What a year 2020 has been so far! Covid-19 has affected everyone so drastically and the face of education and travel has changed dramatically.

Our program locations and itineraries have been carefully selected and modified to minimize risk of exposure to anyone outside the group with most being located in rural areas. This allows for a more focused learning environment, as well as a safe haven from the stress of our modern world. We've been working hard and watching closely to any CDC recommendations about group sizes, travel restrictions, and testing requirements to come up with options that will allow you to have a safe, healthy, and stress-free Gap Year experience. We do the hard work so you can come and enjoy the fresh air, adventures, and new friends!

Check out the information below to find out more about our Covid-19 policies, procedures and updates.

 

Education & Engagement First

Here at Pacific Discovery, we wanted to assure you that our concerns for safety align with yours. With our 19 years of operation and more than 100,000 student days in the field, we have an excellent safety record. We have had our safety management systems assessed and accredited by the Gap Year Association, the Year Out Group(UK) and OutdoorsMark (New Zealand). Assessors have commented that our systems are among the best they have observed.

Experiential Educator Led & Supervised

Our programs are led by experienced experiential educators as instructors, equipped with comprehensive and expert risk assessments and safety management systems. All program participants are subjected to a high degree of screening prior to acceptance and consent to strict behavior guidelines for the duration of the program.

Informed & Expert Led Safety Systems

Alongside our long standing safety procedures we have been working closely with health care professionals, abiding by CDC guidelines and the advice of authorities in regards to where you are ok to travel to and where there are restrictions. All of our students enrolled in our programs are required to undergo strict pre-departure preparation and are required to return a negative result from a FDA-approved PCR test from a CLIA-certified laboratory within 72 hours prior to departure. 

 

Partnerships at the Community level

Finally, we have been working at the grass root level with communities for almost 20 years. Our partners are almost exclusively small community based, family owned and operated businesses and community groups. We build strong relationships, seek to be invited to collaborate, follow our partners advice and align ourselves to the local communities expectations for mutual benefit and success.

COVID Policies

A snapshot of our general COVID policy and procedures is below:

Pre-departure

  • 14 days self isolation with daily health checks logged (including temperature)
  • Physician consultation to screen for increased risk factors and health
  • Contact logging for final checking of causal/direct contact pre-departure
  • PCR testing within 72 hours of departure*
  • Strict safe travel protocols are provided exceeding CDC standards

Program Arrival

  • Private transportation from the airport or to program start
  • Detailed location specific quarantine procedures specific to the destination and accommodation facility
  • we will be facilitating COVID testing upon arrival for every program

During Program

  • Small group size, with high supervision ratio is enforced
  • Physical distancing enforced external to the group 'bubble'
  • Avoidance of indoor public spaces, and public spaces where social distancing cannot be observed
  • Pre-checked partner/operator COVID plans
  • Strict enforcement of established protocol where community interaction without physical distancing is required, such as activities and food shopping
  • Transportation and accommodation disinfecting procedures
  • Daily health checks (including temperature)
  • Permission and procedure for student and group isolation in the event of any signs or symptoms of any illness 
  • Behaviour guidelines that reflect our educational and community/environmental engagement ethos, and enables removal of students who do not share or conform to program ethos

Ethical and Stringent Methods

  • Upon arrival the group will begin travelling in a bubble. If one of the students shows COVID 19 symptoms we would take the required needs and this may include whole group quarantine. This is to ensure that we operate our programs with the highest level of confidence that we can, in order to travel safely and ethically within our program destinations.
  • Further to this, we have removed the vast majority of homestaysfrom our international programs to minimise our risk of exposure and transmission. Furthermore, this will help to protect the vulnerable communities we have been visiting for the past twenty years with Pacific Discovery.
  • To mitigate the virus becoming present within our program groups, students and instructors will participate in ongoing monitoring, and stringent community distancing. We will avoid public transport, effectively eliminating or minimising community interaction where physical distancing is not possible. This is in-conjunction with our small group size of 8-14 students, and strict group supervision.
  • We strive to set the bar for best practice in the gap year and experiential education fields and ensure that all of our programs are held to the highest possible standards. Our management team is constantly monitoring and assessing the situation in all regions where our programs operate.

General

  • Continued communications and adherence to our local family, community group and operators advice or guidance who have invited us to collaborate with them.

* Destination & Itinerary dictates testing and quarantine protocol requirements

Our full COVID policy and procedures are available on request, for local authorities, established community groups and community leaders.

We would like to reiterate our commitment to our partner communities to collaborate in a controlled, safe and positive relationship, to achieve mutual, positive outcomes in these difficult times.

 

Zach Johnston
Director
Pacific Discovery

Updated 10 September 2020

Spring into 2021 with an Epic Adventure

More students are taking a gap year than ever before, which means spaces are filling fast! If you would like to join us on one of our Spring programs you would need to apply and reserve your seat as soon as possible.
 
We have a variety of incredible Gap Year semester destinations available for Spring 2021, including our legendary New Zealand & Australia semester program! Unfortunately, we have no crystal ball for the future and cannot tell you now which programs are likely to run or not, we suggest you choose the program you MOST want to go on and apply now.
 

Our management team is constantly monitoring and assessing the global situation and consider the safety of our students to be paramount. With our 19 years of operation and more than 100,000 student days in the field, we have an excellent safety record.

 

Not to mention our programs are led by amazing experiential educators, equipped with comprehensive and expert risk assessments and safety management protocols. They are people in whom you can trust, who remain objective and supportive even in challenging circumstances, and who take a genuine interest in your well-being and safety. A bunch of legends, basically. 

