Remote YearReviews of remoteyear.com

Overall, the idea of Remote Year is great, but the execution lacks. I am glad I went on a 4 month LATAM trip, but I would never do one longer than 1 month with RY again, instead I would do four 1 month programs. A lot of the experiences were unforgettable, and some of the people I met were great, but it was hard to get past a lot of the issues RY had and that made the trip less than ideal, especially for the premium you are paying. Small groups don't work for RY. If thinking about signing up for a 4 or 12 month program, check how many people are signed up. Issues due to small groups include: having to cancel a ton of events due to not meeting minimums, cliques forming and the impact being exasperated, plus others. Communication is a huge issue with Remote Year. You don't know if events you paid for on the marketplace are still on until last minute and find out details about what to bring, when to meet, etc. sometimes just 12 hours before the event. Also, you don't find out where you are living and with who until a few days before you arrive in each city which seems quite unreasonable considering RY has known for months we are coming and should have housing secured. Additionally, the accommodations vary greatly and the "lesser" ones are unreasonable. If we are paying $3K a month, per person, there is no reason in the LATAM cities I stayed that RY can't get us a better place - we all looked up airbnbs so we know that it could have been done. Some places are super nice, while others have major issues like mold or sinks that don't turn off. RY prides itself on community but then houses everyone so far from each other does the exact opposite - it creates divides and weakens the community. I joined RY mostly for the community and was sorely disappointed. The cost of marketplace activities is sometimes outrageous - my group started doing things on their own because of this which is frustrating because we choose RY so we wouldn't have to plan on our own. Overall, if the cost was on par with other programs like this, I wouldn't have been so upset. But, paying a premium to get an average service was disappointing. I would recommend doing multiple 1 month programs if you use Remote Year.

One Month: Athens Remote Year will change you in a positive way, if you let it. Please know that your experience with Remote Year is your responsibility. What does that mean? With RY you will be given an opportunity to explore a different culture with a built in community and support system. Yes, you will have accommodation and a work space. But what you are really paying for is the cultural experience, access to potential lifetime friends from all over the world, and the support of local leaders and RY leadership. The value of the deep human connections you make, and the enriching, life changing memories you share together are worth more than you can imagine. In my opinion, it's these intangibles that show you the intention of the program and true meaning of life, in general. How you perceive the experience is up to you.

A big thank to Remote Year for their support. The experiences, friendships, and memories that I have made through this trip will last a lifetime. You all did a fantastic job.

Remote year changes lives in every aspect. I can speak from the retreat with Elena to the Athens adventures with Flo, Nikos and Jules… everyone needs to do both of those at least once in life! On to the 12 month program! I love you guys!

I heard about Remote Year prior to 2019 before I had a remote working opportunity. In May of this year, I was looking them up again and noticed they had month-long programs, which were perfect for my needs. I went to Split Croatia for June. Split is a fabulous location to be based out of for the month. My experience overall was wonderful! The staff (Celine + Ivana) were great and went above and beyond! Our apartment was in a great location. It wasn't five-star by any means. It has the basic essentials. But personally, you shouldn't do this program for the accommodations. You should do it for the people! I made so many amazing now lifelong friends. The value of having people on the ground floor that know the city, and a group of other solo travelers was perfect for me as a first-time abroad solo traveler. It gave me the confidence and support I needed. I highly recommend Remote Year.

The program and experiences were fantastic. Athens was an amazing place full great history, culture and food. We had a great RY team there! Overall I would recommend this program, but here are my complaints about things(keep in mind), which I wish they did differently: Accommodation: The accommodation was terrible. First, the pressure in the sink is too high for the depth of the sink, water splashed everywhere every time, I turned on the water. Shower was missing a closing door, so water was splashing everywhere too. Next to the sink there was no space for toiletries, especially since we were there for entire month and needed space for that. The toilet paper holder was so inconveniently placed all the way behind you, somewhere in the back. The hook for the hand towel next to the sink, was so badly designed that towel kept falling off. The shower towel holder about the toilet, was so high, I could hardly reach it! The entire bathroom needs to be resigned with main goal of making it livable, rather than stylish. The balcony was nice, but the window had no nets I had mosquitos eating me alive every night. Also there was no dresser and hardly any hangers for clothes. The desk was attached to the dresser and could not be moved, which was a problem for zoom work meeting, I was facing away from light and appeared too dark at the zoom meetings. That room is ok for someone staying there few days, but not for someone staying there an entire month. FYI I got the most expensive accommodation(!), which was standard room with private bathroom. Cowork space: Cowork space was great, but the printer was terrible. It was working only half the time! One time I spend 45 minutes with my company's IT person to help me connect to the printer, just to find out that printer was offline altogether! Other time it was not printing all the pages, I had to keep requesting each page manually to be printed, which took such a long time! Kitchen: Never had any clean napkins, and half the time where missing food stickers! Experiences: All the experiences were great, except for booking times. I was upset that Akropolis core experience tour was scheduled during the week and during working hours, so I could not go! Had to schedule with selina's front desk a separate tour, which I also missed, because the location, which front desk told us to meet at, the tour was not there! After desperately walking around for an hour and trying to find the tour we ended up missing it! It was very frustrating! Also goodbye party was scheduled during working hours, so I could not go. When the booking times of the experiences interfered with my working hours, it was stressing me out. Since most people on the program were working US/EST hours, I was not expecting that such important events will be scheduled during those working US/EST hours.

