A Growth Experience Like No Other

I would recommend this trip to anyone. The amount you see and taste and touch and explore during those four weeks is phenomenal and pretty much unparalleled. It is hard to convey how much this program offers, but I will lead with saying I had never been to Asia before and spending four weeks in Thailand make me want to spend months more there, traveling and learning and taking it all in. Which, I will note, is definitely possible even on a student budget because once you're there everything is very inexpensive. A hotel room might be $15, and a meal well under $5 if you want it to be.

This program offers huge benefits both to those who have traveled internationally frequently before and those who haven't. If you are looking for an opportunity to explore a foreign country without necessitating that you speak the language and struggle through identifying and booking all the arrangements, this is the perfect mix of hands-on, supportive, and hands-off. I thought about trying to do a similar trip alone or with a friend, and there's no way we would've had as smooth or as enjoyable of an experience had we not had such a fantastic trip leader to handle the logistics. They find the coolest opportunities for you that you would never have thought existed (or, would never have thought to do or wouldn't have found the right people to connect with to do it), and make sure that you're safe and supported while allowing you to explore. In other words, the support is there, but if you want to be more independent then those opportunities do arise during free time on weekends or afternoons. We would often have an activity or two planned (like Thai cooking lessons or yoga) but would then be given time to just go explore. I remember one evening we spent hours in the marketplace in Chiang Mai, watching the people who'd taught us Muay Thai hours before fighting in the ring. We then shopped, found a really cool jazz platform, and stopped at a western tea shop before returning to the guesthouse. The accommodations, by the way, are amazing.