Remote YearReviews of remoteyear.com

Wonderful experience! Great people!

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've recently returned from a one week retreat with Remote Year to Costa Rica. While there are many factors that impact a trip, my overall experience was wonderful. The food and activities were excellent (zip lining and waterfall tours trump yoga for me personally), but best of all were the people, including our facilitators Tyler and Derek. The community of folks on this trip made me excited to wake up every day and share it with them, as we all encouraged each other and developed some amazing team building experiences. Anyone lacking that sense of community in their lives like I was, might also walk away with a very full heart and hopefully a little purpose in exploring remote work and travel in their futures.

Perfect escape from the boredom of working from home and be surrounded by likeminded individuals working in all sorts of industries from around the world in a beautiful remote location, there's nothing to lose and everything to gain from such an experience.

Definitely the best way to see a country with a group of adventurous, friendly, fun folks from all over the world. Highly recommended!

I went on an RY 1-week retreat. I signed up for it in search of an adventure abroad with guaranteed shelter, meals, and good company. I trusted RY to take care of the experience and did little research leading up to the retreat. The experience exceeded my expectations! I came away with magical moments and connected with remarkable members of a global caring community.

My month in Peru with RY was fantastic. So great to be able to see the many facets of the country - the ocean, the jungle, the desert and the mountains. My RY apartment was great - loved my balcony and jacuzzi tub. The program leader and city leader were welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable . Can’t wait to do my next trip in a week.

My month in Lima with Remote Year was everything I could have hoped for it to be - and beyond. The people were amazing, the accommodations were fantastic, the activities planned were so fun. I can't recommend Remote Year enough!