Greenheart Travel

Author: William Harris

  • What If I Don’t Make Friends in Thailand?

    What If I Don’t Make Friends in Thailand?

    I came alone but I never really felt alone – this is what I said a few months ago during an interview about the Greenheart Travel Marketing Internship in Thailand Program, and it remains true.

    Travelling to Thailand was the first time I had ever travelled on my own, and I was nervous. I was travelling to a new country with a completely different culture, where I wouldn’t know anyone at all. I was separating myself from my friends, my mom, my boyfriend – my entire support system. I made the decision to travel to Thailand quite impulsively, and the reality of how alone I would be quickly started to weigh on me as my departure date neared. I felt like I was back in primary school: what if I don’t make any friends?

    Within one hour of landing, I realized that I had been worried for nothing. Immediately upon arriving at my Bangkok hotel and meeting another participant, I made my first friend. Within minutes, I had a new friend group to spend the day with, lounging by the pool and wandering around the famous Chatuchak market. You will not be the only person traveling alone, or the only worried about being lonely. Everyone is nervous, and everyone around you is eagerly looking to forge new relationships in such unknown territory.

    Some of the participants I arrived with with the owners of the family restaurant we ate at almost every night.

    Later that day, I was grouped with a large number of foreigners who had come to Thailand to teach English. We were a group of around 40 participants and only three of us were there for the internship program, so, naturally, those there for the internship became particularly close. I feel lucky to be able to say that the other interns I arrived with, or that I met during my time at Rescue P.A.W.S., have become lifelong friends.

    We honestly became like a little family.

     

    I arrived at Rescue P.A.W.S. and was immediately welcomed with excitement. There is a constant influx of new volunteers at RP, so you are always meeting new people. This can be bittersweet as it means that you form many connections with others who soon depart for their next destination – but this also means that you will probably have new friends all over the globe and that you can plan your next trips to go visit them!

    Walking through Hua Hin with Aimée.

    If you are ready to immerse yourself into Thai culture, it is hard to be lonely. Nearly everyone around you is willing to be your friend. You will be invited to strangers’ birthday parties, you will be asked to sit down for guitar singalongs at the local family restaurant, or you will be asked to come to dinner by someone you met only a few minutes earlier because that is how Thailand works. It is not an individualist society like most of us are used to – it is a community more than I’ve ever seen one. I am grateful to have been welcomed into such a loving world, and it is a world that I will strive to bring back with me upon returning home.

    How can you be lonely with pups like this in your arms?

    Michelle Caron-Pawlowsky, from Canada, is a Greenheart Travel First Time Traveler Scholarship recipient. Learn more about Greenheart Travel’s scholarship opportunities to help you travel for a change!

  • Travel is Not a Vacation

    Travel is Not a Vacation

    At least, it isn’t for me. In November of 2018, I travelled to Thailand with the help of Greenheart Travel and their Marketing Internship in Thailand program. I currently work five days a week at Rescue P.A.W.S., an amazing animal welfare organization based right outside of Hua Hin, Thailand.

    It goes without saying that I came to Thailand to travel and explore a part of the world that I had never seen before. However, I think that I am one among many who underestimated the amount of work that comes along with an experience such as this one. I have met quite a few people who’ve come to Thailand to work, expecting their time working here to be significantly different from their time working back home. Truthfully, it isn’t. Working full-time in a different country is still working full-time. Some people don’t fully understand this until they get settled into their jobs abroad – I’ve come across a number of expats who quickly became disappointed with this reality and left their positions abroad soon after acquiring them.

    Paige, the other Rescue P.A.W.S. intern, and I with some of our dogs on the temple grounds where we work – this was on Hawaiian Shirt Thursday!

    That being said, I am absolutely in love with my life in Thailand and I have zero regrets about travelling here to work! I love my job so much that I’ve even chosen to stay a few months longer than I had originally planned. The idea of going back home breaks my heart and it remains months away.

    What my days at Rescue P.A.W.S. look like.

    My days at Rescue P.A.W.S. are never monotonous or repetitive. Everyone who comes here as an intern gets the advantage of being able to employ their skills however they choose, which isn’t all that common when starting a new job. I get to use my experience as a photographer and artist almost constantly, taking photos for Rescue P.A.W.S.’ social media and website and getting to design new merchandise. On day one, the first questions I was asked were, “What ideas do you have? What do YOU want to do at Rescue P.A.W.S.?” I shared my ideas and I was told to roll with them.

