Thailand ISV

Signing myself up for a volunteer trip across the world was the scariest thing I had ever done in my life. But it was completely worth it. The 2 weeks of volunteer completely changed my life. The wildlife sanctuary I worked with were the kindest group of people who truly cared about the work they do with the animals and environment. Their passion was so evident to us students and they treated us with the same kindness and care. The work could sometimes be hard but the people you surrounded yourself with made it enjoyable. Our group leader specifically, did not impress me as much. He was kind, knowledgeable, and passionate about his volunteer work but he could get wrapped up in being social with some girls in the group. Afterwords, the 2 weeks of adventure and holiday were amazing but strange. Our activities were the time of my life. I cannot emphasize how amazing it was to go zip lining, white water rafting, bathe elephants, cook thai food and wander around Buddhist temples. It made everyday of the year that I worked to save for this trip worth it. The only issues I had with the program were the costs and where our money went to. The program cost itself was expensive and I realized most of the expenses were for the 2 weeks of holidays at the end. The hotels and villas we stayed in were beautiful, but some nights we were literally arriving to go to bed and leave early the next day for the next destination or activity. Then we would come back late, go to bed and pack up the next day. There was no time to fully enjoy the evening at the beautiful wooden cabins we were brought to. As we were boarding our flight to go to the islands for the last week of our ISV trip, we found out the program had forgotten to book our tour leader her own plane ticket. She gave us instructions where to go should we have to fly without her, but luckily she was able to buy herself a spot on the plane. This should have never been an issue and it gave us unnecessary worry.

All in all the 4 weeks of Thailand flew by so quickly and I would never trade this experience for anything. Despite going back to school with hardly any money in my bank account, I would recommend this program to anyone who loves to travel, loves adventure, and loves meeting new people and new experiences.