My Two Cents: Student Travel

How many of you have traveled overseas? How old were you when you first went? I was 21 when I first went abroad. I studied in London for a semester and traveled throughout Europe during that time. I was the only one in ‘my group’ of high school and college friends to venture abroad for a chance to travel and see more of the world. Studying abroad then was not as common as it is today. Nowadays more students take advantage of this opportunity, and they go to places even farther away than Europe.

Since that first trip to Europe, I have had the travel bug. In my early twenties, I traveled quite a bit in the United States, taking my first cross-country road trip, moving to California, and exploring all of the west. After our sons were born, we planned great trips every year to National Parks and other places in the U.S. and Canada. So when our older son had a chance to participate in a German exchange program in 7^th grade, he was more than excited to try it. As we could have predicted, he got the travel bug to go to places farther away. He repeated the exchange two more times in the upcoming years and our younger son participated in it too. Europe was now front and center on the radar and everyone in our family was looking to go.

Twenty-seven years after I first went to Europe, I planned my return trip that included our family and my parents. We ventured to Venice and Florence for eight days during a weeklong February vacation. I planned the whole trip, picking out hotels, travel arrangements and connections. It was a wonderful experience that we wanted to repeat every year, but how could we? The ball was rolling down the hill so fast we couldn’t stop it.

As a teacher, I often thought of running trips abroad to give students the experience of traveling with their peers. It seemed that the time had come to give it a try. After much research and consideration, I chose EF Education First. They have been in business for almost 50 years and have offices in more than 50 countries. They are professional, extremely knowledgeable, and plan fun, safe trips for students at the most affordable price. After comparing their price with three other companies, I chose EF hands down. They even offer first time ‘group leaders’, my title with them, a free trip to Paris for a four-day weekend to experience an EF trip, participate in a class to learn how to run successful trips, and meet other new and experienced group leaders and employees with EF. They basically trusted that their expense to bring me there would pay off in the end because I would be sold on their company and run trips in the future. They were right.

The Parthenon in Athens

I have successfully run four student trips to Europe so far. We have gone to Italy, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, The Netherlands, and England. I am currently planning my fifth trip for next summer (2013) to Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Our older son chose two of the four trips to participate in and our younger son has done all four. If you have teenagers, you know that family vacations can be bittersweet; the kids want to go away, yet want to be with their friends too. Enter educational student trips. They provide educational experiences of traveling for students of similar ages. They plan their itinerary, pace, and experiences around what kids would enjoy. There is always some free time too, where the kids can take a swim, shop, explore, or just take a nap.

Pisa, Italy

The students that have traveled on my trips have had wonderful experiences in so many ways. Some signed up with a friend; others knew no one who was going. I always hold several meetings prior to the trip so that the kids can get a chance to know each other and be comfortable with the kids they are traveling with. During the trip, they enjoy experiencing places together that even museums and cathedrals are fun places to be. For many students, that same trip to the museum or the cathedral would not have been as much fun with their parents (no offense intended here). When they see other kids getting into it, taking photos, stopping to read plaques, asking the tour guide questions, it gives them permission to do the same. If you haven’t read my blog on Confessions in Europe, please do. It strongly brings this point to light. In addition, the students have an opportunity to meet students from other states. To fill the tour bus, our group of 15 or 20 will combine with other student groups to fill the tour. Before long, not only have they made new friends from their town, but also friends from other states. Emails and tears are often exchanged during the good-byes at the end of the tour.

Free time in Morocco, riding a camel

So why is student travel so important? Let’s back up to the first trip our older son took to Germany after 7^th grade to live with a German family. He had the chance to experience being in a country where people spoke a different language than he did, visited new sites, learned about the culture, and experienced this from the point of view of his exchange student, who was his age. Other kids, not his parents, were telling him how cool something was, or showing him a new place. He came home after two weeks with a different outlook on life. His eyes were opened up to the fact that people of other cultures sometimes saw and did everyday things the same as he did, but other times they did them differently. Our way was not the right way; and that was the most important lesson to be learned. Our country may be big, powerful, and wonderful, but we are not the center of the universe. His interest in other cultures and languages shaped who he is today, a graduate with a linguistics degree. At the ripe old age of 24, he has traveled to Europe 7 times, technically been to Asia (Turkey) and Africa (Morocco) and is planning his second trip to South America this summer. He lives in Canada and has permanent residency there, after attending college in Montreal for four years. He also has dual citizenship with Italy. All these aspects of his life that shaped who he is today were affected by the travel that he did when he was younger. Our younger son, no travel-slouch either, is a regular visitor to Canada, is planning his 7^th trip to Europe this summer as well as his first trip to South America. He holds a dual citizenship with Italy too. Lest you think we are overly wealthy, we are not. Our boys have always contributed to the expenses of their travels.

The Rock of Gibraltar

I know this blog is a little long because it talks about my strong belief in student travel, its affect on our own children, and the tour company I use to provide opportunities for other students. My student trips to Europe are always during the summers during my free time. If you are interested in next year’s trip for your child, let me know. In the meantime, I wish you all happy travels wherever you venture this year. Buon viaggio!

Here are a few group shots from my previous tours with EF.

They speak for themselves how much fun the students had.