I was hoping someone might help. I'm a teacher and am thinking of using one of those outfits (EF tours) to take a group of students to Europe. Has anyone had an experience with this?<BR><BR>Or alternatively, has anyone done all of the leg work for a group and by passed an operator?<BR><BR>Thanks in advance.

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Leon- I've taken 4 student tours to Europe, all with ef. I only had 1 semi-bad experience due to a poor tour guide, but also a screw-up on my part because I had too large a group. I've also heard CHA tours are good. No matter what group you choose, here are some things I would recommend: 1- Don't get too large a group- even if you have other chaperones to help. One year I took 48 people- never again! Last year I took 22(18 students, 4 adults)- what a difference. 2- Keep it a student trip- Don't take many adults/parents- they've always been much more of a pain than students, plus different interests may cause problems. 3- Be sure to give your ef tour consultant a list of priorities such as: a- direct, non-stop flight. On a flight from NY to Paris, we had to stop in Geneva, and by the time we arrived in Paris the day was wasted. b- hotels that reflect the culture of the country and are centrally located. One time in Paris we stayed way out in La Defense in a hotel similar to a Holiday Inn. c- a good tour guide who interacts well with students. <BR><BR>Prior to my last tour, I made the above items a priority, and ef was very accomodating- the trip was great. <BR><BR>I've taught for 29 years, and student tours to Europe have been one of my most memorable and rewarding experiences as an educator. Good Luck!

I do this every year but we stay in Paris. If you're traveling to a few different places it will obviously be more complicated. It can be done though. We do it on our own because it's cheaper, we get to stay in better locations than we would with a company, we can eat in the restaurants we want when we want, we can set our own schedules - going to the museums if it's raining and to the parks if it's sunny, etc. Every year things have gotten easier and as I've learned more of the history of our visited spots, I've become better at being the &quot;tour guide&quot; that the company would provide.

If this is your first trip to Europe with students,I would definitely go with a tour group. I would only bypass a group tour if I was sticking with one destination that I knew very well. The tour company will take care of everything and you will be able to enjoy the trip along with your students. Totally agree with Don- keep the numbers down, and keep adults to a minimum.

Make sure the hotels are well located.Demand to know the names of the hotels well before you leave,giving you a chance to look up their location and determine if it will work for you.They will tell you it's too early but believe me, there's nothing worse than being stuck on the outskirts of a European city with no transportation or it's too far to get into town by bus or train! Second suggestion, make sure you get a native tour leader,especially if you are planning to do one country such as France or Spain.We had a nightmare Dutch one in Spain-knew nothing about Spain.<BR>Here's my last and probably the most important suggestion /observation.Tell the students to pack and bring only what they themselves can handle1NO dads around to help them with luggage.After my first experience (when students brought suitcases almost bigger than themselves) I now tell them to bring their suitcases to our last meeting before we leave! Sound silly but it makes for a fun meeting.You'd be amazed at what they think they can carry.Most of them end up bringing suitcases the size of mine,a carryon, or just a little bigger!At this last meeting w/suitcases, we make out the address tags ,make tie-ons in school colors and I collect copies of passports!<BR><BR>

I took a customized tour with ef 2 years ago. It was a little more expensive than the brochure trips, but the itinerary was exactly what I wanted. As previous poster don said, give a priority list to the tour company. Also, I second don's comment re taking too many parents- they whined and complained much more than the students.

We took a tour with one of company mentioned. About the only good thing was the guide. The way they kept the cost down was to use business meeting hotels in the suburbs with included meals in restaraurants that people would not have gone had it not been part of the paid package. The billing of the options were troublesome. It took forever removing a bill for an option we never used. They also took forever giving us a refund for an out of pocket expense that should have been included.

I worked for EF for one summer (in the UK) and was not overly impressed by the way things were run. <BR><BR>The students in my group paid an awful lot of money for what they actually got (in terms of accommodation, activities, etc.). For example, the standard of the hotels used by EF in London was appalling (one bathroom per 30 students, broken, leaking toilet, poky, unclean rooms...). For part of their stay, the students stayed with host families, who were paid a pittance (&pound;7 per day) to provide this service (some families tried to maximise their profit by skimping on the meals provided to students). There were several unsuitable families that had been complained about by a number of students (vicious dogs, locking students out of the house...) but EF continued to use them. <BR><BR>The guides work for extremely low wages (I worked 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week for gross weekly pay of around &pound;150), and they don't require you to have many qualifications (or any experience).<BR><BR>Of course, as shown by the other posts, many people have travelled to Europe with EF and had a great time, so I'm not implying that you shouldn't use their services. I just thought it might be interesting to share my experience...