Remote YearReviews of remoteyear.com

Overall it’s a great program and I plan to do more in the future. I had some amazing experiences and made a lot of new friends. There are a few things to note: There are a wide variety of apartments and rooms inside of those apartments, meaning some are drastically nicer, larger, and more updated than others - even though we all pay the same price. Obviously, who is in your group will be a complete toss-up. I had a decent group, but on top of being very clique-y, all the microaggressions, offensive comments, and even an incident where I was physically pushed by someone, all occurred within the group. I had no issues with locals. If you encounter any incident like mine, you shouldn’t expect support from the program. Although all of my program managers were very nice and friendly and I didn’t have any issues with them, they’re basically there for logistics and to make friends. Even after the first couple weeks (of a 4 week trip) they did not know my name and I was even asked more than once if I was part of Remote Year. So as I said, I do actually plan to do future trips, but I would only join a trip if I had a friend coming along or knew others in the group. I would basically be planning my own trip and would be taking advantage of the lodging, coworking space, and a few group events.

So I never received a link for feedback for my recent side trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, so I guess I'll post my feedback on Trustpilot. A few things to note: 1. I went on the one-month trip to Mexico City in May 2021. 2. I then went on a "side trip" to Oaxaca, Mexico in October 2021 for Dia de los Muertos. My review is a little bit of both. First off, I definitely felt "renewed" after my one month in Mexico City. I genuinely felt that the month was well-spent and that I had the opportunity to live in another city abroad not feeling completely and utterly lost. I was grateful I had the opportunity to keep my job while experiencing this. I learned a lot from the experience in Mexico City and I will cherish that forever. I met a lot of genuinely great people as well. I was a little worried that everyone would just be "entrepreneurs" who work for themselves, but I found that people worked at all types of companies, such as Microsoft, Salesforce, etc. It was a nice networking opportunity. There were a few gripes I had with the program that continued to manifest even further during my trip to Oaxaca. Let's face it: this company seems to promote partying over actual cultural immersion. There were countless times in Mexico City that I felt that the experiences (that I paid extra for, by the way) were rushed because our management team wanted to head back to Mexico City to go out clubbing. Our management team also seemed to be more preoccupied building an Instagram following and taking photos that cut into a lot of our time during these cultural activities that again, I paid extra for. As a result, this type of behavior by our management team seemed to lead to a certain attitude/clique-ish behavior amongst the group. It is definitely natural that a group of a large size does tend to break off over time based on interests, but in this case, it truly felt like it was a result of the general atmosphere and expectation set by our local management team that did not help. I found that the group was a lot more invested in partying, so I eventually broke out from the RY group to make other local friends. I would have done this anyway, but it was sad to feel that I'm doing this INSTEAD of building further relationships with my RY group, rather than IN ADDITION TO. This behavior continued on in Oaxaca, which felt like a bit of a logistical mess and another extension of valuing partying over culture. I was also extremely grateful that my group in Oaxaca was not my one-month group, because it felt like after 24 hours of meeting everyone, cliques already formed and people were jumping at everyone else's throats. The company claims to "respect" DEI but yet when someone is of a different background (by the way, I'm not talking about myself) and may act differently than your typical Basic B doing a Remote Year program (sorry not sorry, I speak the truth), then that person is accused of "not reading the room" and being annoying. Nobody seemed to understand "cultural differences," which is ironic given that this is a group dedicated to experiencing the world and the different cultures that go along with it. It led me to continue to believe that yes, while Remote Year promotes the experience of "living" in another country, they do so in a vacuum/in a bubble and the people seem to be okay with it. I have not attended one of the Retreats yet, but this seems very clear in their marketing of such Retreats. I don't think it's worth anyone's time to do a one week program in another country when the program is basically doing yoga and meditation, which I can do in my own backyard at a couple thousand dollars cheaper. I also felt that Remote Year felt especially "culty" after my recent Oaxaca trip. Everyone was talking about themselves from the lens of the name of their program. And that's fine, but I felt that it further promoted cliquey behavior rather than try to build a new community. I understand again it's human nature to form cliques, but referring to yourself based on your program name and having that be a basis of your identification doesn't really help matters. It also felt that those who did a one-month program were "second-class citizens," which hell, maybe that's actually what RY thinks because they call those who do four-month and one-year programs "Citizens." Totally lame name, but people were calling themselves this like a weird source of pride. However, because I did a one month program, I am not a "Citizen." So yes, literally a "second class citizen," so to speak. Certainly the opposite of "inclusive" as I don't have the ability to devote four months to a trip, but it doesn't mean I'm less deserving. The company needs to do a better job at cultural immersion and diversifying their clientele. I only give three stars and not two because of the opportunity given in the first place.

