Travelled with i-to-i twice, and these are some of my earliest travel experiences.
In Kenya, I found the accomodation to be very poor, ie dirty, cold water, unreliable electricity etc, but put this down to the general living standards in Mombasa. The staff seemed supportive at orientation, but in reality, seemed to go back on their word alot, mostly due to lack of communication between them in the field, and head office in the UK.
My project was really good though, clean and good food and staff.
In Vietnam, I realised just how different I-to-I projects could be on the ground from what the website advertised, for example, a project that was supposed to be rural being in a reasonable sized city, and even info I was given in orientation was misleading, for example, I was told that I would be teaching english at my orphanage project, but when I arrived, it seemed nobody there spoke a word of English, and they weren't even expecting me, and therefore, we couldn't communicate what I should be doing, or could be doing, to actually help. Accomodation where I stayed was fine, hot water and one computer with internet and satellite tv etc, but I was alone there with a male housekeeper, which I would have thought I would be informed of before arrival, and he also did not speak english, which was frustrating. Orientation did not include even a basic Vietnamese language/culture session, and anytime I tried to ask for help with the language, the in-country i-to-i staff just wanted to practice their english. overall, I left feeling I did not received the support I paid for, and that I had not contributed in any worthwhile ways to the projects I worked on.
I would still recommend i-to-i, but I would not travel with them again, the core point being that what you get in-country is very different from what the main website advertises, and that standards can vary alot from country to country.
Comments