Without passing judgment on the trip, which you seemed to enjoy, the trip was in NO way sponsored by the University of Illinois-Champagne - even though Uncle 'Rolly' sought to portray a link - on campus the sign out in front of his ISE offices, just off the campus proper even had signs cloning exactly UI signs in front of their building. NOT sponsored by the University of Illinois and the University in Vienna ties could well be equally Ersatz. But if you enjoyed it, all the better, university sponsored or not. Re: Contiki!

Hi Linda in Ohio!

I have not yet gone, nor will I be going with ISE, but I will in 48 (maybe 47) days go to Coleraine, Northern Ireland. I am planning on seeing London, Edinburgh/Glasgow, Dublin, Paris, and, if time and funds remain, possibly Amsterdam. Maybe when I get back, or as I go along, I'll update here and let you know how fabulous of a time I'm having! While it won't be the whirlwind tour you had, I'm still hoping to have as much fun and make as many memories!

Andie

I traveled to Europe 17 times with ISE. It later became known as Club Europa. It was the greatest way to see Europe and the price was unbelievably fantastic. I will always remember those summers.

Hi Linda, I'm Brian from California, I went to Europe with ISE in 1981, 20 countries in 54 days; it was a great experience I'll never forget. I can't believe it's been 25 years, was 19 then 44 now. I remember meeting Uncle Roland as well but It might have been in Switzerland instead of Paris (that guy got around!) I remember the tour guide was a nice guy named Wolfgang from Austria but the Bus drivers name escapes me. Became pretty close with the others on the tour; riding around in that bus for two months. I was doing a google to see if ISE was still around; apparently it's Club Europa or something now. It would be great to hear from some of the others that were on my tour; I remember a lot of them by name so maybe someone will catch this post that went to Europe with ISE in 1981 (at least I'm pretty sure it was 81 if my math is correct) it was the 54 day trip. Thanks for your post Linda it brings back some great! memories

Perhaps the bus driver was Heinz. The Europeans we passed during 54 days through 16 countries did not understand our sign, "You cannot ketchup to Heinz!" (He drove a little fast you see.)

Listening to Uncle Roland in Switzerland I was certain I would take his next venture to the Orient. It was truly an outstanding experience as well! I missed the opportunity to head to Australia -- the next venture they planned around 1989 -- but the son I had instead had the opportunity to travel to Australia as a 6th grader as a Student Ambassador with the People to People program.

I am still in college and I went on this contiki trip and it was the best way to see europe, I lived in Florence for a summer and didn't get to see all of europe but through contiki I was able to see a bunch of europe

Did anyone take a trip with I.S.E. in 1990-92 to Europe? I would dearly love to get a copy of the itinerary!

Thanks!
TS

I went in 1980. Group J-36. I remember being one of six guys out of 53 total participants. A geat way to travel to Europe for the first time, or on a budget.

Brian from California still looking for any people who where on my tour; which I think was 1981; it's been so long you know I can't remember the group number; I do remember Wolfgang from Austria the tour guide and the bus driver could have been Heinz but I don't think so; I remember I got sick in Thessalonica Greece; and had to stay back a day and catch up with the group a day or two later (kind of the low point of the trip) and I remember going to the Casino in Salzburg Austria and winning a few dollars (or Marks, whatever the Austrian currency was) in a slot machine which was loads of fun since you only had to be 18 rather than 21 in the states (this was more like the high point in the trip I loved Salzburg and everyone else did too) and I don't remember what city it was but I lost my glasses in a swimming pool at some hotel and the bus was going to leave before I could find them and at the last minute one of the other kids dived in and found them for me; I don't remember his name but he was a nice kid to do that. And I remember getting in a little skirmish with this guy on the tour who was older and was a Judo instuctor and wanted to prove he could kick my ass and he more or less did, I don't even remember the reason for the skirmish but it was no big deal and we were all still friends later on; in fact that guy who's name I think was Jim and he had a very good looking wife, her name may have been Sue but I'm not sure they were not students and I'm not sure why they were on the tour but they had a reunion at their home down in San Clemente CA shortly after the trip and we played golf and had fun and everyone was friends; I think when you ride for two months on a bus with people some people are bound to get irritated with each other at some point. Anyway if any of this sounds familliar to anyone please post up and let me know who you are or... who you were then?

