OPL, Bar Harbor, Maine, Work and Travel Group

Experience with agency Work & Travel Group was positive.
They were nice , a little ripped me of for a ticket but all in all ok . Avoid "popular" destinations . Because then the quality of the agency's work rapidly decreases

Experience with location Bar Harbor, ME was positive.
Offer to go to Bar Harbor I got last year at this time (end of November). I'll be honest, until then, never in my life have I heard of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park (one of the most famous in the USA). I searched the forums, youtube and google to find some feedback from people who were there before me, but unfortunately, each search was unsucsesful. The closest I could find the experience from a small village on the same island that was several years old. Therefore, I want to share my experience with people who will go there next year. Bar Harbor is a beautiful little town on the coast of the ocean. There was not much J1 students what is has shown as a very positive thing. There is work as much as you can do, I specifically worked 4 jobs. I returned home with good money, so strongly recommend going there. Job opportunities are plenty, only you need to arrive in mid-June and be persistent. Go for the employer continuously and preferably solo. Employers on the island rarely gives overtime. ENTERTAINMENT ON THE ISLANDS Lets say that this island is the paradise for retirees. There is only one club and it ends its work in 1 after midnight. The club starts to take full around 11:30, so night life is not fantastical. On the other hand, here you have the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful nature. I suggest that you go for a swim with the Americans to the lake Long Pond. Lake is like from a farytail, you need a car to get there, the lake is located between two mountains. If you dont like swiming in cold water there is a large number of hiking trails, some of which I would mention Beehive (slightly lighter) and the Precipice (slightly heavier, but it's worth the effort). You can also enjoy tours on the ships. Suggest Nature cruise, cruise Margaret Thode and kayaking (kayak I could not do, but it's a very good thing judging by others' experiences). To note, one of the benefits for the workers of this island is that they have the right to ALL, absolutely ALL tours to ride for free. Americans, for example, will pay 60 $ to go to watch the whales while you shall appear with the jacket and proof that you are a worker (mainly part of the check) and enjoy the beauty of the island. In addition, as of the end of June on the island start to work Island Explorer buses. These are free buses that drive you all around the island. Some sites you can visit by this bus (Beehive, Precipice, Sand Beach, Jordan Pond), while others can not (Long Pond, Cadillac Mnt ...) There is no any purchases on the island, there are several stores with a sports equipment but the prices are worse than with us. The nearest town for shopping are in Bangor. There you have a TJ Maxx and Bangor mall, where you can find anything from clothes for ridiculous money.

Experience with employer OPL was positive.
Wage per hour: 7.5 Number of hours per week: 40 without the possibility of overtime Average tip: 350-500 The first job was Bellman. Very easy, nice and fun job. The task was to open doors for guests, give them advice about restaurants and attractions on the island to help them with bags or any requirements (not of a sexual nature), no matter how they were twisted. Also, training for this job does not exist. You need to see how things work. The point is that you need to be trash and impose the people to help them, and they will reward you for that (read give a tip). The one who goes to Bar Harbor Regency Holliday inn advise to cover the trolleys (carts and two alpha Bellman you can see in the figure below biggrin.gif) as we did. I guarantee Bellman from this hotel until the end of the summer will be sick of towels and will curse the one who invented them, but let it remain a surprise biggrin.gif I would be a very bad man, not to share with you the sacred rule Bellman - Do not give the last trolley to the guest! If they take the stroller you'll not have something to help other guests with. In addition to running around and new experiences every day, the real beauty of this job is that you get to know a large number of people with whom enjoy a very close relationship. Naturally, there are a number of people that you want to smack in their head. When I draw the bottom line, there were more people who were very nice to me and careful then those sons of bitches that called me a jerk biggrin.gif I was allowed everything, so it's easy to slack periods when you do not feel like doing, but of course the job was with a tip so that you lose a lot money by goofing off. As far as the tip there were good days, and there were some bad. Average weekly I had $ 175 + $ 400-500 tip. The biggest daily tip $ 172, the minimum $ 32. Job no. 2 was in the restaurant as well, as I like to say, Joker. If necessary, have been expo, foodrunner, host, busser and finally even a dishwasher. Salary was always the same (10 $), except that I had a tip as a busser. Job no. 3 was in the club that was located above the restaurant (same owner and connected to the club with a restaurant). Here my job was to stand at the door and check the document. Fin little job, where are you looking at hanging out while the clock is ticking

This review represents personal opinion of Milan who was participating Work & Travel program in year of 2015 with agency Work & Travel Group, working at OPL in Bar Harbor, ME.

Aug 11, 2016