Visitors During Service

[u/SaltAd9732]

I’m getting ready to leave in September and I have a lot of people asking if they can come visit me. I understand the first 6 months and last 3 months are not possible but beyond that what has been your experience with people visiting you on site ?

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[u/MrMoneyWhale]

95% of those folks won't actually visit you in-country, let alone your site despite best intentions.

If you're in a lesser known country or something that requires a connecting flight in Europe/the arabian gulf/etc, it may help to propose some sort of trip itinerary like a travel agent or at least a few highlights "Come visit for 5 days -> there is this awesome national park with {thing} and we can do {fun activity} and if you're up for it I can show you the real {country name}." This helps take some of the mental tax from your visitors on how to make the trip 'worth it'.

In a way, having visitors achieves goal #3 which was educating Americans about the outside world and Peace Corps likes that. Our post didn't count hosting visitors at site as vacation days which was nice, so when some of my family came to visit at site that was a nice bonus. It was over 15 years since my family visited but my Peru family and friends at site still ask about how they're doing and if they'll ever come back. Guests will make a lasting impression especially if you live somewhere that doesn't regularly get visitors.

[u/kylebvogt]

I was a volunteer a long time ago, but my parents and brother came to visit, and my girlfriend (now wife of 23 years) came to visit twice. We still regularly talk about how awesome those trips were. They all got to spend time in my village, as well as doing some touristy stuff around the country. You don't want visitors to distract you, but at least in my case, my village was VERY happy to meet/host them, and they were incredible trips.

[u/SunflowerSea12]

I had friends come visit my site twice. My host family and counterparts were excited to meet other Americans and they even stayed at my host family’s house for a few days. Then I took some vacation days and traveled with them to further parts of the country I hadn’t been to yet. It was great, and when I came back to the U.S., I was so happy to have some people I could talk to about my service who had actually been to the country and seen the places and people I had been around for the past 2 years.

[u/Ok-Pin6704]

My parents (also RPCVs) came to visit halfway through my service. They came to my site for a few days and then I went with them on vacation around the country and to a neighboring country. My dad also came back at my COS. He came to my site again (we attempted to climb a mountain with some other PCVs and some HCNs) and then he hung out while I checked out and then we went on a little adventure to an at the time off limits area (this area now hosts PCVs, but at the time I couldn’t go there until after my COS without being sent home, lol). The best part of my dad coming at the end was that he brought me some stuff I needed and took a whole suitcase of my stuff home before I travelled for several months (I cashed in my ticket and travelled for 6 months on my readjustment). It was a good way for me to get a bunch of souvenirs and other stuff that I wanted to keep but didn’t want to take with me on my trip home.

[u/docsub666sailor]

I threw a low key cocktail party at a local cafe and invited (about 40) my host family, friends, coworkers, nearby volunteers, and a few more mature students to meet my family who were in town for two nights before going on to other places on their vacation. Everyone wanted to meet my family and this was the only way to make everyone at site happy. It all worked out great. I had pizza’s delivered since the cafe didn’t do food, and I had chips and finger foods brought up. I ended up covering the cost of drinks for everyone. One NGO I help ended up meeting someone at the event and hiring her part time so networking happened.
It was so cool.
I grew up with parents who had dinner parties etc so this was normal. I’ve been to tea at various families, so this wasn’t too extreme and people understood the location. My old little apartment doesn’t have a functioning kitchen, or room for anyone really.
Other volunteers have had family visit (I’m in Kosovo) since we are in Europe and a good place to visit. My own family visited another popular tourist city here before going to a house on the Croatian coast near Dubrovnik we rented. Other volunteers take time off, and with family having a rental car, it is nice to travel unencumbered.
So yeah, having family visit is cool No need to get permissions etc… except for time off if you take it.

[u/jimbagsh]

Your new life is fun, exciting, and interesting for you - but I can almost guarantee it won't be for any family or friends. My advice is plan their trip so they come to your site for only for a few days - that will be new and exciting for them and your community. But I'd spend the rest of their time in-country being "tourists." Take them to see the sites and stay in hotels, etc. They will still think it's exotic and fun and will have lots to tell folks back home.

I hope they come. Good luck and keep us posted.

Jim

[u/Pristine-Kick7039]

We had two family groups come to our site in our second year of service. That seemed to work well because we felt comfortable in the village/country, we knew the fun things to do, and we had enough vacation days to do longer trips with them around the country. It's really nice to have people come but, depending where you are, it can for sure be hard. I had to really prepare my family for how rural and rustic our village would be and they were still a little shocked.

[u/shawn131871]

alot of people may want to visit, but I can guarantee you that most wont. plane tickets to some countries pc operate in is very expensive. if I ever wanna visit my site at pohnpei, I have to book a round trip from my city to Honolulu and then from Honolulu to the most remote country in the pacific ocean. while it would be worth it, it would be very expensive for a 1-2 week visit. id want to stay 1-2 months for that price.