A student group takes in the sunrise as they prepare to hike out of a rural homestay community in Nepal. Photo by Arvin Singh Uzunov-Dang, instructor.
For 30+ years, we’ve run the most immersive programs available. Our approach is simple: work with the absolute best instructors, return to communities where we have long-lasting relationships, and run a limited number of programs to ensure every trip is thoughtful, responsible, and intentionally-crafted.
Our 9 Program Components are hand-on ways for you to deepen your immersion through homestays, apprenticeships, trekking, and language study.
With an industry-leading 4:1 ratio of 12 students to 3 instructors, our groups provide exceptional individualized support and tailored challenges.
Each program gives you opportunities to learn new skills that you can apply to your future education, career, and life path.
Our guides are experts in the locations in which they lead—helping you feel safe and immediately at home in the places you visit.
Programs offer an offline and fully present reality. Swap out your phone for hours of laughter and stories with your homestay family and new friends.
I went into this program looking to learn more about myself, gain perspective on the world and my place within it, and to see a beautiful spot in the world. This past month has not only catalyzed my self-growth but also blown my mind with all the incredible places we’ve been and the people I’ve met.
My program taught me what it means to be a responsible traveler: engaging with local culture, caring for nature, and traveling not just to observe but to learn. It helped me develop my identity and consider my role in addressing contemporary world issues, instilling in me the values and skills to be a positive force for change.
The most meaningful part of this program was the homestay. I am so grateful to have lived with my Bolivian family. Being so loved by them and welcomed was incredible. I'm grateful to have been a part of it and have them be so open to having conversations about everything, even their lives, in Spanish.
I’ve learned to trust in the uncertainty of life. It is there that your greatest growth may come from. Trust in both the journey and your ability to maneuver it step by step and breath by breath.
Throughout the course, my understanding of culture shifted dramatically as I discovered the vitality in traditional ways of living, prompting a re-evaluation of my relationship with my own cultural background and a deeper engagement with my own heritage. I was given the space to see the beauty in customs and traditions.
My time with WTBD helped me to see that family is family and people are people, no matter where they are in the world, what religion they practice, or what language they speak. Despite our many differences, we are all capable of connecting with each other as human beings.
Going into my program I paid little attention to the beauty this world had to offer. After my trip, I can confidently say that I care so much more about this earth and the fight to keep it alive. I learned how to respect a foreign culture and how to find connections with people who grew up 7,000 miles from where I did.
My Instructor quoted G.K. Chesterton, “The whole objective of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.” This has consistently reminded me to challenge the comfort and complacency of my own world view, and seek to understand those whose lives differ from mine.
Exploring new cultures and parts of the world with complete strangers taught me important lessons in living with uncertainty. Regardless of the questions I have about where I am in life or where I’m going, I know that every decision I make is the right one and that life’s impermanence is something to appreciate.
This was the best, most unique, and most life-changing experience I've had so far in my life. I hope to have many more experiences like this one in the future.
