<p>Have any of your students had a good experience with a tour company? My D wants to take a guided tour of Europe with other students this summer.</p>
<p>I had a good experience with Explorica this past summer: both plane trips, though not direct, were very nice (Swiss Air is by and far the best company I have flown with), and the accommodations were acceptable considering the price that we paid and the fact that we were staying in fairly popular tourist destinations. However, I do have a suggestion: if they offer complimentary dinners or tell you where to eat at night, opt not to follow their advice. Honestly, the best way to figure out where to eat is to ask your tour guide or the concierge at the hotel, or just to find someplace that looks nice.</p>
<p>I went on a tour of Central Europe (meat and potatoes country: my kind of place), and the first European dinner my friends and I shared was a bowl of disgusting sauceless spaghetti in the hotel dining room. On another night, we walked up the tallest hill in Prague (I have pictures where my teacher is a speck at the bottom) only to be ushered into this restaurant that served us potatoes (we assume) that were indistinguishable in shape and taste from bars of soap. (There were a couple of nights where we had nice dinners, but out of 9 dinners, I’d have expected at least 4 to be good.)</p>
<p>However, my view of the trip might be skewed because it was my teacher, and not me, who was interacting with the company itself, and so there may have been little disagreements with the company that I am unaware of. I’ll ask him when I see him tomorrow.</p>
<p>I spent 8 weeks touring Europe summer after my junior year and had a blast. That was more than 30 years ago. I don’t remember who organized the tour but I got the information on flyers posted at my school’s bulletin boards. She can look at those places first.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. Has anyone had experience with Kon Tiki?</p>
<p>Check this site: [EF</a> Educational Tours ? International Educational Travel for Teachers and Students](<a href=“http://www.eftours.com/]EF”>http://www.eftours.com/)</p>
<p>My D’s school organizes annual trips for graduates for about 3 weeks using this company for a few years now. According to the organizing teacher, is the best he could find.
This June they are going on a Euro trip including London, Paris, Zürich, Rome, cruise to some Greek island and Athens, for about $4,000/pers + pocket money from the West Coast.</p>
<p>Contiki = alcoholism with Australians.
Just saying. They have a reputation.</p>
<p>I have had 3 excellent experiences with Explorica- to Vietnam, France and China. These were with (relatively small) students all from our high school, although I was not the teacher interacting with Explorica. We had small enough groups twice that we were put together with a group from other high schools- which made us a little apprehensive, but everything worked out fine, especially on the most recent trip to China! Everything was well organized, the local guides were fabulous, and accommodations, while certainly not luxurious, were OK. We (adults) were thrilled that the kids were kept so busy during the days and evenings and the mornings started out very early, that there was very little inclination towards mischief at night! As these trips were all organized as a school group, I’m not sure how it would be/work if an individual student wanted to join a tour, but I believe they do that too:
[Explorica</a> | Educational Travel and Student Tours](<a href=“http://www.explorica.com/]Explorica”>http://www.explorica.com/)</p>