Rustic PathwaysReviews of rusticpathways.com

Rustic Pathways is -in theory- an attractive concept: cultural immersion in a foreign country tied with community service. Unfortunately, weather or not the experience ends up being a good one depends on a mix of variables: the size of the group, the types of kids that end up attending, and the capability of the guides assigned to supervise them. All these factors are unknown ahead of time and it all becomes a leap of faith. Our family learned the hard way that this company lacks consistency in their vetting capabilities. Therefore, any given trip is like rolling the dice. My son first went to their program in Bali and had a great experience, which led us to sign him up the following year to a program in Thailand. The second ended up being disastrous. The group was detrimentally small, only 4 more kids. The age disparity was significant and unfortunately my son was on the younger side. He was paired with a much older roommate that continuously smoked pot and ended up providing it to the rest of the group. They would smoke at the hotel they were staying at under the alleged supervision of the guides. To make matters worse, during a day trip to the market, the same kid bought marihuana there. Again, the guides where in close proximity all the time yet remained oblivious. Only 4 days into the trip, our son called us he was having a hard time with the peer pressure. We immediately found a way to get him on a flight back home. I spoke to the regional director and warned them about what was going on. After all, more than half of the trip remained. I made them aware of this particular kid that was providing pot to the rest of the group. To my surprise, they refrained from removing this kid from the trip, concealed this information from the rest of the parents and allowed the trip to go on as if nothing was happening. The only other time I heard from them was when I received a bill for additional expenses. Reimbursement was out of the question, not even partially. I was left feeling very disillusioned but mainly disappointed at myself for having placed my trust in this company. I wanted my kid to be exposed to a new culture and in return he got exposed to pot for the first time. Their lack of response was irresponsible. I kept thinking about the other parents that never found out about this. Unfortunately I didn’t know who they were or how to contact them.

had not offer the more information about trip for parents before they left from HK , so we prepare wrong clothes and staff . Photes are mess on the website. The travel charges are so high but students have not similar quality we had paid.

Horrible company. I do not recommend. My son was abandoned in less than 24hr. I intend on filing charges. If anyone else has had similar experiences please reach out.

We did have one great trip to Morocco on our first rustic trip. However, over half of our group was violently ill and required azithromycin, which my husband, a pharmacist, had to spend hours procuring by going from Pharmacy to pharmacy on a motorcycle with our amazing guide. Homes that we ate in as part of the itinerary should have had better training for preventing this. We all got sick in the Atlas mountains while working on a community project. One very healthy athletic student was hospitalized for a few days upon arriving in Europe to meet her own family on vacation from US. The guides were woefully unprepared for our group of Arabic speaking American students. They assumed at every turn that our nerd squad was plotting to sneak out and buy drugs and get drunk. One guide, the Arabic-speaking guide was fabulous, the American guide was to me, a teacher who has organized over 40 groups, rude and clueless. They herded us around like fragile mosquitoes when in fact we come from a very violent and dangerous big city. We found Morocco to be quite tame in comparison. Our second trip ended up getting canceled due to Covid. I refused their vouchers until they forced them on me. I knew the vouchers were a farce. I tried to organize a group last year 2022 and I did not get much help or assistance. They pretty much ignored me. I personally lost around 6 grand as I am both an organizer and a paying parent for my kids. I would never, ever, ever recommend this company. They categorically lied to me for months during the pandemic and did not even give the participants control to get their plan ticket vouchers. I'm guessing the company also was getting millions to help keep them afloat during the pandemic all the while not returning any funds to parents. Gross. I tried to write reviews the year this happened but they were blocked or removed.

I’ve been trying to reach Rustic Pathways for the last few months to use a voucher given to us when my daughters trip was cancelled. No one calls me back, no one emails. I’m on the verge of hiring a lawyer; this company is engaging in fraud I would never advise dealing with them.

I would not recommend associating with this company in any way. I was contacted to work a trip (I am not an employee, but have an acquaintance who is) because one of the guides tested positive for covid days before a two-week trip across Alaska with 14-18 year old children. The company was completely disorganized, and recruiting random individuals at the last minute to supervise children in the backcountry. (As a parent, I would NEVER trust this company to look after my children!) The company was sketchy, the pay rate was awful (especially considering the price they charge per head for these trips), so I declined working the two-week trip. Instead, they offered me a "job" shuttling another worker from Anchorage to Glennallen (about 6 hours roundtrip) and I agreed. I made this drive on July 21st, using my own vehicle and my own gas money, and was promised pay within the week. It is now three weeks later and I have contacted the only company representative that I can reach (Patrick) who keeps assuring me that I'll receive pay within 2-3 days, and the pay never shows up. This company is completely disorganized, dishonest and unfair to their employees, and as a result are forced to hire unqualified and unverified people to supervise children in the wilderness. Do yourself a favor and avoid this company at all costs.

The local staff are paid far below what the international staff are paid. This is a problem because they preach about the benefits Rustic has to the Fijian community, yet... discrepancies. I spent most of my time with the local staff having already lived in the country for years before I joined Rustic, so Rustic did not in any way bring me to Fiji, I was already here. One international staff member who had a problem with me on the Fiji experience, had me fired without warning. I showed up late only once to an excursion. Despite contractually that a staff member should receive two warnings before being fired, I was fired for being twenty minutes late once. The international staff member who had me fired was a person I had previously labelled as 'fake'. That shows the toxic environment the staff have to work in. After my departure, my fellow marine staff member quit after, citing for separate reasons how bad this company is.

The worst experience for my daughter ever. The counselors on her trip were rude and punitive, they did not manage the bullies and it was torture for the girls who aren't bullies. Infact they took the side of the mean girls without even getting other perspectives. The counselors have no training in dealing with this. I wish I had brought her home early. Plus, kids got continually ill and some had to return home early. I had to call to get them to monitor her. Never never again.