Remote YearReviews of remoteyear.com

The RY team provided wonderful experiences and so many diverse ways to learn about Istanbul and Turkey. The trip to Cappadocia was amazing!

As a first-time solo-traveller, I was very nervous to go to another country for a whole month. I was also nervous about making friends, as that’s something I’ve struggled with in the past. I needn’t have worried. My entire time in Athens was incredible. I felt very safe and supported the entire time. Nikos and Liza were amazing, and it didn’t feel like they viewed us as a job at all. They really connected with all of us and felt like friends. I was part of a group of 14, and we all became friends immediately. We were always hanging out together and encouraging each other to try new experiences. The RY activities were all so enjoyable, and I didn’t regret signing up for a single one. RY has a nice balance between scheduling activities so you don’t feel bored and leaving enough time to go do your own thing. Athens itself felt very safe, even when I was walking alone at night. The streets in Petralona are all brightly lit, and the cafes are always open and make it feel safe too. The apartment was great, very modern and comfortable! It had two balconies, and both had metal shutters that slid down at the push of a button, which made me feel very secure. Both the building and my apartment had access codes, which was another great layer of security that helped me feel safe. The only issues I had the whole trip was a bit of trouble connecting to the apartment wifi (which Nikos resolved immediately after I messaged him!) and leaving my hat on a bus 😂 I’ll take that as the worst part of a month-long trip any day!

RY is a great place to foster community and relationships with like minded travelers. It’s not just a travel agency, they really care about their people and it shows

I have done three RY programs now. Each one has been it’s own adventure outright and gifted me family that live in every corner of the world. Beginning with a 4-month journey and having just completed my second 1-month program, I can say that it won’t be my last. I want to keep collecting the kinds of memories, friendships, culture lessons, and confidence I have been given as I go places that show me just how small I really am in the world. You may start out as a solo traveler, but you leave as part of a family. Challenge yourself and experience what you don’t know. RY has given me those chances. And it’s been incredible.

I never have had an experience with remote year that warranted anything but a positive review but Medellin with Cata and Maria is even better than the rest. The neighborhood is lush and green. The cafes and restaurants are mouthwatering the people are beautiful.

The people that you meet, the community leaders, the programming, everything met or exceeded my expectations. Definitely an experience worth doing for those with the privilege to do so!

Remote Year offers once in a life time experiences such as feeding and bathing elephants. The staff are remarkable people. In Chiang Mai, I had Hajira and Miao there for support and assisting me with any difficulties I may have encountered. These two individuals worked nonstop to ensure everyone in the group was enjoying themselves and taken care of.

Mexico City is a wonderful city and I would recommend that anyone spend a month there, but not with Remote Year. With RY you’re paying for housing, the co-working space, and access to a built-in community. I’ll try to review each one. Housing: RY is ambiguous about what to expect in terms of housing. What you can expect is the most basic AirBnB you can find, furnished with what looks and feels like secondhand IKEA furniture that has seen better days (think: mysterious stains, rock-hard mattresses), decorated with random, empty picture frames hanging on the wall, and a kitchen stocked with a few dinky pieces of silverware and a couple pots and pans that look and feel suspiciously like plastic. My bathroom didn’t have hot water for a week, was filled with mildew, and our washing machine broke down several times, flooding the 2nd floor hallway and closet. Some people in the program lucked out and got nice apartments that were either brand new and modern, or at least charming. The discrepancy in housing quality from one participant to another is a popular topic of conversation amongst the group, to the degree that the PowerPoint presentation shown to the group during orientation included slides saying “Stop asking about rent!” and “Comparison is the thief of joy!” The quality is what you would expect for a “budget-friendly” trip, and budget-friendly Remote Year is not. If you do a quick search on AirBnB, you’ll find lots of really nice places for reasonable prices. Co-working space: I don’t really have any complaints about the co-working space except that very few people from the program use it. I expected a space that was exclusive to RY participants, but it was open to any paying member of the co-working space and I never saw more than 3-4 people from RY actually working there. The cost of the co-working space, if you were to pay for your own membership separate from RY, is a fraction of what you end up paying for it through the cost of the program. Now that we’ve established you’re overpaying for housing and the co-working space, let’s move on to the main selling point of RY, which is access to a built-in community. Most of the bonding amongst the group occurs during the excursions that cost extra, which means that the base cost of the trip doesn’t really include access to the community, but rather the opportunity to pay extra for access to the community. I spent an additional $700 on excursions and I didn’t even sign up for all of them. Overall, there’s a heavy emphasis on drinking and partying, with a sort of frat party vibe. If that’s your thing, sign yourself up. In conclusion, I’m sorry if reading this review has been a total downer. I hate to be negative, but my experience with Remote Year truly had very few positives that had anything to do with Remote Year. In short, I would say that I enjoyed Mexico City despite Remote Year, not because of it.