Environmental & Cultural Odysseys

Sustainable Student Travel

Od-ys-sey: [od - uh - see].
1. a long wandering and eventful journey with adventures. 2. An intellectual or spiritual quest: an odyssey of discovery...

What We Do

For Students:

•  We work with students to place them in a suitable program offered by EcoAbroad or partner providers

•  We work with students through the entire application process

•  We advise students on ways to receive credit and transfer it back to their home institution

•  We assist students with travel arrangements and international health and safety precautions

•  We advise students on how to finance their study abroad experience

•  We advise students on what to expect (going abroad and returning to the states)

 

For Faculty and Program Providers:

•  We provide advisory services regarding sustainable tourism and responsible travel which are customized to address the needs of the study abroad industry. This includes professional services offered through Sustainable Travel International including: carbon management, eco-certification, educational materials, and travel philanthropy. Email us for more infomation.

•  We provide tried and proven marketing strategies and recruitment campaigns to attract students to faculty-led study abroad programs or educational travel excursions. Email us for more infomation.

•  We provide in-country logistical support including customized itinerary planning, accommodations, transportation, meals, excursions, tour guides, lecture halls, and travel insurance. Available in St. Croix, Costa Rica, Panama, and South Africa. Email us for more information.

•  We provide program and research facilities in St. Croix, Costa Rica, and Panama. These include organic farms, rural & indigenous communities. Email us for more information.

•  We can facilitate partnerships with local organizations for service-learning or community-based research programs in Costa Rica, Panama, and South Africa. Email us for more information.

•  We provide consulting services on sustainable tourism business development, study abroad program development, sustainable agricultural, market and industry research. Email us for more information.

Who we are

We are a group of young, passionate, enthusiastic professionals, academics, and researchers who collectively strive to provide active, experiential, exciting, hands-on study abroad & community-based programs in the Caribbean, Canada, Central America, Mexico, and South Africa. For the most part we have gained our Masters or Doctoral degrees in sustainable tourism development, natural resource conservation, recreation ecology, and anthropology. We are experienced with both the academic necessities of today's students and professionally in the specific fields in which we studied and teach. We are specialist in the field of sustainable tourism development and responsible travel and have brought that knowledge and know-how to international education. We have the unique opportunity to guide students, both academically and personally, through wild wonders of our World and hope that you will join in our Odyssey...

The Founder & Director, Bobby Chappell, has spent the last decade molding his academic and professional career to reflect the principles of global sustainability in regards to natual resources, culture, and tourism. His journey started as an environmental consultant and field biologist in metro Atlanta working to protect the depleating habitat of threatened and endangered species. Although this proved a worthy cause, his heart was drawn to the vast rainforests and coastlines of Costa Rica. Working as an instructor and travel guide at a local educational travel institute, Bobby used his position to explore the country and discover the true values of ecotourism. His goal - to create a business dedicated to sustainable tourism providers throughout Costa Rica to broaden their exposure and bring a socioeconomic value to their communities. By compiling personal tour guide services, travel consulting, and a network of tourism providers, he founded the first Sustainable Tourism Center in Costa Rica. Again, a worthy cause, but his heart was now drawn to the education of our next generation of scholars and professionals. Bobby returned to the US where he acted as consultant for an international education organization who offers sustainable development programs in Antartcia, Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand. These unique programs provided insight into the next generation of study abroad programs - programs with a greater global purpose and those which open the door to the host country through travel-intensive itineraries. Using this insight, Bobby returned to graduate school and focused his research on sustainable tourism development and investigated options on how to cross-pollinate the two fields. This led Bobby to Sustainable Travel International, a global leader in sustainable development and responsible travel. Here, Bobby utilized all his experience from the last decade to develop a proposal to bring sustainable travel to study abroad.

And through these experiences, EcoAbroad has focused its efforts on building an international network of like-minded individuals and program providers who have sought to introduce students & travelers to our global community, provide professional and technical skills, protect and conserve our natural resources, help to understand and cherish the unqiue cultures of the world, and to do so in the most sustainable manner possible. Learn more at the Directors Desk.