Overall, Remote Year was incredibly disappointing. It is way over priced compared to alternatives and, for the premimum that you pay, RY fails to deliver with regard to planning, logistics, and communications. The issues are numerous: 1. Planning. You will wind up planning most of your trip because RY fails to do it. It blows my mind that things aren't planned in advance with a schedule posted months earlier. We learn about the schedule of things in the next city only a couple weeks before we get to that city. I gave up on doing most of the RY marketplace experiences, particularly the side trips, since I need to plan out my weekends and work schedule much farther in advance. My planning also turned out to be cheaper in most cases to do the same thing. I had to give up on most of the included free core experiences since I’d either already made alternative plans during that time or they’re planned during work hours. Having friends or family visit, which most people do (and RY is aware most people do), is nearly impossible if you want to participate in RY experiences. You just have to guess which weekend the friend should visit and hope the RY schedule aligns. In the fees we pay, the planning aspect is supposed to be one of the most important and best services provided by RY and it has turned out to be the most ineptly handled part of the entire experience. 2. Accommodations/Roommates. RY abuses the use of roommates and the apartments we're staying in don’t reflect the combined amount paid given the number of occupants. You will have roommates. You could have up to six, yes six, roommates at a time. The concept of having a roommate is only referenced indirectly in RY marketing materials. We are told we can purchase a private apartment in the marketplace, but only through inference does this mean we will have a roommate. Nowhere does it say you could have multiple roommates, nonetheless six of them. Multiple times we've had houses with 6 or 7 people crammed in. One 7-person house had only a mini fridge and no oven in the kitchen. If you're paying $2,500 to $3,000 per month, being stuck in a Real World house with 6 roommates, a potentially shared bathroom, people you may not like, and no privacy is not worth that amount of money. Particularly when you take into account the economies of scale of combining that many people in one place. With a combined $20k+ budget you could get an amazing place and have plenty left over for profit. Instead you get the basic minimum. RY is entitled to recover its costs and build in some profit, but this is ridiculous. A quick search on AirBnB shows much nicer and more spacious accommodations in the same area for significantly cheaper. You're better off finding two friends and booking online. Also, they scatter you all over the city. You're so spread out that you simply don't interact with people in your group. This leads to cliques being formed, people being excluded from events, and you miss out on forming the bonds and connections that you're so excited about when booking this. 3. Remote Working. The number of events that are scheduled during work hours was a source of constant frustration. It seems RY has given up on the remote working aspect of the business model and just assumes everyone is on vacation or doesn't have a real job. Way too many events were cancelled since the minimums weren't hit. Since I couldn’t attend many of the included events, once again, I am not getting the value out of the fees I pay. 4. Logistics/Communication. The logistics were very hit or miss and communication is inconsistent. Your shuttle to the airport may not have enough room for luggage. We have to decide whether to do a transition trip or take a travel credit (you'll hear about this only after you start travelling) a month in advance, but we don't get the schedule for the upcoming city until two weeks later so we can't make an informed decision. Calendars don't match Slack announcements leading to confusion and frustration. Dates on the marketplace have been incorrect numerous times (i.e. the date provided doesn’t exist). On side trips, we aren't told which flights to buy until just a couple weeks before the trip, adding more cost. This last one is just inconsiderate and entirely avoidable. The value just isn't there. The delivery just isn't there. If you're in your early 20s, have the couch surfer mentality, a part time job, and a bunch of extra money lying around, then RY may be the right fit. If you're an adult with a real job, you're much better off using another company or just travelling on your own. RY adds more stress than it alleviates. I love travelling. I love meeting new people. I made good friends. I'll continue to do these things without RY. A lot of people in the group feel ripped off and disappointed.

Went on the first retreat in Costa Rica and it legit changed my life. After that, I decided to pack up my apartment and put everything in storage so that I’m free to travel as much as I please! Did a second retreat in Lake Atitlan and it was just as awesome as the first. (The retreat leader Elena is the BEST!) Planning on doing two more retreats this year and a month long program. I guess you could say I’m obsessed?