Brian from Whittier CA

Brian from California still looking for any people who were on my tour; which I think was 1981; it's been so long you know I can't remember the group number; I do remember Wolfgang from Austria the tour guide and the bus driver could have been Heinz but I don't think so; I remember I got sick in Thessalonica Greece; and had to stay back a day and catch up with the group a day or two later (kind of the low point of the trip) and I remember going to the Casino in Salzburg Austria and winning a few dollars (or Marks, whatever the Austrian currency was) in a slot machine which was loads of fun since you only had to be 18 rather than 21 in the states (this was more like the high point in the trip I loved Salzburg and everyone else did too) and I don't remember what city it was but I lost my glasses in a swimming pool at some hotel and the bus was going to leave before I could find them and at the last minute one of the other kids dived in and found them for me; I don't remember his name but he was a nice kid to do that. And I remember getting in a little skirmish with this guy on the tour who was older and was a Judo instuctor and wanted to prove he could kick my ass and he more or less did, I don't even remember the reason for the skirmish but it was no big deal and we were all still friends later on; in fact that guy who's name I think was Jim and he had a very good looking wife, her name may have been Sue but I'm not sure they were not students and I'm not sure why they were on the tour but they had a reunion at their home down in San Clemente CA shortly after the trip and we played golf and had fun and everyone was friends; I think when you ride for two months on a bus with people some people are bound to get irritated with each other at some point. Anyway if any of this sounds familliar to anyone please post up and let me know who you are or... who you were then?

Brian from Whittier CA

I traveled in the summer of 1983. It was one of the most exciting things I have ever done. Now my daughter is going to college and I thought if ISE still existed, she should take a trip... Does it still exist?

PS. I do remember Uncle Roland...

I also went for the summer of 1983 with my friend from High School, Mego. We went as our college graduation presents. I just went through my journal; I actually still have the letters of info... Roland Stemmler was the President of ISE.. CLUB EUROPA.. MY GROUP WAS x620! I have a list of everyone on the trip and great pictures.. I wish we had emails back then so I could reconnect. I may have found 1 or 2 on facebook - still looking.. My tour guide was Felix Amon, the bus driver was Gunter Nanczo... .. IT WAS THE BEST!!!

I was on the 1981 summer trip! Possibly with Brian from Whittier. The group was J-4. I feel that there was a Brian in the group.... I do not remember all that he mentioned, but the bus driver was maybe Dieter, and the tour guide was Hans. We actually had another tour guide that got fired in the middle of the trip. Is anyone out there who can remember?? Still friends with Joanne from the trip. Yes, there were only a few guys: Mark, Seth??, Hank... and maybe a Brian??? I am Carolyn.

The bus driver's name was Ernst... and Rolf was the best tourguide ever! Loved this trip so much went twice in a row. Wish my kids could benefit from something similiar...anyone know of something like this for Europe or China?

We were on "M30" 1981....I scoffed at the brochure which said "don't worry about coming alone, you will make friends, and we even get wedding invitations from some of our former participants". However they had the last laugh, so to speak, because I did send them a wedding invitation, as I married a man I met on the trip and we are still married, 27 years ago this June. We had the tour guide Klaus, bus driver Paul, who was French and a real partier...we had a wreck right on the train tracks in Hungary and all had to get off the bus. He finally got the bus to move before the train came. We missed the Blue Danube river tour. We got to have a German bus driver for a few days while our bus was fixed and that was great!

