For this blog, we asked RLT Director Jim Stein to reflect on his first summer spent traveling and how that faithful summer led to the so many things, not least of all The Road Less Traveled! Enjoy and thanks Jim for sharing. Picture this – a skinny kid, showing some promise as an athlete but still painfully shy and extremely sensitive without any semblance of who I was or someday wanted to be. This was me, Jim Stein, in the run up to the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school. I’d grown up in the suburbs, going to resident camp in Maine, and even though I was admittedly a bit lost, I was smart enough to realize that I wanted something different. When Nelson Weiters, founder of Man and His Land, came to my house and shared a video with my family of his students backpacking, swimming in waterfalls and climbing the famed Mt. Rainier, I stood straight up and said I wanted to go. Thankfully my parents were on board! So I set off on [...]

It’s National Parks Week! Here at RLT we’re pretty big fans of the National Parks, if you hadn’t noticed from our trip itineraries. I think that for a lot of us the meat and potatoes of our childhood memories often centers on that awesome (or I’ll allow for “boring!”) trip you took as a family to say the Grand Canyon, ideally in a Jeep Wagoneer while listening to Woody Guthrie! Whatever the memory, childhoods are peppered with moments of stepping outside of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. We’ve each had that chance to get out of the car or hike that peak and realize you’ve stumbled on something extraordinary, a place so unbelievable you wonder how you ever got there! With this, I asked the other RLTites what were their favorite National Parks and why. What’s yours? Throw it into a comment below! Jill, Admissions Director: Yellowstone because I was chased by a buffalo! That trip was the last trip we took as a complete family, before my brother got too old for family vacations! I still have dreams [...]

Donna, Ben and Emma Stein have recently returned from a 10-day expedition to Andalucia, Spain. Reflecting on their trip and favorite memories and pictures they share their adventure below. Also click over to Facebook to see more photos of their trip. Interested in traveling with us to Spain this summer and working on your language fluency? It’s not too late! A limited number of spots remain! Please call 800-939-9839 to discuss the trip! First, the Top 7 Things to Bring with You to Spain 1. An Appetite 2. A willingness to use a lisp when speaking Spanish (that tricky Theta!) 3. Patience (it’s a slower pace) 4. A desire to take mid-day naps 5. Dancing shoes (Flamenco!) 6. Ibuprofen for your strained sight seeing neck. 7. A handkerchief for when you’ll have to leave! Hola! Amazing how quickly our spanish has improved in just the 10 days we have been immersed in Andalucia. A magical place, full of culture, amazing food, siestas (seriously don’t try to buy anything from 2pm-6pm!), and all those little moments that combine to be the reason [...]

The office is humming with activity as we take phone calls, finalize reservations and prepare for what will be a wonderful summer. There’s nothing like a solid mix of upbeat, neo-soul and undeniably fun music to keep us going. Enjoy!

While we’re known for wearing a lot of Patagonia, we couldn’t be more thrilled to be featured in French Vogue this month! The French word solidarité is synonymous with the American idea of Community Service and also evokes the idea of standing together. We’re honored to be highlighted as an ideal choice for students with a common interest in service to come together for their summer in some of the most amazing corners of the globe and accomplish their goal, whether that be restoring native plant species Kauai, Hawaii or building a school building in Namibia. To read the piece, click here. You’ll want to dust off your high school French-English dictionary. We did!

For those who have gone on our New Orleans Gulf Coast trip or who have interest in joining us in the future, Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is a great novel to help give you a look at the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the individual and give context to our relief efforts in “The Big Easy.” This offering by the talented Eggers gives an intimate look at Abdrulrahaman Zeitoun’s experience of New Orleans before and after the city was struck by Katrina and what it took to survive through one of the United States’ most destructive natural disasters of the past decade. The story reads like a great work of fiction but is in fact made up entirely of interviews with Zeitoun and his family as well as extensive research from a variety of sources. Full of excitement, despair, loss, hope and the power of resilience, Eggers weaves together an impressive story which will leave you in awe. Pick it up at your local library or buy your own copy. An added bonus is that all proceeds from book sales [...]

Ken Nedimyer, Conservation is the Key, Florida Keys, Coral Reefs, Restoration, PADI, SCUBA, Community Service, Environmental Conservation

A recent article in the New York Times about photographing safaris got us thinking about our own experiences on safari. Two of our programs, Wapenduka and Hujambo, have safari sections. While there is a lot of focus on the photographic potential of safaris (grant it, a safari is such a once in a lifetime opportunity it should be documented and brought home to be shared with friends and family!), but even more than the photographs it is a chance to find yourself so completely away from anything you’ve ever known, sitting quietly while not ten feet away a water buffalo is eating her breakfast. We asked our Africa expert Whitney Hall, leader of our Hujambo program in 2010 and Wapenduka in 2011, to share her thoughts on safaris. Also, we’ve included some of our own and some student shots from our 2011 programs! In addition, if you’d like to view some amateur footage of two lions roaring to protect their territory – a lion’s roar can travel 5 miles! – click here! When we awake it is still dark. The [...]