Mexico, Costa Rica & Guatemala Gap Semester

2 years ago I did a the Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica trip with pacific discovery and it was amazing. The organisation itself is really good and made the group feel like a family. All the activities were not only absolutely fantastic but also inspiring.

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I was able to meet friends from all over the U.S. and a few from the Netherlands. We all shared love for trying new things and got to help each other to get out of our comfort zones a little. It wasn't always easy, everyone comes from different backgrounds and experiences and things didn't always go as you expected. We all grew so much during those 3months and our instructors Tari and Jack were inspiring. This experience made me start to work my way into the outdoor education field after seeing the impact it had on me. Now im starting to work with kids and taking them on hikes and getting to share fun stories of the things i experienced with Pacific Discovery and how it's made me even more curious and determined to find my next travel opportunity.

This program made me grow a lot mentally and was a journey of self discovery as well as an outer journey of learning about new interesting cultures and ways of life. I would definitely recommend if you want to make friends and gain an eye opening view of the world.

The person that started this program and the person who has left are 2 very different minded people. I have come to learn much about myself and what I like by spending time reflecting and challenging both my mental and physical states. This trip provided the space and time away to focus on this part of myself and I am forever grateful for this experience.

I cannot say enough nice things about my semester with Pacific Discovery. I overcame challenges of all varieties this semester -- physical, mental, emotional. I am a better version of myself now. I have also learned so much about myself and who I am. I would recommend this program to anyone needing a break from school, a change in perspective, or an eye-opening experience. Pacific Discovery is an exceptional program that will provide you with the skills, experiences, and opportunities to challenge yourself, grow as a person, and open up your world. I can say with confidence that I feel ready and excited to travel independently. Taking a gap year has been the best decision of my life thus far. I only wish I could do it over and over again.

This may sound cheesy, but it truly was a life-changing experience. I changed so much on this program, and all for the better. I’ve become more active, more confident, more social, and more grateful. I am going back home knowing I am a better person than when I came. I have so many stories of experiences on the outside as well as experiences on the inside. It’s worth it, trust me.

I grew a lot as a person on this program; I learned how to become a better global citizen & I learned that I want my future career to revolve around traveling. I would recommend this program to others if they want to see & experience very culturally enriching things all the while getting to do it with your new best friends. I would tell myself to live & love every single moment because it really does fly by. My experience was life-changing & I discovered a lot about myself. I have made the greatest friends in the world while also getting to do things that are once in a lifetime experiences. I’m so thankful for this program & for all of the amazing things that came with it.

This experience of traveling with strangers around my age from all around the globe has provided me with so many new tools. Be where your feet are. Life is full of ups and downs but you are here and that's what's important. You have so much to learn and gain from this journey you are about to go on and it will only provide you with more things you want to explore and entertain yourself with.

I have grown as a person by getting to know myself better and knowing what I want to keep doing in life and want to change. I have gained life experience by going out of my comfort zone and learning new things. I have learned more about talking about myself and my feelings. I would recommend this trip because the program those things you wouldn’t find or do by yourself. It’s a great way to travel at a young age and meeting new people across the world. Amazing, grateful, and inspiring!

This program was life changing, & i’m so happy that i got to experience the things that i did with thirteen new best friends. the activities we did were absolutely amazing, & i will never look back on this chapter of my life with anything but a smile. i enjoyed everything about this program, & i wish it didn’t have to end. i learned so much about myself & about the world around me, & i feel equipped to travel on my own because of the freedoms that our instructors gave us in each place we stayed. overall a 10/10 experience!

This program was life-changing, & I’m so happy that I got to experience the things that I did with thirteen new best friends. the activities we did were absolutely amazing, & I will never look back on this chapter of my life with anything but a smile. I enjoyed everything about this program, & I wish it didn’t have to end. I learned so much about myself & about the world around me, & I feel equipped to travel on my own because of the freedoms that our instructors gave us in each place we stayed. overall a 10/10 experience!

Overall this was a fantastic experience- I loved all of my group mates and instructors to the bottom of my heart. The activities we did were amazing and always left me wanting more, and I’m leaving feeling very confident in my ability to travel on my own in the future. I did get what I wanted- I challenged myself, learned a bunch of new skills, and met super cool people along the way. Sometimes, we did struggle with budgeting for food- it was confusing where the money was for the 3 meals a day and a lot of us ended up supplementing with our own money out of pocket. Also the itinerary wasn’t exactly what it was advertised to be- could be due to COVID alterations, but we definitely missed out on some things and had a lot of free time. I like how much the instructors trust you, the independence you are given, and the confidence this gave me to travel in the future.

Overall I had a wonderful trip but that was mostly due to the group of people I was placed with. The program as a whole definitely had some incredible highlights but was also plagued by extra charges, usually food related. Many of the days had ample free time however there was rarely anything to do during this time while we were staying far from any cities or towns. That said, while staying in places like Cozumel, Jaco or other towns with places to explore, the free time was a welcomed break.

