Amazing experience, poor communication from gotoco and camp leaders.

I spent 1 month in China with gotoco in July/August 2019. I was on the Anhui Beautiful Way project and the leaders of this camp were so welcoming, always going out of their way to help us. We stayed in a hotel on this scheme, no expense spared by the leaders. I worked on an outdoor summer camp in Huangshan, Anhui. Amazing scenery and facilities for the children.

Prior to leaving for China, I knew very little about what I would be doing on the camp, communication was pretty limited from gotoco and from the camp leaders. We had 4 nights in Hefei at the start of my month of work which myself and the other two gotoco-ers were completely unaware of. In addition to this, I was told that I would be separated from the other two gotoco-ers for part of the scheme and would be on my own in Hefei whilst they were staying in Huangshan. This was not something I was aware of prior to the trip and perhaps would have discouraged me from going to China. Luckily, this did not happen, but it was a last minute change that once again was poorly communicated to me (only found out 1 hour before I was meant to take the train back to Hefei from Huangshan!)

I felt safe for 100% of my time in China. Gotoco were always there to help us, especially when we found out that the camp we were placed on would finish 1 week earlier than expected. Gotoco provided us with some emergency funds to help with flight-rearrangement costs and extra travel costs. This was much appreciated.

Yangshuo was a great end to the trip, a slightly run down hostel and a room on the 6th floor without an elevator was less than ideal, yet didn't ruin the trip. The excursions were not cheap by Chinese standards, yet they were definitely exciting and worth doing.

I would recommend gotoco to anyone, just be mindful that until April (at the earliest), you will have no idea what you are doing, where you are going, or who you will be with.