Gulliver Expeditions

Placement organization

Name of organization: Gulliver Expeditions
Town/city: Quito
Country: Ecuador
Website: http://gulliver.com.ec

Student

Name of student: Tanneke

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: tour operator
Organization’s activities: Promoting and selling tours in Ecuador
Target group of the organization: the adventurous kind
Company culture: Informal – all the colleagues are like good friends of each other, except for the boss. The boss is different..
Number of employees: 12
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? sort of

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Online sales department
Brief description of your daily activities: Working on a new website, writing articles, promoting the company online.. Everything online
Brief description of your company assignment: Did a market analyses, but came up with that idea by myself. The company didn’t care so much about it.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: They always help you out, but f.e. the feedback in the evaluation forms is not taken too seriously

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Teamplayer, spanish
Additional company requirements for this placement? Excel, writing skills, photoshop
English: Advanced
Spanish: Advanced
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? company
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? yes
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 2 weeks
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 2 weeks but that’s definitely not enough

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? If you don’t speak spanish, than you definitely should

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1300
Accommodation (monthly): € –
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € 300
Costs of visa: € 180
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? accommodation

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
not
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? it makes you a bit lazy, and you hear all day long reggaeton music from outside

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: tanneke.p@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Quito is quite dangerous, so try to stay away from any trouble. Never go walk alone after 9 PM. And if you like to travel through the country, avoid the notorious cities.
Take warm clothes. Especially if you’re there during March and April.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Too much to write down.. Ecuador has eeeverything

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link