choosing a student travel company

Posted by Beverly Beazley on 11/20/2008

Friends, teachers, travelers--lend me your ears.If you are looking for the best deal for student travel, I think I can help. I traveled with students for 11 years before I retired from teaching last year--all but one of them with passports. That one trip was with Explorica to London and the countryside--which is really budget travel. Only the tour director made it worthwhile because he added a great deal of personal effort.

What's the difference you ask. Let me count the ways: Quality and location of hotels FOOD FOOD FOOD--which is a big deal to the students Excursions Knowledgeable/professional couriers--since my trips were focusing on art, architecture, cultural and history as opposed to language, I had very high expectations of my couriers and they were met. During three trips some on site changes occurred that I found fault with, but a phone call usually fixed it. Another time, I was rooming with a teacher from another group from another state who snored so loud I could not sleep even with medication and ear plugs. After about 3 days, when I started getting crazier than normal, the courier arranged for me to get a private room.On many of my trips I asked for something special,ex.train ride to Florence rather than coach, tickets to a Mozart concert in Vienna, hotel in Montecantini, Italy rather than Florence, and passports, especially Kathy Bernard and the other Kathy's, always came through. Personalized service is the other part of passports name. You can't go wrong with passports--it's the best buy for the money. By the way did I mention thatI had several repeat travelers year after year.

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