I was in I think J-2 in 1982 right after I graduated from college. It was the most memorable and incredible trip. Our tour was 21 countries in 55 days. Wolfgang from Austria (we called him Wolfie) was our guide. Don't remember the driver's name. Maybe I can find some info in one of my many boxes of stuff. Every now and then I would wonder if there were any forums relating to these trips. I did end up living in Germany from 1990 to 1994 and loved visiting many sites again. Needless to say, it also make me appreciate so much more everything that we saw and did for such a cheap price. Please post if you were a part of this fabulous adventure. We had one couple who met and married. Invitations to weddings, etc. Almost all of us had just graduated from college - so 22 years old. I just smile thinking about it all!!!!

I also went in 1982...I think it was J-24. Our guide was Gerhard from Austria. Our bus driver was Kostas from Greece. Just recently I have located three people from our trip on Facebook, which has been fun! I loved this trip and wondered if it is still in existence now that I have kids the right age. If anyone else from our group reads this, I would love to get in contact with you. We did 21 countries in what was supposed to be 55 days, but we had to tack on a few days at the end in Madrid because of some plane issues...too bad, we had to stay longer! It was a great group of people. Mary Caporal Prior

Mary, I was on a trip with ISE summer of 82 and Gerhart from Austria was our guide, but the bus drive was not by that name. I believe he was from Austria as well though, if I remember correctly (short red faced guy that drank lots of wine). I'm thinking I was on J-21...but fant memory of the group number. Could have been more than one Gerhart I suppose also. We had a great trip and created a lot of good memories. There was a Mary on our trip though. If I find my trip information, I'll check the number and names of other students. Chip

I traveled in 1980 J-24 54 day. Anyone in that Group? I think our travel guides name was Fritz, from Austria, "no Kangroo's"
Had a great time. Went with a friend named Suzie, and made a great friend Sara, NJ. I am looking for a copy of the itinerary. Planning to go back and would like to remember some of the places we went to, like the place outside of Rome with the water fountains.

I traveled with Club Europa in 1990 and had a blast. I also added the Russian extension. Was hoping to see some pictures or read some stories on line, but no luck. Can't seem to find any recent info on Club Europa; to bad every student should give it a go.

AESU and ISE - two Austrians who broke apart and then competed fiercely against each other - both falsely portraying themslves as bona fide student groups. Not to say they did not do great tours but rather slimebags in the misleading publicity!

And i got this from another Austrian who was doing bona fide university-affiliated trips at about half the cost of ISE and AESU - in Baltimore.

ISE in Urbana even had a fake sign out front that matched all the other signs on the Urbana-Champaign IU campus. Frauds!

Hi everyone - I created a Facebook page for ISE as I, too had a wonderful experience in 1978 when I was 19 yrs - Group J-28. Feel free to join the group and upload content/photos - the more the merrier!!

I can't seem to post a link but just search on this when you're on Facebook and you'll find the page: International Student Exchange, Inc aka ISE Europa aka Club Europa

Bizarre to say the least. Other than the OP, every single person who has posted to this thread (except for our PQ - twice w/ 2 different screen names - and kingkevin) seventeen in all, registered just to top it and was never heard from again . . .

You'd sorta think if they were all so anxious to find their old tour mates they would have come back to follow up . . .

I did a whirlwhind tour with AESU in 1981 or 1982, not sure which year. We had an Austrian tour guide whose name I don't recall, and a wild and crazy Italian bus driver named Mario, with a full head of white hair: nice guy but drove like a MANIAC (was car sick half the time)and played the same annoying pop record over and over and over full blast for the entire trip. He took the entire tour group to his house in Naples for lunch. The bus broke down constantly and we lost several days sitting by the side of the road, and some of the other tour members were real jerks, like these two fat bullies from Canada who were constantly late getting back to the bus while everyone waited up to 30 minutes for them (they should have left them the first time but the tour guide was a whimp), and were always trying to illegally smoke cigarettes on the bus. When you would tell them to put it out, they would blow the smoke in your face. We were stuck some really nasty immature kids with for a looooong time, and the whimpy tour guide would not intervene, even when they did things like stick their legs in the aisle to trip you up. They were into shopping, playing cards and getting drunk in discos and would completely ignore the tour guide when he was pointing out all the interesting sights. Very few were into culture architecture or history, as my friend and I were. We were older than most, except for a nice Asian couple. They had their watch stolen out of their room and were convinced it was one of the other kids on the bus. I had all my travelers checks stolen out of my room in Paris, and the tour guide did nothing to assist us in getting to an American Express office; I was forced to borrow money for the rest of the trip. The tours and itinerary were great, but the awful bus ride, the breakdowns and being forced to deal with these obnoxious younger "adults" made it a real drag. I prefer to travel on my own with one other person, you meet so many locals who take you around to the best places and have much better experiences.

