Travel Abroad With Kids...What?

Before I even start, I want to dispel one of the great myths of traveling with students. You do not have to be a foreign language teacher to travel with your kids.

I travel every two years with EF Tours, a company based in Massachussetts with over 50 years of experience in educational travel. I want to start off letting you know that I am not getting paid to write this, but that my life and the lives of my students have been changed forever by traveling with this company. There are many to choose from, one in particular I would stay away from is World Strides (they wanted over $2500 a student to take them to Florida. Um.) They will call you. Non-stop. EF calls only if they need info or to check in and see how my trip-planning is going. ISE is a pretty trustworthy company, but they do not offer as many options in countries. Explorica...I have heard they are pretty decent but can be unorganized. We have traveled with EF for two, going to be three, tours and I love them. No complaints.

If you choose to lead your first ever tour, you get a free trip from EF that is called a “training tour.” I was sent on my training tour COMPLETELY free to Rome last November for three days. It. Was. Awesome. If you plan a trip with students, your spot is free if you get 6 kids. For every 6 kids you enroll, you get one free adult. We talked about fundraising, aligning travel to curriculum, keeping kids safe, and, duh, toured the Vatican and the Coliseum! There were geometry teachers, history teachers, English teachers, biology teachers, and, of course, foreign language teachers. Oh, and there were middle school teachers. People take MIDDLE SCHOOLERS abroad. That's a new kind of brave, friends, but definitely doable!

I was fortunate to be able to travel on my first tour as just a chaperone in 2013 to Costa Rica. It was a blast. We took 15 kids to study in EF’s language school in Tamarindo, where they spent 4 hours a day in intensive language classes.

So you know what that meant? That meant that my colleague and I spent four hours laying on the beach each morning, or shopping, or sleeping in, as our students were under the supervision of EF’s teachers (we were actually asked to leave them alone during classes). After classes, we toured the rainforest, went zip-lining, looked for monkeys, visited the hot springs (which, I don’t really recommend in 110 degree Costa Rican weather), and went horseback riding on the beach.

When we returned, I knew that I wanted to do another trip. My colleague was ready to start a family, and knew she wouldn’t be doing the next trip, so I set to work planning it on my own. Here are the steps to take in order to start planning a trip of your own. EF is the safest and cheapest in my opinion. They have 24-hour emergency help in every country they take students to, and you have a 24/7 local, native-speaking/English-speaking guide that stays with you from the time you land to the time you take off to leave. Literally. We had a girl have an allergic reaction in Costa Rica and our local guide was there with us late at night making sure she was okay.

1. Get your principal on board. Having a trip backed discipline-wise by the school is IMPORTANT. Many schools don’t have this and it creates a lot of issues. Our admin is 100% on board (one even traveled with me to Peru) and have sat with me through meetings or phone calls to parents where I've had to remove kids from the trip for disciplinary reasons.

2. Decide where you want to go. EF offers tours to just about anywhere. We did Peru in 2015, hiked Machu Picchu and added an extension into the Amazon. In 2017, we are going to the other side of the world and touring 6 countries in Europe. You will have an extension option and I highly recommend it. You may as well pay the extra $300 to stay a few extra days! Here is the list of tour options: http://www.eftours.com/educational-tours/collections

3. Contact EF. Each area of the country has a representative. You can hit the “Contact Us” button, or call 877-243-7661

4. Host an interest meeting. A good way to get the word out is to pass out postcards from the place you’re going, and if the kids bring them with them to the meeting it goes in the drawing for a prize. We were able to give away an iPad when we did Costa Rica. Of course, area of the world depends on how much interest you'll get. For Peru, I had 20 kids sign up. For Europe, I'm taking 74. (Uh, what?)

5. Have kids sign up online. I do not just give kids the link to sign up. I have them apply with me and I give them an acceptance or denial letter, based on school behavior and teacher recommendations. Safety is IMPERATIVE and I do not take students who mess around. I have my students sign this document before they even start fundraising, or at the time of application. If any rules are broken on tour, you call EF, they buy a plane ticket, kid goes home, parents get the bill. :D

6. Begin planning! Your EF rep will send you the materials you need to get started. You may decide whether you want to fundraise or not. We meet monthly to discuss fundraisers, hotel etiquette, cultural etiquette, discipline, safety, etc.

7. Your trip will be here before you know it!

Oh, and, besides your free spot, you earn travel points that can be used on a number of things, from electronics to other trips. After Europe, my husband and I will have enough points to go to Botswana on a safari for our anniversary. Fo free. So worth it.

If you would like to plan a trip, but aren’t sure how to do so, please leave me a comment with your email and I will get in touch with you! If you plan one because you read this, I, in the most humble way possible, ask that you would say that I recommended EF. :) Please see my website for more info on travel abroad with students: www.sralehr.weebly.com and click "International Travel."

Buen viaje!