AltruVistas

I have taken 3 trips with Altruvistas and they have been wonderful! We were able to meet people, interact with community groups, participate in in-​depth discussions… basically have access to people and places that as a «regular» tourist I would not have known about or been able to interact with. It made the trip and my experience of the country, culture, and people much more meaningful. THANK YOU!!!

The trip I took to Argentina and Chile last year deserves a zero. I am a seasoned traveler and have taken tours all over the world. The trip sponsored by Shasta Nelson and here «Girlfriend Circles» and Altruvista’s travel agency owned by Malia Everette was a traveler’s nightmare. The trip was titled“Dancing and Sipping wine through Argentina and Chile.” The title of the trip bore NO resemblance to our experience. All of the people on the trip ended up writing and sending a certified group letter to Malia Everette of Altruists and Shasta Nelson regarding their deception and our trip from hell. There are many, many examples. Their published «trip highlights» never occurred. Our sipping wine was when we visited a winery. We were supposed to have had a tour of the city (our driver didn’t speak English — no tour here), the winery tour was professional and sponsored by the winery. The tasting room was beautiful and had a large semi circled bar area where the tastings were being held. Our wine tasting however, was in the basement area where a makeshift table had been set up and we each had a very small pour of one white and one red wine, without any explanation about the wine. After this, we went upstairs to wait for our promised lunch. The dining room was very nice. About 15 minutes later we were told by the driver that we were late and had to leave to catch a bus to ride over the Andes mountains to Chile. We had not time to eat at all but managed to grab a stale sandwich at the bus station. By the way, we were initially told that we would be flying to Chile. And so it goes. The hotels we stayed in were unsafe and we ended up spending a lot of time changing hotels because of the deplorable condition and unsafe areas of the hotels. When on the bus to Chile, three of us decided to leave the hotel once we got to Chile if it was like the other hotels. It was. We left. We later learned that the other vacationers left that hotel the next day to stay in a better hotel. It was… barely. They complained of no hot water and the tables and chairs outside the hotel being chained down to prevent theft. We were told that a passerby told one participant to watch her purse, as she had it hanging from her chair as many of us do all around the world. Our hotel was clean, was within their stated budget and so refreshing to finally get a good night’s sleep, not worry about our safety, and being disappointed when things on the itinerary didn’t happen. We were told by the remaining participants that most activities DID NOT happen.
I am flabbergasted that this tour company has some five star reviews. As a psychologist, I don’t believe that one can go from such a poorly planned and thoughtless trip to one deserving five stars. As the saying goes, «the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.» I do not trust Altruvistas in the least and am writing this so others won’t get bamboozled into one of her trips.
By the way, this was not an economical trip. It was up there with a four or five star trip in terms of cost. My friend and I were so looking forward to this «trip of a lifetime» and ended up with a trip that words cannot do justice to.

I went on a trip with Malia of Altruvistas to Cambodia and Laos during the Summer of 2014 and it was the trip of a lifetime! I didn’t have much prior travel experience and she made it very easy, managing all the logistics from the Visas to the meals, to each day’s events. This was so important as I was a traveling in a place where the language and the customs were so very different than my own. Everything was meticulously taken care of, I just needed to simply show-​up with an open mind and enjoy the trip.
Malia’s long time travel experience and knowledge of global affairs made my trip educational. A highlight was our visit to the Landmine Museum in Cambodia which profoundly effected me by deepening my awareness of what had been done there. We connected with nature and culture, from visiting reserves for endangered species to climbing steps to sacred sites.
Personally, Malia is very kind and considerate which helps ease any of the normal traveling experiences that call for more patience. I highly recommend working with Altruvistas. I am excited to be traveling with them again in 2015, this time to Cuba.

I know that Altruvistas founder Malia Everette has tons of experience leading trips all over Latin America, but I can speak from experience that she knows Cuba better than anyone. Under her wing, we arrived with all the key travel advice, tons of local connections, and the best itinerary ever. Traveling with Malia is like returning home!

I took a trip with AltruVistas (Malia Everett) to Iran in March of this year. This is the first time in years I have taken a trip planned completely by someone else. It was absolutely amazing. It was a graduate school trip and I signed on late, but she was able to help me and the other travelers secure our VISAs in under three weeks. She made the process incredibly easy and smooth. Not only that, but she met with our group before the trip in order to answer questions and address any concerns we may have. She organized our flights so that we all flew in groups and had every detail of the trip down to the simplest details laid out before we could even ask. Everything from a full itinerary each day, all meals and even minor details like luggage collection times, best rate money exchange locations, and tipping of guides. She did a great job. It was one of the best trips I have ever been on. Because everything was so well organized, it allowed us to really enjoy the trip to the fullest extent without having to worry about a thing. She also had a really good relationship with her Iranian counterparts, which allowed us to see the best Iran had to offer. The trip was very informative and we were able to travel through the country with ease. I also felt the pricing of the trip was very reasonable for the top notch service we received. I plan to book future trips with AltruVistas and highly recommend this travel service.

I took a tour sponsored by AltruVistas and Malia Everett in Nov. 2014 to Argentina and Chile. It was the worst vacation experience I’ve ever had. Do NOT use this touring company.
It was a trip from HELL! No stars!

I have worked with Malia Everette — the founder of AltruVistas — for almost 10 years in different capacities. I had the great good fortune of working with her as a logisitical partner in developing an ethical travel program to the Ecuadorian Amazon for the non profit organization I worked for. Malia and AltruVistas have a tremendous network of experienced professionals in many countries, and the program and facilitation that was provided us was excellent. I was able to focus on the participants instead of the logistics after having developed the itinerary with AltruVistas and the trips were a great success.
I’m grateful to have the opportunity to partner with such a company — and such a terrific service provider. AltruVistas made our Amazon Adventure Journeys more than possible — they were a great success.