    Although I spend much of my time working, I do make an effort to see what I can of Thailand on the weekends and to take a few days off every month to do some travelling. This routine is one that I love: getting to explore the country on my time off but still having a home in Thailand to go back to once I’m done. I’ve visited the gorgeous multi-tiered Erawan waterfalls, walked through Bangkok’s busy streets, and gotten my Advanced Diving Certification on the island of Koh Tao. Closer to home, I’ve seen wild elephants at Kui Buri National Park, explored the otherworldly Cave Temple at Sam Roi Yot National Park, and gone camping by the ocean at Pran Buri National Park.

    The Cave Temple at Sam Roi Yot National Park.

    When I’m not working, I have incredible opportunities to see what I can of this beautiful country. However, I work a lot. If you come here to work, don’t expect your time working here to be ultimately different than your time working back home. If you come to Thailand to escape, your problems will follow. If you come here to heal, I promise you will. I’ve heard it many times and if you come to this awe-inspiring country you probably will too: Thailand doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need. I can say with a full heart that I’ve gotten both.

    Michelle Caron-Pawlowsky, from Canada, is a Greenheart Travel First Time Traveler Scholarship recipient. Learn more about Greenheart Travel’s scholarship opportunities to help you travel for a change!

  • How the Decision to Travel Led to a Marketing Internship Abroad: A First Time Traveler’s Story

    How the Decision to Travel Led to a Marketing Internship Abroad: A First Time Traveler’s Story

    Around one year ago, I impulsively decided to sign up for Greenheart’s Marketing Internship in Thailand. Now, my departure date is two weeks away and it feels pretty unreal. While all my friends are getting ready for exam period, I’m going to be missing the last couple of weeks of school and hopping on a plane to Thailand to live there for three months and intern at a dog rescue!

    I knew why I wanted to travel before I knew where I wanted to travel.

    Last year, a few weeks after a pretty terrible breakup, I was brooding on my couch when I decided I needed some hardcore animal therapy, and I decided that it needed to be far, far away. I picked up my laptop and began searching for animal-related volunteering or work opportunities around the world. Within 24 hours, I had found and applied for the internship at Rescue Paws, and after a couple of interviews, I learned that I had been accepted! My family thought I was losing my mind, and quite a few of my friends didn’t understand why I would want to put my graduation off by a semester to go work on the other side of the world in a field completely unrelated to my studies (I’m a photography major).

    During a photoshoot for a school assignment.
    From my final project this semester!

    I picked up a second job in the summer, and in the fall I became a part-time student in order to be able to work enough to fund my trip, including the travels around Asia I’m planning to do after the internship. I also applied for Greenheart’s First Time Traveler Scholarship and was awarded $1000 towards my program, which was a massive help.

    Part of my application for the First Time Traveler Scholarship – a photo essay about my city!

    To be honest, the closer the trip got, the more I started to wonder if I had been a little too rash in deciding to put my life on hold to go work in Thailand.

    I worried because I felt like a completely different person than the person I was when I booked the trip. The people around me were all graduating and seemingly getting their futures in order, and I was putting off my studies to go hang out with dogs on the other side of the world. I spoke about it with a friend, and she said to me: “You’re not putting your life on hold – this is your life!” She was right, and I stopped doubting my decision. I think this kind of experience can only enrich your life, and I honestly don’t mind graduating late to do it. I’m also pretty psyched to be missing the -35° Canadian winters and to be getting some of the best photography locations in the world. Now I’m counting down the days, and I’m beyond excited to go!

    What I get to skip this year – it’s beautiful, but I’m looking forward to not freezing my butt off every time I leave my house!

    I’ve never really traveled before, but I’ve always dreamed of being the kind of traveler who could completely immerse myself in different cultures rather than just pass through them. It’s why I decided to live and work in Thailand instead of just visiting for a couple of weeks. I’m going to be working 9:00-5:00 every weekday, and exploring the country on my days off. After my internship, I’m hoping to travel to Bali, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and Japan.

    As I write this, I’ve only got a couple days to go. See you soon, Thailand!

    Michelle Caron-Pawlowsky, from Canada, is a Greenheart Travel First Time Traveler Scholarship recipient. Learn more about Greenheart Travel’s scholarship opportunities to help you travel for a change!