India Volunteer Adventure

Traveler Reviews

• 

  Sara

  September 1st, 2018
  3
  The review stars are not accurate, because I am unable to rate individual parts of my itinerary. First week, I was...
  The review stars are not accurate, because I am unable to rate individual parts of my itinerary. First week, I was located in a guesthouse in Delhi. In my program were 2 more girls - Lowri and the second person would like to stay anonymous. Our sighseeing on day 2 with Deeraj has been great, he is a very good guide, his knowledge about the local monuments is outstanding. On the same day we were suppose to have a welcoming dinner with Rajiv (who’s done our orientation in the morning on day 2). Unfortunately the dinner didn’t feel welcoming at all, our guide was in a rush, he mentioned that he is going for dinner, hence why he did not eat with us. Throughout the week volunteering in Delhi, Shankar and Deepesh were amazing cooks and great housekeepers. The second volunteering week was based in Palampur and our guides were Dr. Bobby and Amit. We were told by Bobby about the Independance Day coming up, so the schools are going to be closed. To our unfortunate timing, 2 days after the Independance day the schools were closed again due to a former prime minister’s death. I didn’t feel happy about the fact that I hardly volunteered on Week 2. I understand the circumstances were unexpected, I would’ve liked to be suggested with alternatives (at my own expense) to spend my time more usefully, because Palamour is known for its amount of treks in the area. On Friday evening we planned to go for dinner with our guides to their recommended restaurant. During that time, I asked if we will receive certificates, since we have only managed to work 3 out of 5 days, and the response Dr. Bobby has given was “We judge you from the moment you come to the house[...]people choose to volunteer as it is a safe way to travel around India” I felt the answer to suggest that I haven’t shown enough motivation to volunteer. Dr. Bobby was also speaking in Hindi for the majority of time at the dinner, which has left me feeling very uncomfortable. On the other hand Amit is great, he provided us with our itinerary for the whole week. And has been very communicative regarding any issues. On our first night we have found bed bugs, and we asked to be moved to another room, on the second night, Lowri had loads of bites symptomising bed bug bites. So we asked to be moved again, Joginda( the cook) has debugged the room, and luckily we were fine after the third night onwards. After our volunteering week, we left early on Saturday for our trek in Himalayas, that’s was suppose to be the highlight on our tour. Unfortunately due to natural disaster and poor weather conditions our trek has been cancelled suddenly, so after spending couple hours in a village that we were originally suppose to start the trek from, we can back to our accommodation, I was hoping to get an alternative suggestions on activities instead of the trek, Sahil has responded with the following text message “For the trek everything was arranged and had to be cancelled due to bad weather. As per the terms certain changes can be made in the itinerary for operational reasons and unavoidable circumstances.” Which is understandable, however we asked if we could perhaps travel to Amritsar a day earlier as it was or next destination, however Sahil said “No”, since everything has been arranged. After that we did not correspond, Dr. Bobby was away on Saturday and Sunday so he wasn’t able to provide us with alternative activities. I feel that I should get compensated for the cancelled trek, since part of the money for the tour included the trek( the cost of guide, tent, food) and I received no alternative, therefore I assume my money has not been spent on the trek or other activities. After that we travelled to Amritsar to meet with Parag, he was our guide until the end of the tour, I can only say good things about him, he has been an excellent organiser, his advices and additional information has been a great help, he even went out his way and took us to the Elephant Camp in jaipur which was not included in my itinerary, however it was included in my friend’s, since we all booked through different companies we all had different itinerarys. Over all the tour has been a great adventure, I only regret the amount of time I have spent in Palampur doing nothing, whereas I could have been more useful as a volunteer in other places.Show more
  Traveled in August 2018
• K

  Kara

  November 20th, 2017
  5
  India was the most incredible trip I've ever been on. Teaching young kids from the age of 3 and developing their...
  India was the most incredible trip I've ever been on. Teaching young kids from the age of 3 and developing their English was inspiring. These kids have very little to live from and still make the most of everyday and smile more than you can ever imagine. They're full of energy and will definitely put a smile on your face. Growing very close with certain kids makes it extremely difficult to leave without a tear in sight. These kids taught me more than I taught them and that life should never be taken for granted. Exploring the country after our two weeks of volunteering was hectic from the get go, but I enjoyed every part. One day you'll be at the Taj Mahal and the next at the Golden Temple, the culture shock is immense and it's lovely to see how differently they do things compared to the western world.Show more
  Traveled in July 2016