Escorted and Guided Student Travel Tour Groups

Tour Group Characteristics

Escorted Student Tours

Global Education Tours are an excellent example of a school trip/tour company that falls between the free-for-all of a Spring Break Travel trip and a highly organized Explorica tour (below). GET's staff works with the entity organizing the trip (parents, faculty or a school supporter - i.e.: booster club president or band leader) to plan a custom trip which will be accompanied by a GET "escort". Trip leaders are adult volunteers and are given a tour book which, among other things, details who does what. Fontaine says, "(GET) is responsible for keeping the group safe from a travel and logistical standpoint. Escorts avoid the responsibility of individual child monitoring. We leave that to the chaperones. (GET) does provide general guidelines for travel safety, such as tips about big cities." GET also recommends that tour leaders designate rules, like curfews, and that the GET escort is aware of these rules.

GET follows the industry standard in recommending an elementary school student-chaperone ratio of 1-3, 1-7 for middle school or junior high and 1-10 for high school trips. A former teacher, Fontaine says seventh, eighth and ninth graders "need more eyes watching them".

Although Fontaine stresses that GET is not responsible for student safety while on a trip or tour, she points out that the company only books reputable bus companies and hotels; GET does not book hotels with exterior corridors and they send specific guidelines to hotels in advance according to tour leaders' directions; for example, they may instruct the hotel to book males and females on different floors. And while planning a trip in conjunction with the trip leader, GET staff may refuse to book events in areas where they feel student safety may be compromised; for instance, says Fontaine, she will only book a certain popular haunted house tour in New Orleans' French Quarter on weekdays because she believes the Quarter to be unsafe for students on weekends. Fontaine says, "If there is something we are not fond of for safety reasons, we are very vocal." As she points out, however, tour leaders hold ultimate responsibility for the safety of their charges and may decide to book the haunted house tour on a weekend if they so choose.

Lastly, Fontaine says escorts "...will unofficially help..." in ensuring that students follow tour leaders' rules.

Accompanied Tour Groups

Companies like Explorica offer teacher led educational tours, initiated by a teacher and overseen by Explorica's team. Here's a sample of what to expect from the staff of a company such as Explorica:

• Tour Director - responsible for organizing the overall logistics of the trip. He or she will be with you from the beginning of the tour until the end to oversee the arrangements for all transportation, meals, accommodations, and sightseeing and carries a cell phone for use in case of emergency.
  
• Group Leader - the adult, generally a teacher, who organizes and chaperones your tour and is responsible for all disciplinary actions, guided by Explorica.
  
• Program Consultants - based in the company's Boston office, they handle all the administrative and logistical details. A network of worldwide offices ensure that emergency assistance is always available.

A typical tour itinerary (London, in this case):

• Day One: Fly to London, England
  
• Day Two: Hello London
  
  • Meet your Tour Director and check into hotel
    
  • London city walk
    
  • Thames River
    
  • Trafalgar Square
    
  • Piccadilly Circus
    
  • Covent Garden
    
  • Leicester Square
    
  • Soho

• Day Three: London Landmarks
  
  • London guided sightseeing tour
    
  • Buckingham Palace
    
  • Big Ben
    
  • Houses of Parliament
    
  • Westminster Abbey
    
  • Tower Bridge
    
  • Hyde Park
    
  • St. Paul’s Cathedral visit
    
  • Optional Windsor Castle guided excursion

• Day Four: Royal London
  
  • Tower of London guided tour

• Day Five: Stonehenge & Bath
  
  • Optional Stonehenge & Bath excursion

• Day Six: London Art
  
  • British Museum guided tour

• Day Seven: End Tour
  
  • Fly home

The Bottom Line

"Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind."
--Seneca

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