Plan My Gap Year (PMGY)
For the past two years, I have been searching for my next “Thailand teaching adventure”. We are all well aware, the COVID pandemic pushed the pause button on mine and everyone else’s travel plans. Instead of feeling depressed or sorry for myself, this global catastrophe made me even more focused and goal orientated on finding an organization that would facilitate another opportunity to serve overseas.
In the months following my return from Pathum Thani, Thailand, I supplemented the extra time I had from teaching asynchronous Distance Learning with researching the possibility of volunteering to teach English in Southeast Asia. For me this represented my desire to serve others while honing my English Language Development (ELD) teaching skills. Eventually, I found Plan My Gap Year (PMGY). You may be thinking to yourself: This sounds like a younger persons outlet to travel. And you may be right but stick with me a moment longer because you might find an opportunity for all adults deeply embedded within this amazing organization.
I filled out the initial PMGY contact form and received an immediate reply back from PMGY coordinator Phillip Russel. He was informative, kind, and genuinely seemed interested in providing me with the support necessary to figure out what it would take to ensure I would successfully navigate two main factors: 1. the PMGY organizational requirements 2. International travel requirements. Approximately two weeks after our initial email back and forth string, he suggested meeting via Zoom. It should be noted PMGY offices are based in the UK, so I had to adjust my schedule to his time zone. Our Zoom meeting answered all my questions related to accommodations, what I could expect volunteering, food costs, organization fees, and the experiences others had while participating in their program(s). This interaction left me with the impression (and confidence) I was making the right decision moving forward.
After careful consideration, I decided to submit my application to volunteer to teach English in Sri Lanka during the summer of 2021. I felt this best aligned with my burgeoning spiritual connection to Buddhism, and the exotic locale was calling my name. The cost for six weeks was $1,500.00 USD not including plane flight (round trip from LA to Sri Lanka was approximately $1,400.00). This PMGY fee covered administration costs, housing, food (three meals a day), and transportation to and from the volunteer house. Teaching in Thailand taught me how to obtain an FBI criminal background check and travel Visas, so I didn’t need much assistance with that part of the process.
The date for departure was set for the second week of June 2021. Due to COVID still ravaging much of the developing world, I made the (wise) decision to purchase travel insurance on my plane ticket. Approximately two weeks prior to leaving, there was a major COVID outbreak in southern India and Sri Lanka which set into motion a hard lockdown in both countries. PMGY stayed in contact with me via email throughout the events that transpired, and we eventually agreed to postpone the trip to the summer of 2022. I couldn’t have been more impressed by their professionalism and ability to pivot at a moments notice. In addition, they provided me with two options: a complete refund or transfer the money to be applied to next summer’s volunteer opportunity. I chose the latter because I wanted to hold my spot and have my travel plans solidified for June and July of 2022.
Looking back, this all worked out for the best. Where one opportunity seemingly imploded before my eyes, another presented itself within a month. I was able to travel to Istanbul, Turkey in July of 2021 with two of my friends where I experienced a culture I had been dreaming of visiting since I was a teen. It seems the universe, God, or maybe just me can navigate this unpredictable world and engage in a meaningful fulfilling way no matter if there is a pandemic, war, economic instability, or whatever else is simmering below the surface of our collective humanity.