We started our trip in Mexico. In Mexico I was happy to have time to get to know the group but I was also extremely bored with the lack of activities. Once in Tulum we had a blast with the students and exploring. However in Mexico we were asked to spend a lot of extra money on food and activities that PD hadn’t budgeted for. The hostel we stayed at in Tulum was absolutely disgusting to the point that I got a bacterial infection in my throat. Guatemala was definitely a highlight of the trip as we were busy outdoors nearly everyday. These activities were physically challenging but definitely worth it. Once in Costa Rica the service work began which was interesting but definitely slow paced and not as fun as Guatemala. It was frustrating to have to deal with expensive meals that pacific discovery gave not even half of restaurant costs, my own medical issues with little support, and very little information or activities planned for many days at a time. I loved my group and the instructors and if I hadn’t made such incredible trips I would have gone home in Mexico. I recommend the experience to anyone looking to travel however the cost was extremely high and definitely not what I had hoped for.

*Go Abroad will not let me categorize this as a Gap Year program, so it says primarily "Volunteer Abroad." This was, however, primarily a gap year program.* My trip to Central America with Pacific Discovery was the best seventy days I could've imagined. We traversed through Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Let me start by saying that I traveled with PD in the spring of 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. PD could've easily said that it was too difficult to travel internationally at the time, but with the right protocol, planning, and leadership, they pulled it off. I am so grateful for this opportunity to travel safely and get an amazing experience. The program activities were something out of a dream; who wouldn't want to spend a semester scuba diving, surfing, hiking, sea kayaking, and immersing oneself in the incredible cultures of Central America? I pushed myself physically, mentally, and socially and got so much out of it. Although not every moment was perfect, the trip was the best thing I've ever done. Jack and Amelia, my co-leaders, are two of the best people in the world. They modeled leadership, flexibility, and positivity. They encouraged us when we were struggling and would always be willing and available to talk to us. I wish we'd had a slightly larger food budget when going out to eat, but I understand that Pacific Discovery has to pay its HQ team. I was able to mostly stick to my personal budget through careful planning. I can't say enough nice things about Pacific Discovery. I have grown so much as a person and learned so much about myself. I feel so ready to travel independently. I will never forget my gap year. I only hope I can inspire others to also take gap years.

I had a great time with Pacific discovery! This was specifically because of the people I met on this program and some of the activities. I loved scuba diving, hiking and Spanish lessons. The budget can be better and also the itinerary needs to be updated. The packing list said that you a lot of conservative clothes and this is also not true

I had a great time during my trip! Because of Covid, we only went to Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica but I think that made it even better because we could really get to know the countries we visited. There was a huge range of things we did throughout our time including scuba diving, surfing, challenging hikes, kayaking trips, and a yoga retreat + more. It was great to get so close with the group of students and the instructors and I learned a lot.

this has been an amazing experience for the most part. the people in my group have become family and i love my instructors. most of the activities have been interesting and fun. overall i am very happy i joined this program. there are a few things however that could have been done differently or explained more thoroughly. the budget for this trip has not been up to par. quite a few of the places we have been are very americanized and a 5-7 $ budget for dinners is not easily attainable. we are all growing young adults, and this trip is very active. in short, we eat a lot. this can be worked on for future programs. the next things is the itinerary. i understand that we are now living in a world that has been complicated by the pandemic. however we were given an updated itinerary for this purpose. there have been many occasions that what we are actually doing on the program does not match up to what i initially signed up for. that unfortunately has been disappointing. if the itinerary says that we are surfing or diving for a week, i would assume that would be at a least 5 days of those activities, not 3. i did not enjoy have an entire week at a permaculture farm and only 3 days surfing. we were also disappointed that our marine conservation week is not going to be what was advertised. the next thing is that i would expect our entire trip to be planned out, per the itinerary. however there are days, meals and accommodations that we can all see have been thrown together in a hurry. that is not what i payed for. this was an expensive trip, i would hope these things would be figured out before we arrive.

PD was an awesome overall experience that taught me a lot about myself and the world around me. On a large scale, there really isn’t anything I would ask for differently. I got exactly what I wanted: to be with a group having awesome experiences learning more about the world around me. I can confidently say that this program made me become more conscious and aware in a lot of areas that I wasn’t before. So for that, I’m incredibly thankful. One thing to keep in mind is the price tag. I didn’t have any expectations of luxury, and if I’m being honest, there were parts of the trip that were much nicer than I thought they would be. However, the itinerary mentions that “all meals are covered”. A lot of times, meals were going out to a restaurant in groups with money that PD gives us. That amount was sometimes just not enough to cover a full meal. I spent a lot of extra money on meals (some of which was my own fault for not budgeting correctly). If you are to come on this trip, please budget very wisely, but also it would help if the money given to us would be enough to have a sufficient dinner, which a lot of times it wasn’t. I don’t want to end this negatively though. It was an awesome trip, and if you have the means and the time, I would recommend it to anyone as a gateway to life beyond their home, or an introduction to traveling more.

This spring I went on a gap year programm with pacific discovery. I joined the programm, together with a friend, 2 weeks before it started so I didn’t have a lot of expectations. Before coming here we got a packinglist with all the things we need. It said we needed a wetsuit, a divingwatch, a lot of conservative clothes, etc. The first two we didn’t need at all and we didn’t need as much conservative clothes as they told us we needed. I did need more normal clothes, summer dresses, shorts, t-shirts, etc. The next thing is that they told us that we would spend 5 tot 10 dollars a day, which is definitely not what I spent and I didn’t go crazy on the spending so I would Recommend saying that you need more money. The accommodations where fine most of the time, except for the fact that in a lot of Them you didn’t have any personal space which can be hard. Besides this I love the activities (the hiking, surfing, diving and way more), I love meeting new people and making new friends. It was an experience which wasn’t always easy but definitely worth it!! Overall I love it!