My Two Cents: EF

While trying to decide what to post this week, I perused some old photo albums looking for ideas. If you read my post on Binders, you know that my photo albums are neatly organized by year and trip. I soon got lost in reminiscing and found myself wanting to write about so many little things: a particular museum, monument, afternoon, or excursion. Instead, I decided to write about the feelings evoked while traveling with students.

I led four trips abroad with high school students in four consecutive years from 2006 - 2009. We covered 3 continents, 10 countries and 1 territory. Next summer I will lead my fifth tour and add 4 more countries to this list. There was an interruption in time from my fourth tour to the one planned for next summer due to our 25^th wedding anniversary. We decided to go to Italy for two weeks without students, ours or anyone else’s. While the kids were disappointed, the parents understood.

Ironically, when in Sorrento, I spotted a group of EF backpacks heading to the docks. EF is the company with whom I travel. I found myself rushing to catch up with the group to see where they were from and what their itinerary was. I noticed that although I loved sleeping late and doing things at my own pace, there was something I missed about traveling without the kids.

The next three summers found me hosting my family from Italy and recovering from knee surgery. So it will be four years from the last student trip in 2009 to the next one planned in 2013. Some friends and colleagues were surprised to hear that I am resuming my plans to travel with students. But those who know me well know how much I enjoy traveling with students.

It is true that there are certainly challenges entailed with having someone else’s teenagers with you while in another country. Getting them to sleep at night and subsequently waking up for breakfast the next morning is the biggest daily challenge. But to me, that just says that they are having a great time socializing with each other, making or deepening friendships, and being teens. Making sure they stay healthy and safe is of course the most important challenge of all. I find myself being a mother to 12-15 kids, asking questions ranging from “Are you drinking enough water?” to “Where is your passport?” Some people count sheep at night; I count kids all day long at each corner to make sure one of the ‘sheep’ did not stray from our flock.

Careful planning and organization diminishes problems that can happen with any trip and student trips are no exception. I am extremely organized and thorough and err on the side of caution. I also carefully pick good parent chaperones to travel with us who will be competent and helpful additions to the flock.

The advantages of student travel however must overtake its challenges or I would not be a repeat leader. As a teacher, my instincts are to teach, to show, to inspire, to open a child’s eyes to new experiences and possibilities. As a parent, I have instincts to help my children past their fears and to help them grow to be responsible, considerate members of society. I teach them that in addition to being a citizen of a country, they are citizens of the world. People in London don’t drive on the wrong side of the road, just a different side.

We have visited some of the most amazing landscapes, museums, monuments, and cathedrals in the world. Sometimes I point out or give additional information to the kids to look closer at a certain detail; other times they cause me to stop and look at an item I may have missed. The curiosity and wonder they have when they are young does not go away when they are teenagers. Being with their peers seeing the Rosetta Stone, Mona Lisa, or Sistene Chapel is so amazing that they revel in the experience together, making connections to what they have learned or what they already know. Remembering the experience of seeing the Acropolis, climbing Mt. Vesuvius, or shopping at a market in Morocco with friends is something they will never forget.

Going shopping with students can be quite amusing. Whether it is shopping for clothes or souvenirs, they are literally like kids in a candy store. One time my own son came out of a candy store with 75 euro worth of candy. Needless to say he was the most popular one in the group for several days, not only amongst his peers, but amongst the chaperones as well. Everyone knew whom to go to for his or her ‘fix’.

Sometimes students have choices; go back to the hotel to swim or relax with Chaperone A or come see this particular site or museum with Chaperone B. It is more of a social decision for some kids; making their choice based on who is doing what. But others always choose the latter choice to take advantage of everything there is to see. It is with these smaller groups that the details of a museum really get taken in.

I am looking forward to traveling to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Munich next summer, not just because all four of these cities will be new to me, but also because I will be amongst another flock of sheep. If you know of any sheep looking to join our flock, just let me know.

Waiting at the ferry terminal from the cliffs of Dover to France,

... waiting for the rain to pass to go up the Eiffel Tower,

...the bus that looked like a giant bug, taking us to Tetuon, Morocco,

...but the seats were comfortable and the bus was air conditioned,


...having fun telling a story about a squirrel...

...playing in the sand,

...learning about rugs in Morocco,

...shopping at Covant Garden,


...writing songs together in the Paris train station,

...waiting for the play Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End,

...getting a caricature outside the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence,

...snorkeling in the Mediterranean,

...posing in a sword shop in Spain,

...playing on the trampolines in Nice, France,

...waiting/planning/conspiring at the train station in Paris,

...and moving on to the next stop!

Click here to read an older post about student travel with photos.

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.