the tour busses. They are the quickest, easiest, and maybe cheapest way to see as much of the city as possible as quickly as possible. Also, none of the nine of us that went knew each other before hand, which made it fun, but if I did it over I might try and get a friend to go with me also. Just to have a familiar face. ANYWAY. This trip is great. Gapforce did an awesome job. I would totally travel with them again. So yeah! Thanks for a great experience!

I was confused before I left with Gapforce what I was involved in. I quickly learned GapForce is a booking agent for programs with GreenLion and that GreenLion has tons of adventure and volunteer programs in lots of counties. You can book as many as you want for however long you want and even take weeks off for your own adventures. A program called a road trip is offered in many countries which in some countries means constantly moving and sightseeing and in other countries like Nepal means you are signed up for an intro week, adventure week, trekking week, and volunteering week. You have a home base at a volunteer house and each week head to different projects, some in different cities that you stay at a site there and some close by to the volunteer house so you stay at the volunteer center for the week. You can extend your stay even after you are there. Don't be afraid to change your schedule, go on your own in free time, and book what you want on weekends.

I never thought I'd be bathing in a river with elephants but it was the coolest experience and I never would have found it without GapForce. Although I felt I didn't know too much before leaving, GapForce was always super available to me during my travels and coordinated shipping packages for me and sending more info and still was available for questions. I had so many adventures from preparing food for Gibbons and elephants and feeding them to staying with an Akha host family in Chiang Rai. Great experiences!

My season in Tignes has been one of my most life changing experiences yet. I feel so grateful to have met people that I no doubt will stay connected to for the rest of my life. Not only has the program changed my skiing, but changed my goals and opened me up to so many experiences I would never have thought possible. I am so filled with love and gratitude for everyone and everything this experience has brought to my life. Tignes' beauty is unmatched, similar to the adventure you will gain through this course.

This experience has been so radical! Between all of the amazing skiing on and off piste with our outstanding instructors Joe and Gav and all of the fun we had together as a group, these have been some of the best months of my life. We skied in some of the best snow I've ever seen, eaten way to many of TC's burgers and had so much fun at The Underground Bar and Jacks the discotheque. Sev, our course mom, was so amazing and so helpful! A few of us ended up staying out here for a few weeks after the course and Sev has helped us through everything. Planning trips after this, kidney stones and just in general being your mom when you don't have one here. There were 4 girls and 5 guys in the group. The boys and one of the girls were all from England, then there was one German girl and two American girls. We all got on astonishingly well, with usual spots of drama of course. I have so many new skills, friends for life and a city I will never stop wanting to visit!
Please feel free to ask me any questions about the program!

Also make sure to read our blogs! Here are a few of them!

- http://gapforce.org/our-blog/2016/01/volunteer-updates-from…
- http://gapforce.org/our-blog/2016/02/one-month-anniversary/
- http://gapforce.org/our-blog/2016/02/hot-chocolate-skiing/
- http://gapforce.org/our-blog/2016/03/the-best-folie-douce-t…

One of my many favourite memories of the trip was being in Florence. To begin with we stayed in a wonderful old house just outside the main square. I shared an apartment with the girls which included a balcony with a lovely view of old stone houses and cathedrals. I spent the day wandering around the city, walking across the Ponte Vecchio bridge, finding little shops ran by locals and accidentally ending up at the Boboli Gardens where we wrote in our journals or relaxed. After having dinner in the evening we decided to climb a hill where we watched the sunset over the beautiful city.

One part of the trip that really made an impact on me was spending time in Outshoorn working at St. Luigi's center with the kids from the township. It was a life changing experience spending time with those kids. Even though some of them didn't understand english it didn't make much of a difference, all they wanted from us was attention and a little bit of love. It's hard to comprehend what they go through and the point of us being there is to give them a little bit of a break from whatever their situation may be, and to allow them to have some fun with us. I had so much fun chasing the kids around, getting my hair braided, listening to them sing, and just being in the company of some really amazing kids was definitely a highlight for me on my trip.