Education Tours for high school students

Kathey - You should email your question to the tours department instead of posting it here. Just go here for the email form: http://www.ricksteves.com/about/contact_form.cfm?recipient=tourdept

Hi Kathey, Are you seeking any information on the different tour companies or only from RS? If RS, probably a call or a direct e-mail to someone in the RS tours section should help. I was involved with an effort to organize a tour for students in my son's school. I absolutely know what you mean about being leery after reading reviews! I saw ones that could easily turn parents' hair gray overnight. My son eventually went on an EF tour and I went as chaperone. It's my personal opinion from that experience that an excellent tour director is key to having a good tour or not (actually RS tours are the same, at least in that respect .. the one RS tour I've had - hopefully more in my future - was the same for having a Terrific! tour director). We were so lucky to get a great one on that EF trip. He made the trip an all time experience for my son because he had the bus driver stop at an extra stop, so my WW2 buff of a son got to see the American Cemetery in the Netherlands. A teacher in my school district is going on her 17th tour with EF next April. I'm amazed that she is so willing to always go with the same company. I wonder if by working with one company that it allows her to know about any "warts" and keep in communication to avoid the worst ones. A student in our town went on a People to People trip and I think I've heard that she's interested in another. As an adult, the EF tour wasn't particularly great but it was definitely tuned to the kids, and it's ultimately for them anyway. If you have to look at the traditional students companies again (and not just the two mentioned here), find the repeat travelers and talk with them about their experiences. Sorry if it's not information you may truly want now, but I hope it could be helpful.

Kathey - I agree with the advice to contact the RS office, they may be able to help you put something together for your group. There's a special link on the home page for teachers (http://www.ricksteves.com/teachers/teachers_menu.htm). fyi - I was a chaperone on an EF tour a few years ago with my nephew's high school French class. Overall, it was fine and the kids had a great time. On the flip side, I thought the hotels were sub-standard ("0-1 star", not located near anything), and the food wasn't very good (everyone got the same chicken dish for dinner every night). I think the teacher's trip is free - might be why that person went 17 times!

Thank you all for your advice! I will definitely be trying to connect with people who've taken numerous trips with all the different companies (including RS) and hopefully get more insight into the pros/cons of each one. Hopefully the good will outweigh the bad and my son will get to go on an adventure of a lifetime :-)

I have had experience with Prometour. They are mostly student trips and have offices in Malaga, Toronto and Paris. Had very good luck with them on a Spain & Morocco trip.

FYI - I chaperoned 7 trips of high school students with CHA(Cultural Heritage Alliance) based in Philadelphia. In general I was very satisfied with our trips. The hotels ran the gamut of being fantastic( a parador in Cuenca, Spain with unbelievable views) to run of the mill (hotels near train stations). The itineraries always included the standard morning city tour with free time in the afternoons. Again, the better the tour director, the better the trip. I really only disliked one of the 7 tour directors I traveled with.