teen travel groups
 

does anyone have a great teen travel group for Europe,about two weeks in the summer??

thanks,Karen

I'm looking at teen tour companies right now for a US trip, but they also have European excursions -- I haven't seen any that are two weeks however. I've seen 25 and 30 day trips -- Musiker and Westcoast Connection are two teen tour companies that are big on the east coast. Weissman and Rein teen tour companies also have European tours, of approximately the same length.

There also are home stay programs that entail summer study abroad. You can search "high school abroad" in google or another search engine, and you'll find any number of similar opportunities.

I have used several teen tour companies. Most cater to teachers but you don't have to be a teacher to use them and take a group. Most offer a free trip for the group leader for every 6 paying travelers with some offering first time group leaders a free trip with only four or five travelers. Trips range from 6 days to 31 days. I have a lot of information on the various companies - pros and cons, wesites, etc, - if you are interested. Small groups are combined with groups from other states to make a large group to fill a tour bus. It gives the teens a chance to travel with kids from other states and sometimes countries.

When Iwas a girl (25 years ago) our school used a local place called AIFS in Greenwich Ct . It is still in business and still offers great tours for students. It's called American Institute for Foreign Study Greenwich connecticut.

I would try ACIS. I toured with them twice in high school and thought they were great. They offer a wide variety of tours. You can access them at:

www.acis.com

ACIS is one of the top student companies but also one of the most expensive. If you want a good company but a little cheaper try cha (www.cha-tours.com). There are also budget companies EF Tours (www.eftours.com) and Explorica (www.explorica.com) but they will stay far from the city centers. Another company is Passports. On their website they have a history of student tour companies and a list of websites. My concern with Passports (www.passports.com) is that the president has filed bankruptcy before with another student tour company. There are lots of travel companies filing bankruptcy that have been in business for many years. Most of the companies offer travel insurance but you shouldn't buy from the company you are traveling with as you wouldn't be covered if they default. Try Travel Guard (www.travelguard.com) for insurance as they are one of the few that cover default. There is also a website - I think it is called insuremytrip that lets you compare all the different travel insurance companies.

My daughter did a trip to Mexico with her Spanish class through EFTours. I worked out really well. They had a great time and a good experience was had by all.

I just looked at AIFS website and they don't do tours. It seems they only do study abroad programs now. If you are under 35 and your teens are at least 17 you might want to consider Contiki. They cater to 18 - 35 year olds and will allow 17's but not anyone over 35. If they aren't in that age bracket Contiki will let you do a private tour but to get the website prices you would have to have 20 travelers.

I have traveled with EF and had one OK experience and one terrible experience. I personally would never travel with EF or Explorica again. I had a friend also have a terrible experience with EF.With EF we had dirty hotels and terrible guides that didn't know anything about the countries we were visiting and we wasted lots of time backtracking because the guide would get lost. They also take you to so-called demonstrations (leather, glass, lace,etc.) or stores or restaurants in the middle of nowhere. They get a percent of everything the groups spend in the stores. In Rome and Venice EF stays as much as 45 minutes to an hour away and not always near transportation. So when you have free time (usually afternoons and evenings) you are too far away to do anything in the cities you are supposedly visiting. They will not tell you what hotels they are going to use and if they send you a sample list it doesn't mean anything because you won't end up in any of the hotels on the list.

thankyou for the information. I did get the contiki brochure but my daughter is only 16,I will look into these other ones.

Florence Uffizi..just a note we just got back.We called in for the resrevations,definately worth it!! Someone had said door 4 and 5,but that wasnt right..The directory said door one for reservations,but when you get there there was a paper note saying to go to door three first for your tickets..and thats the scoop! very easy though.

I'm not a teacher, but just got back from leading a group tour with EF. Several of my friends had said they'd love to send their kids traveling with me, so I happily obliged them! There were 11 in our group, and we joined two other groups slightly larger. I met LOTS of teachers who had done EF tours many times before, and in general their experiences were quite positive. The fact that they go back again and again is quite telling.

Our trip was wonderful. It was very fast paced, the tour director was fascinating, the tour guides taught the kids more than they'll ever learn in the classroom. Hotels and meals were much better than I would have thought for a budget trip. And yes, we went to about three 'demonstration' sales pitch sites - all with clean (and free) restrooms!

I'm already planning another trip. Anybody want to come?