It was indeed 1982 on that trip, because Italy won the FIFA world cup while we were there. It was one of the highlights of the trip. When everyone was watching the game, it was like a ghost town, in total silence, except for the sound of the game on everyone's tv. Then when they won, thousands of people ran out of their doorways and into the streets, screaming and cheering and waving Italian flags. They also jumped into the fountains and drove around in their cars waving the flags. It was quite a sight, lots of photos of this.

Dear Linda,
I just had the same experience. My Mom is getting rid of the last vestiges of me in her home so I returned to my home last night with a box of wonderful memories that I didn't realize I had (the material manifestations). My sister and I spent the summer of 1985 in Europe with ISE. We traveled around Europe on a bus with about 50 others. It was an incredible experience and we made wonderful friends. It sounds like you brother was traveling with us. Someone else on the blog asked for an itinerary and I wish I had one as well. There were so many fantastic spots I would like to return to. If you brother was in fact on the tour in 1985, please give him my best regards.

Mel from Florida. I traveled with ISE in 1980.Looking for folks who went that year. Wonderful experience. Is ISE still in operation?

AESU was ISE's big rival - each would poster campuses incessantly - Uncle Rollie's ISE was first and then AESU was a clone shoot off - both owners were from Austria but have not heard of either in years - both tried to portray themselves as non-profit university-affiliated groups but were simply private huge profit-making entities. I knew a guy who had an authentic university-based group and he knew both of those other Austrians well and loathed each for their fraudulent advertising trying to pose as university groups - ISE HQs in Urbana even had an exact copy of an official U-I sign out front - same colors and letter to help perpetrate the fraud.

Hi IsabellaO. Although I was not in your group (mine was S-23, also in 1982), we had the very same experience in Italy. We were in Brindisi, preparing to load the ferry to Greece when Italy won the game. It was wild! I even have a photo which I will try to post if I can figure out how to do that. Our group was headed by Wolfgang from Austria. The bus driver was Tonassis (not sure about the spelling). He quit halfway through the trip, when we got to Greece, and his son Manos took over. Manos was a wild driver, but a cool guy. We met Uncle Roland in Emmetten, Switzerland.

Going on that trip was one of the very best experiences of my life! I was just reminiscing about it today and found this page.

MikePz: "Hi IsabellaO."

Welcome to Fodors. Unfortunately Isabella likely won't see your greeting. She registered a year ago to post on this thread about her wonderful ISE experience . . . and never returned to Fodors.

Thanks janisj. I noticed Isabella's post was pretty old. But I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. And who knows, someone else from my group may stumble upon my post!

I would be remembered by my travel mates as a tall, slim, white guy with blue eyes and curly blond hair. I took the Europe tour with I.S.E. in June 1982. I was 22 yrs old. I am from California and my plane flew from San Francisco to N.Y.C. then to London Heathrow and then onto Amsterdam. A bunch of us toured Windsor Castle before catching the plane to Amsterdam. I had a great time practically seeing a new country each day. I remember that I and 2 other guys in the group actually passed through Check-point Charlie in Berlin and had dinner at Sophies Restaurant in East Berlin. We were asked to stop taking photos by the restaurant staff. I also remember another student from Greece with the first name of Stephen. Stephen and I became friends and hanged out together eating Greek food in London and some fish and chips (I think) Stephen, thanks for being a friend. You wrote and sent to me one letter after our trip and I failed to write back. In this big world of social media, it would be nice to hear from you again after 30 yrs. Great memories as I recently ran across my old photos. Doug

Thanks to thos who tracked down ISE. I tried several years ago and was not successful. I have so many fond memories of the summer of 1981. It was a 17 country tour in 2 months and that was my first trip to Europe. I don't remember the bus driver's name, our guide was a German college student named 'Butz' and we met Uncle Roland along the way. I helped shop for food one day and Butz said to buy lots of baguettes becuase Uncle Roland said it fills up the kids for little money. Does anyone remember the baby bottle dinner in Paris? We had to drink wine from baby bottles because we were a bunch of kids. Fun times.

