To any parent that is considering Rustic Pathways as an option…. Don’t.

I can only share my experience in case it can be useful to any parent that is considering Rustic Pathways as an option…. Don’t.

Rustic Pathways is -in theory- an attractive concept: cultural immersion in a foreign country tied with community service. Unfortunately, weather or not the experience ends up being a good one depends on a mix of variables: the size of the group, the types of kids that end up attending, and the capability of the guides assigned to supervise them. All these factors are unknown ahead of time and it all becomes a leap of faith. Our family learned the hard way that this company lacks consistency in their vetting capabilities. Therefore, any given trip is like rolling the dice.

My son first went to their program in Bali and had a great experience, which led us to sign him up the following year to a program in Thailand. The second ended up being disastrous. The group was detrimentally small, only 4 more kids. The age disparity was significant and unfortunately my son was on the younger side. He was paired with a much older roommate that continuously smoked pot and ended up providing it to the rest of the group. They would smoke at the hotel they were staying at under the alleged supervision of the guides. To make matters worse, during a day trip to the market, the same kid bought marihuana there. Again, the guides where in close proximity all the time yet remained oblivious.

Only 4 days into the trip, our son called us he was having a hard time with the peer pressure. We immediately found a way to get him on a flight back home. I spoke to the regional director and warned them about what was going on. After all, more than half of the trip remained. I made them aware of this particular kid that was providing pot to the rest of the group. To my surprise, they refrained from removing this kid from the trip, concealed this information from the rest of the parents and allowed the trip to go on as if nothing was happening. The only other time I heard from them was when I received a bill for additional expenses. Reimbursement was out of the question, not even partially.

I was left feeling very disillusioned but mainly disappointed at myself for having placed my trust in this company. I wanted my kid to be exposed to a new culture and in return he got exposed to pot for the first time. Their lack of response was irresponsible. I kept thinking about the other parents that never found out about this. Unfortunately I didn’t know who they were or how to contact them.