 

We do not confirm any of our programs until 60 days prior to departure. This is our process every year but is especially relevant now. Students sign up now and reserve their seat, but do not make any travel arrangements until the program is confirmed 60 days out. At that time we do a full check of our itinerary- we check everything from natural disasters, to political unrest, to Covid-19. We check with all of our local operators to get a local feel on the ground for everywhere we travel. Luckily we are an overland journey and enjoy the freedom to be flexible. We can adapt quite easily to avoid Covid-19 hot spots and can adapt our regulations to meet all local health and state requirements.

The Nuts and Bolts

If for any reason we cannot adapt and must cancel the program entirely, you have 3 options up to 60 days prior to program departure.

 
1.) You can switch to any program that is confirmed for Spring 2021, current students have priority seating on any program going forward.
2.) You can switch to ANY later date program for up to a year.
3.) You can get a full refund of all tuition and deposit. Your application fee is non-refundable.
Within 60 days of program departure, our standard Terms & Conditions apply.
 
If you want your best chance to have the first pick of confirmed programs for 2021, you need to have applied, paid your $400 application fee, interviewed, and paid your $1500 deposit. Only then are you secure for Spring 2021.
 
Spaces are limited, so get in touch with our team today!

We know you have lots of questions, so please see below for some FAQs our team is commonly being asked. We have tried to think of the many varied scenarios that might come up and questions you might have about what that means for you. The following conditions apply to customers placing a deposit on or after 15th July 2020.  

 

2021 Program Cancellations:

If you decide to cancel your participation in a 2021 program, the following fees apply at the time (prior to departure) we receive written notice of your cancellation:

  • More than 91 days before departure – Full refund of tuition excluding application fee and deposit
  • 61 to 90 days before departure – Forfeit 50% of program tuition and deposit and application fee
  • 0 to 60 days before departure – Forfeit 100% of program tuition and deposit and application fee

If you fail to join the program, join after its departure or leave prior to its completion, no refund will be given.

Students sent home early, or who choose to leave for any reason, including sickness, personal emergencies or injury, will be responsible for all medical costs, and travel costs related to their early departure.

 

FAQs

Q1. What happens if, for reasons outside of our control related to COVID-19, Pacific Discovery decides to cancel a program before departure?

A1. You have a couple of options in this situation: 
1. We can transfer you to another program running at the same time but to a different location 

2. We could transfer you to a later program of your choice

3. We can give a refund based on the dates below

Anyone signed onto a program in these circumstances will be able to transfer the entirety of the amount paid to that date to another program up to two years from departure date without penalty. You are also able to get a refund, as per our standard terms and conditions, although we would certainly very much appreciate your support to look to travel at another date.

 

Q2. What happens if, for reasons outside of your control related to COVID-19, you can no longer take part in the program you have booked?

A2. If a few weeks out from program start date, you find that due to COVID-19* you can no longer join our program, you will be able to transfer the entirety of the amount paid to that date to another program up to two years from departure date without penalty. 

2021 Programs:

  • More than 91 days before departure – Full refund available including deposit, excluding application fee
  • 61 to 90 days before departure – Forfeit 50% of program tuition, deposit, and application fee
  • 0 to 60 days before departure – Forfeit 100% of program tuition, deposit, and application fee

* This includes when you or someone you look after is unwell, you are in quarantine, or travel restrictions disallow you to reach the travel location.

 

 

Q3. What happens if I decide to cancel my place once I have booked on before departure?

A3. If you decide to cancel your participation in a program, our flexible programming terms and conditions apply. Therefore, the following fees apply at the time (prior to departure) we receive written notice of your cancellation:

2021 Programs:

  • More than 91 days before departure – Full refund available including deposit, excluding application fee
  • 61 to 90 days before departure – forfeit 50% of program tuition, deposit, and application fee
  • 0 to 60 days before departure – forfeit 100% of program tuition, deposit, and application fee

 

Q4. What happens if, for reasons outside of their control, Pacific Discovery decides to reroute or change the itinerary of my program?

A4. It is possible that a program itinerary may be subject to small changes, or an entire re-routing depending on the global situation. Our first priority is always student safety, secondly is meeting the educational and developmental goals of our programs. If we feel for any reason that the itinerary booked will not offer the highest level of health and safety or deliver a life changing experience for our students, we will be looking to offer alternative locations that deliver a similar yet better experience. 

 

ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS?

As members of what we consider a global community, we hope that we can continue to support the people we work with in isolated regions, where our presence there brings business to locals, shared experiences, and joy. 

We would love your continued support as we face the toughest time the travel industry has ever seen. 

Zach Johnston
Director
Pacific Discovery

Updated 12 August 2020

Hawaii Notice

Earlier this week, a university startup called U Experience featured in your headlines, with the intention of bringing 150 mainland students to the Park Shore hotel in Waikiki. Although they will not be moving forward with their Waikiki location, we understand how this could cause community unease and concern. We have been working with our partners for many months in preparation for our programs, are very experienced over many years in collaborating with local partners, and always strive to partner at the local community level. Our ethos, beliefs and practices are very, very different to what has been featured by U Experience. Every step of the way has been in communication with our community partners, and we hope you will take the time to consider our COVID updates, as below.

 

Updated Tuesday 28th July 2020

The world is now looking to recover and move forward again after the trail of disruption and loss from COVID-19. Some countries are ahead of others in terms of case numbers, some almost back to normality. We all look forward to the global picture improving soon.

The WHO’s executive director of the health emergencies programme, Dr Mike Ryan, has said on Monday 28 July 2020, that “We do believe that it is possible to identify and minimise the risk associated with international travel. Economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume...”

It's important now that we listen closely to the advice of authorities in regards to where you are ok to travel to and where there are restrictions.