Jeff Steybe - I was 1982 M29. 55 days, 20 countries, and I'm still talking about it. If you were 1982 M29 lets connect! I was from Cal State U Long Beach. Met my future wife Karen Page(RIP)on the tour, who also did the oriental tour. Tour guide Peter and bus driver Louie (?) from Germany. Sooo many memories! Yep, Baby bottle wine in Paris, waltzing in Austrian Castle, slides down a salt mine, Capri boats, trains, ferrys, Greek Island Hydra for 3 days, and getting the police called on us in Madrid for making too much noise partying in our room in Madrid. Time to dig out the photos and reminisce and look for that Facebook Group!

I remember deciding NOT to see the Louvre because we only had a couple hours. My thinking was that I would return one day when I could spend the whole day there. I made several mental notes about what I would see in Europe the next time I got to tour. While I have been to a couple spots in Europe since the summer of '81, I have yet to go to the Louvre. It's on my list! Northern Italy is another place to go. ISE was a wonderful way to get a flavor for Europe, and so inexpensive, too. How lucky I was to have that opportunity.

Update to a post I made a few years ago - If anyone would like to join us on Facebook - here's the link to our page where we try to reconnect with our travel mates and share our great memories! See you there! https://www.facebook.com/groups/113453596415/

Hello! For five weeks during the summer of 1984 my group led by Klaus from Austria(handsome blond)traveled from England through Europe ending at Club Med in Greece! I have such fond memories(and many photos) of that trip! After reading the posts our bus driver may have been Kostas...he smoked a lot. I would love to connect with anyone from that trip especially our two Canadian roomies.

I traveled to Europe the summer of 1974 and made memories to last a lifetime! I would love to reconnect with my friends from that summer! It was a Europa House tour that visited 13 countries! My fondest memories are of Hans, our tour guide and Siggy, the bus driver. We called ourselves the J13s after the number of our bus! We had such a fantastic time (what happened in Europe stays in Europe!) I would love to hear from anyone who might have been on that trip!

I traveled to Europe in June of 1981 with ISE. We returned to the States just one day or less before the Royal Wedding. I had a wonderful experience with our guide Fabian Tibor and our bus driver Joschi.

My fellow travelers were from many different countries and parts of the US. Our party was comprised of people from Hong Kong, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Canada, and mostly the northeastern and midwestern parts of the US. There were two of us from the South - Jimmy Giles from MS and myself.

I have often wondered where my fellow travelers are now!

Carolyn
Somerset, KY

Golfer 610, I can identify with your story about not going to the Louvre. I did the same thing, except with Eiffel Tower, while on a student trip in 1961 (eek!), and after many trips to Paris since then, finally went up the ET with my grandchildren last year. Who'd have known back then (although your "back then" was not nearly as long ago as mine) how long it would take make up for these missed opportunities!

OMG I posted this 7 years ago--I should have proofed the title "....travel with to Europe with ISE...???? I haven't seen any of the postings since then. Will have to check out facebook.

dmwhite: My brother loved the trip but he saw a lot more of the pubs and bars than I did. He skipped a lot of the tours with his group and did a lot of partying. He ended up living in Germany for several years a few years later.

ISE and its clone AESU - rivals with AESU an off-shoot of ICE - both run by Austrians no doubt succombed to the likes of Contiki student tours - maybe even selling their strictly profit-making private enterprises cleaverly posed as student-university affiliated groups to Contiki.

CLUB EUROPA INTER STUDENT EXCHANGE !