The Wild Traveler | Teen Adventure Travel Recently Updated

The Wild Traveler offers adventurous and community focused trips in Hawaii, Malaysia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica for teenagers that are excited about finding friendship and making cross-cultural connections off the beaten path.

Wild Traveler participants are bright, brave, and active teens. Our participants are interested in trying new things, challenging themselves, and ultimately forming deep bonds with each other and the places we explore!

Families choose The Wild Traveler because of our excellent leadership, impeccable safety record, tight-knit groups and “hidden gem” destinations. Our experienced instructors hold certifications above industry standard, all having worked in adventure travel and outdoor education for many years.

You can expect more than fun on all Wild Traveler trips. Below you’ll find what’s standard on all summer trips. Whether you travel with us to Hawaii & Kauai or Southeast Asia, you can expect the following themes to hold true.

Individual Attention

Our programs are already plenty challenging. We provide a supportive environment for each participant to succeed. Our experienced trip leaders meet our participants where they are in regards to every aspect of our program. Our trips are accessible for all participants from the beginner to the advanced traveler. No experience required.

Unique Destinations

International travel, adventure travel and community service programs. Our destinations were chosen for their beauty, unique landscapes, distinctive cultures and strong support systems. We have traveled the world; our 2020 trips showcase a few of our favorite destinations. We think you’ll like them too.

Expedition-Style Programming

Our adventure travel programs are expedition in style. We don’t have a base camp. Instead, we travel every few days from one amazing location to the next, participating in activities along the way. This allows us a lot of freedom in regards to where we travel and the activities we partake in. This allows us to SCUBA dive the best SCUBA sites, backpack the best valleys and surf the best breaks.

Cross-Cultural Connections

All programs involve in-depth learning about our host country’s culture. Learn to cook traditional meals, speak the local language, dance the traditional dance and carry out everyday tasks. Our participants also share their culture with the families and friends we visit along the way.

Leadership

Our participants learn valuable leadership skills such as group management, decision making, self-awareness and situational assessment. On program, participants assume leadership roles, act with confidence and competence, respect and collaborate with others in our groups and in the community, and care for themselves and others. They realize their strengths, habits, and areas for growth; make informed and thoughtful decisions; communicate effectively; and connect with natural places.

Hands-on Learning

Our programs provide participants a hands-on opportunity to learn about natural history and create cross-cultural connections through exposure to the arts, adventure activities, community-based service projects and travel. These experiences welcome high engagement, critical thinking and a willingness to see the world through several different perspectives.

Challenge of Choice

Our programs are designed to build that internal center of control within each person by giving each participant the choice of how they want to participate. We encourage each participant to set their own goals and create their own definition of success. All of our programs are conducted in a collaborative, cooperative and caring environment that inspires true growth.

Service Learning

Service learning provides participants with opportunities to develop civic engagement skills. By working with local residents, students enhance their group, organizational and interpersonal skills. They also gain important experience working with diverse members of their communities. Working side by side with our partners, our participants become engaged in understanding how their efforts accelerate steps toward sustainable change.

Small Group Advantage

Each of our summer trips has a maximum of 12 participants led by two experienced Wild Traveler trip leaders. Our small groups allow our Wild Traveler trip leaders the ability to give individualized attention to each of our participants as well as the flexibility to travel in a way that lessens our environmental impact. Because of our small groups, participants come away from our trips with great memories and lasting friendships.