I have already given my feedback while at the retreat. This is a great program, however the facility was lacking and that was very disappointing. Also I thought that there should be more local/culture as part of the program. I know that the program is a retreat, but you have to remember that this is a retreat in Portugal (another country for most of us) and if we just wanted Yoga and relaxing we could do that anywhere...so culture was expected.

This is my 3rd overall trip. There are many improvements that could be made. We’re paying tons of money as is with all the arrangements…more on that later…but to then have to pay EVEN MORE for other activities is quite excessive when they can be booked outside of the company FAR MORE cheaper and no one wants to break their banks. Some of us don’t have a Monday-Friday work schedule. I have asked on countless occasions to have them or the immediate team or city manager leaders provide for my accommodations for a TOPS two extra days to facilitate my schedule. Each time I’ve had to take a side trip vacation or shell out more money to join the group later in needing to adhere to my responsibilities - finding another room, paying for the same place at a hiked up rate, another flight, etc. “Get a real job’s schedule!” or finding such isn’t exactly valid or helpful when this company is ostensibly set up to arrange ease within comfort. The team or program leads need far more training in terms of fostering a “community”. It isn’t enough to just have the “pay extra for these group outings or two free trax” as a means of developing friendships, networking, connections, relationships, or whatever it is you’re looking for and they’re just there as if presence alone is enough. Granted everyone’s schedules are different, but what about say 2-3 times a week a lunch or dinner roulette? Of course nothing is compulsory but knowing that option and others like them are there is showing some consideration for Connection outside of taking Instagram photos or other selfishly narcissistic deeds or side hustles. Hell, pay them more if their job doesn’t warrant them putting in that much effort. Also if events are set up or on side trips for instance, even if sporadic, don’t make empty promises without knowing for a fact what you’re getting people into. “We can work on this rooftop terrace!” OK, did you check the wi-fi? Are there lots of outlets? Is there a menu? Is it affordable? You can’t just assume we’re all going to have the same lifestyles. We’ve shown up to places where some of us couldn’t even open our inboxes the wi-fi was so slow to non-existent or the meal was so out of price range that it was like yeah I’m going to have to step out. And no one necessarily wants to be embarrassed by that either. In another instance you can’t go pairing quality with then low-rate…we were treated one day to a great local cuisine with sharing of various dishes only to have a BUFFET with to be honest bad food be an option the next day. In order to make up for this a scheduled 2 hour ride out of the way didn’t help the flow of and sort of botched the day. Also telling us important details like the restaurants’ kitchens in town will close at 8:30 or 9:30PM and that we won’t be able to purchase alcoholic beverages after 9PM MIGHT be important DETAILS to include. Maintaining consistency is important if we’re again paying pretty steep prices as is…like it’s not possible to have even some things be all-inclusive AND of quality+quantity? On occasion the housing units and co-work spaces have been sub-par from sealed in dryers that can’t reach outlets, bad lighting, no common areas to hang with each other, and no to sporadically hot water. Wi-fi sometimes doesn’t go above 1 MBPS in rooms, co-works drop their wi-fi signals, are so expansive as to be working in a cone of silence/where IS everybody?!, and all fine and good, force majeure/whatever the budget allows I suppose…but RY has ZERO back-up plans…uhhh, hotspots? Another to multiple co-works? Plan B housing? and within these issues team leads and city managers are extremely slow to respond or are MIA in emergencies. The leads could also do a better job with conflict management and resolution. There are many extremely touchy incidents that are simply acknowledged and brushed under the rug in the guise and sake of “we can all just get along!” Thorough investigations are not conducted…if by thorough you mean the immediate party and one or two other people in the housing situation are “interviewed”…not good enough…how is someone’s behavior seen outside of the immediate living quarter? Those gripes being said I truly do appreciate what RY does and I love continuing: to meet new people; seeing and hearing iconic sites and sounds; exploring exotic cultures; acknowledging what makes people who they are and what they might wish to be; and using the RY platform to foster future tours, meet-ups, developments, fun, friendships, and activities that give me a semblance of variety and a sure-why-not? spontaneity back to my life.

I was referred in by a friend so I didn't do my own due diligence on the company. I spent 3 months on the trip and saw enough to make some honest observations before COVID shut everything down. This review is long overdue. 1) They used to have 3 track events a month and cut it down to 1 when I was in one of their programs. Cost-saving? 2) They cheap out on providing accommodations. Don't believe the pictures that you see on their website. Most of the time, you'll get something sub-par. 3) Company never refunded me but instead gave me credits for Selina, which I didn't want. I want my cash and not some credits that I may or may not use. All in all- I'd skip it.