How to get high school students to France cheaply

I can't help except to say that I certainly wouldn't do anything with kids that weren't my own without heavy duty liability coverage these days. I would be purchasing an umbrella policy to cover my personal assets in addition.

Will the tour company modify their set itinerary for your group? I would start with that question.

I’ve taken two youth groups to Europe for a lot less than you’re spending. As for liability, that would probably be something I would have to cover on my own, but I think a well written contract with you your kids and parents covers 90% of that. I’ve never worried about it outside of that.

When I did the math, I was able to do breakfast, lunch and dinner and actually go in more places and let the kids have a lot more input into what they wanted to see than the tour company could provide for more money.

The first time I took a group to Europe, we did EF tours. I then sat down and did the math myself, and was like no we’re not paying them that mark up for receiving less.

I know people who use these two groups every few years, and they will give you a custom tour. But it will cost even more. The biggest player in this field can afford to sponsor a team at the Tour de France. There’s a lot of profit in hauling school-age kids around Europe.

Thanks ORDtraveler - I trust my insurance agent and think she could come up with an airtight umbrella policy for the duration of the trip. I also wondered about creating an LLC to protect myself. That seems like a lot of work. To personalize a tour you need about 35 people. I only allow students currently or at one time enrolled in my classes to go which is why my groups are so small - but easily manageable.

Thanks Carol - Can you point me in the direction of the companies you used for your youth groups? EF Tours will provide your own private bus (no other schools mingled in) for about 35 travelers but I think they would still need to keep the basic itinerary as the other tours. Again, there's nothing so much wrong with what they visit, it's just the time frame is pretty rushed.

Lol! Welcome to my “pre-retirement” world as well.

1. Yes, you can do it yourself for less and give the group what you want them to have.
2. Liability is a risk you will have to figure out how to walk around or through.

A few things I figured out after working with a tour company for a number of trips (with larger groups than you) is that:
1. It was difficult to find a company that would listen to me and make sure what I wanted was conveyed to whomever was actually doing the on the ground planning. And this was with private tours. Often there were 2 or 3 different people/entities in the country planning, making it even more difficult.
2. I used a variety of companies and they have overhead. Often lots of overhead. Receptionist, accountants, offices, utilities, salesmen, etc. plus the person shepherding you around and all the companies doing the planning.
3. Hotels were usually not city center, often making it impractical for easy evening activity (and with young people, this can be deadly).

After being priced out of the possibility of traveling one year due to lower numbers, when the choice was cancel the trip or do it myself - I did it myself and decided not to worry about liability (I knew my group of 20 people well). I ended up saving each person well over $1,000 and the trip was exactly what the group wanted, not to mention they actually got to go! Lest that sounds like bragging, it was really just a factor of knowing what you want/need and planning exactly that. It’s not rocket science. It’s research and work. Ended up doing it twice before I retired.

But guaranteed flights these days are more expensive (can’t wait and buy them on sale). And 1 free for every 6 is not bad. So $4,000 is not a horrible price when you compare. It’s just more than it would cost if you did all the work for free and got past the liability question. Tour companies have agendas and timeframes for reasons that work in general - but not always in specific for people who know what they want. There are pros and cons you would need to weigh.

The people I know with customized tours use EF I don’t know enough to tell you how many people they have, etc.

One of my problems also was the “free” person. No
It’s not free. The tour company marked up your other participants to give someone a free trip. Since I felt that is inappropriate for me to take a free trip from a youth group I recalculated the price based on the number of participants and that’s what they worked to
Earn and pay. I realize not everyone can do this but it was the way I thought I should handle it.

If an adult is giving their time(without pay if during spring break or summer) and risking liability to chaperone teenagers on a trip, the adult should absolutely travel for free. That's a work trip for the adult. Not to mention that if the adult is a teacher, the parents of those kids likely earn more than the teacher.

Obviously I do not agree the adults absolutely get to go to free. Of course that one size fits all statement is probably not always accurate either. As I said, I did what I felt was appropriate for my group but that does not mean it’s right for everyone.

But even if you do your own trip, you can build the price of the chaperones into the cost and still probably be less expensive than these commercial tour, companies and by less expensive I don’t mean it will be dramatically cheaper, but it may provide more for the same price

Thanks TexasTravelMom - I agree with so much of what you said. One other major obstacle would be to convince parents that sending kids to France with me versus an established tour company would be a wise move.

Thanks Carol - I appreciate your sentiment and not charging the kids for your place is wonderful. As far as I'm concerned, I put in a ton of hours just to organize the trip and worked 16-18 hour days supervising my students while on "vacation" in France. I will never pay thousands of dollars to supervise my own trip. I have been able to facilitate some one-on-one student exchanges in the past that, other than plane fare, cost the families next to nothing to send their child to France. Congratulations on making it work for you!

Next job is to crunch the numbers for a hypothetical trip to see if I could offer anything close to an organized trip for less or the equivalent. I meet with my company representative this Friday and will explain all the things I could do without in hopes of making the trip cheaper and more meaningful for my kids.

But even if you do your own trip, you can build the price of the chaperones into the cost and still probably be less expensive than these commercial tour, companies and by less expensive I don’t mean it will be dramatically cheaper, but it may provide more for the same price.

It will be at least several hundred dollars cheaper for every 10 students - most likely more, simply because you are not also having to share all the overhead costs, as well.

As far as convincing parents? What they need is a clear indication of your plan, a clear outline of your cost and inclusions versus the tour company, and your clear belief that you can give the kids better value, as well as the students’ clearly expressed desire to go with you. If the kids respect you and you believe in yourself, parents will follow suit. But it’s work and time! Good luck!