#PCTImpact: Night Seven Recap

It’s hard to believe that the end is almost here, but here we are just a few hours away from docking in Miami after a life-changing trip with fathom impact + travel.

Today was a full day at sea, but that didn’t stop us from participating in some great follow-up activities to bookend our experiences.

We started with our last Cohorts session with our Impact Guide Paige. Today she shared with us the actual impact we’ve had as fathom travelers. Here are the cumulative accomplishments of fathom travelers over their first seven voyages to the Dominican Republic (including ours):

Reforestation: 10,374 seedlings & plants
Chocal (chocolate factory): 2,049 pounds of nibs cleaned (equal to 60,471 finished chocolate bars) and 27,203 products packaged and prepared for sale
RePapel (recycled paper): 11 women of the cooperative and 4 artisans produced 4,791 sheets of paper and various crafts available for sale
Concrete Floors: 20 homes now have concrete floors, impacting over 128 people
Water Filters: 373 filters produced, impacting over 1800 people
English Teaching: 728 students of all ages averaged 15 hours of learning each

This is only the seventh impact voyage and as you can see from those numbers, the results are tangible. We will all walk down the gangway tomorrow with a sense of pride and accomplishment, knowing we have truly made a difference in hundreds of lives across this beautiful nation.

After our Cohorts session, we attended “The Story of Impact.” This is the second part of “The Story of You,” a class we took before we arrived at Amber Cove. These two lessons are designed to help fathom travelers tell their story in a more effective manner. We listened to each other as we built our stories step by step and then helped smooth the rough edges and make them even better.

After a break for lunch, it was time for “Raising the Next Generation of Changemakers.” This would be our final “class” onboard but it was an excellent way to wrap up the educational part of the trip. We discussed ways to help future generations both at home and abroad, with a focus on empowering them to be leaders and changemakers.

Later, we all gathered together with some new friends in the Pacific Restaurant for our last dinner onboard. The evening was filled with each of us sharing our favorite moments and stories around the dinner table.

Then, after dinner, we were able to share with the entire ship at the “fathom Storyfest.” Held in the ship’s main lounge, this interactive activity allowed us all to share our stories of impact and what the past seven days have meant to us. It was a very emotional and inspiring evening.

Just a few minutes ago we put our bags outside our rooms and we’re about to call it a night. We arrive in Miami early in the morning and will disembark around 9:30am. Our flight back to Houston will see us on Texas soil late tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for following our posts throughout the journey. We’ve enjoyed sharing this experience with you and hope you will consider doing it yourself. We guarantee it will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life.

We’re not bringing home many trinkets or souvenirs this trip. Instead, we’re returning with memories that will last a lifetime, new friendships that will grow over time, a strong sense of accomplishment and the knowledge that the foundations we built this week will continue to grow with each voyage of the Adonia to the Dominican Republic.

And you can’t buy that in a gift shop.

All of our updates (including these blogs) are available in one place:

www.premiercustomtravel.com/fathom

You can learn more about our bloggers here: http://www.premiercustomtravel.com/blog1/?p=3523

Have questions or comments for us? Either comment on these blog posts below or send us feedback at impactquestions@premiercustomtravel.com