When thinking about your next Rustic experience, faraway places probably spring to mind: terraced rice fields in Thailand, serene beaches in the Dominican Republic, or the wild outback of Australia…
Showing up to the airport for your first Rustic adventure can be a little nerve-wracking for most of us—after all, you haven’t met the rest of your group yet! You may find yourself worrying about…
Development is complicated. Sometimes it’s incredibly difficult to describe what you’ve learned (or what you’re preparing to learn) during a culturally-immersive travel experience to friends and family back home. It’s easy to exaggerate the differences…
Some of the most powerful travel experiences happen when you just can't help but admire a beautiful landscape. Those quiet moments of wonder speak the loudest and become lasting memories…
As Rustic Pathways students embark on another transformative summer, the Rustic Pathways Foundation is pleased to share some exciting news about our funding strategy and—drumroll please—the projects we’ve prioritized with our community partners for 2017 …
Over the next 10 weeks, more than 400 seasonal staff members will help students navigate airports, customs, and new experiences across 19 different countries and 100+ Rustic Pathways programs. This year’s program leaders are the most experienced we’ve ever employed…
This summer more than 5,000 high school students from around the world will travel with us to 19 different countries! From running summer camps for local youth in the Dominican Republic, to caring for elephants in Thailand, or whitewater rafting in Costa Rica…
Inspired by our Critical Issues programs, which aim to help our students become future change makers, we reached out to Rustic Pathways staff to see what books they would recommend…
If you have questions about an upcoming Rustic trip, check out these answers from one of our travel experts.
You know that feeling when you’re excited and kind of terrified at the same time? That was me before my first Rustic Pathways program. When I was 15, I got on a plane by myself for the first time and flew to LAX from Ft. Myers, Florida, to meet up with a group of Rustic…
Kayla Brown, of Millbrae, California, traveled with Rustic Pathways in 2016. She wrote about her experiences participating in the Rustic Pathways Children's Home and Hill Tribes of the Golden Triangle programs and the lessons travel taught her.
Depending on where you travel with Rustic Pathways, you may be required to get a visa ahead of time. If you haven’t done that, the time to start is NOW! For students leaving from the USA ONLY Contact G3 Visas and Passports, our partner who can help you through the process of getting your visa. Or visit…
Added together, Rustic staff members have visited thousands of countries and spent years traveling and living abroad. I asked these travel aficionados and packing ninjas to share their secrets. Keep reading for some of the most ingenious travel and packing hacks you’ll ever hear! (Pssst Make packing for your trip e-a-s-y with our exclusive, branded…
Each year we create a special pre-departure package for students who are traveling with us! Continue reading to find out what’s inside (and more behind why we designed and included each piece). Rustic Travel Log – NEW for 2017! A mini journal for you to record your Rustic experiences. This is the first year we’ve…
Brielle Friedman is Rustic’s Marketing Director. She’s also an internationally-ranked professional salsa dancer. And she’s managed to do that while figuring out how to balance her full-time job with her passion for dance, while still having time for a personal life. So we wanted to share Brielle’s secret. Name: Brielle Friedman Age: 26 Current job:…
In the last three years, I've lived in a sorority house in Indiana, a rented room on Northwestern University’s campus, a dream of a first apartment in Chicago, and countless hotel rooms and Airbnbs. Needless to say, I’ve packed and unpacked more times than I can count, and I’ve gotten better at the art of…
Two weeks ago, I thought I lost one of the most important things to me when my backpack was stolen—my journal. For the past four years, I’ve written a sentence or two a day, filling the pages with adventures shared with friends, so many Rustic moments, and the little things that bring me joy every…
You visited country X. You were impacted by global issue Y. And you returned home with fire in your gut determined to tackle that issue. Then...life got in the way. More often than not life DOES get in the way, but it didn't get in the way for a group of Rustic gals who traveled…
It’s OK if there’s something you don’t know as you prepare for your Rustic Pathways trip, or even if you’re nervous about traveling abroad. Everyone is thinking about something, and probably the same things you are. We asked members of the Rustic Squad, a group of dedicated Rustic alums, what they wished they had known before…
The Rustic Pathways Foundation is excited to announce our first-ever Alumni Advisory Board. This is an exciting new initiative aimed at engaging our most active alumni, providing exciting skill-building opportunities, and helping to push the Foundation toward our highest-impact year. The Alumni Advisory Board is comprised of six inspiring Rustic Pathways students who were among the top fundraisers for…