Europe trip: high school tour AND family vacation?

Ethan, by all means, if you can swing the money, go. One of my regrets is not having traveled right after high school, we didn't make it to Europe til our early 50's. Take the opportunity.
And no I'm not going to feel bad for you that you only get 2 days in London, Paris, and Rome, not a bit:-)
Go. Both trips. You have to!

Hi Ethan, yes, absolutely do both trips if you can. I went along as a chaperone with my nephew when his French class did Paris and the South of France a few years ago. He was 16 and had a great time. We had some very long days but saw a lot!

The school trip and family trip will both be wonderful but completely different experiences. It's great that you are thinking about this now. Maybe you will be able to get a part-time job over the summer to save some money. I hope you have a great time!

Thank you so much for the replies! It’s great to hear from people who have had travel experience like this. I will have to start making some money! :)

Do you think the 10 days will be worth the money? With university only a couple years away, it’s hard not to think about what those five thousand dollars could pay for. For $500 per day, I would feel stressed to make every minute fun to make the money worth it.

My personal rule about prepaying for something: I stop thinking about the money spent. I think about budget beforehand, and evaluate the worth of the experience later, but in the moment I don't think sbout the cost per day, per meal, per activity, if it's already paid for. Kind of like buying an airline ticket and continuing to check the prices afterward.

You sound like you have a realistic approach to this; get a job this summer and trust your judgment. And enjoy both trips!

Absolutely go! These will be experiences you won't regret. Once you get through college, get a full time job, etc. who knows when you will have such opportunities again. You sound like a responsible young person to even consider asking these questions. Best of luck and happy travels!

You mentioned in one of your replies that you are going to be in college in a couple of years. That is also a GREAT way to get to Europe. Seriously consider a study abroad option. Many universities offer a semester with an exchange program at the same cost (or similar) to the cost back home--just the added cost of airfare. Having traveled a lot in Europe, I would seriously consider doing the cities tour with your class. My reason for this is that you will have the advantage of having someone help you navigate them--and a big city can be quite intimidating until you get the hang of it. Once you have been there, the next time is so much easier. If you were to do a study abroad later, you could take advantage of the discount airlines or hop on a train for weekend trips to the places that interest you most at another time--or go back to those cities--there is a very good reason why they are so popular.

I think $5000 is a ridiculous amount to pay for a student trip! Your money would be much better spent on your family trip. On the student trip you will be herded around in a huge group, you will eat what everyone eats, see what everyone sees, and, since I know kids, you will miss some of what you could learn due to the noise and/or rowdiness of those who don't want to listen. I would suggest either using the money on your family trip or saving it for a different trip of your own, where you get to determine what to see and do on your own time schedule. My first international travel experience was a semester abroad to Austria. On the weekends, and on things like spring break week, we traveled. That semester cost me about double what a regular semester would cost, but the experience was invaluable. The cost of the student trip would go a long way toward paying for a whole semester of school abroad, not just ten days. That semester set the stage for all of my trips since with friends, family, and alone.

Ethan, your analysis shows that you're putting a lot of thought into this, and that's a credit to you. Only you and your family can decide what's affordable, but I'd recommend that you do both trips if you can. As you note, they'll be quite different experiences, each valuable and fun in its own ways.

Nancy makes some valid points re the cost and potential distractions of a big student group tour, and most on this board would say four major cities in just over a week is too fast a pace. But few of us have the energy you and your classmates will have, and it will help to have all the logistics taken care of so you can focus on keeping eyes and ears wide open the whole time. You'll just get to sample places that hopefully you'll revisit many times later in life. The $5000 cost might be a little on the high side, but you could find plenty of commercial tours that would cost about as much including airfare.

I went to Europe several times just before, during, and after college. My bible, at least the first time, was Frommer's old "Europe on $5 a Day." (I don't think I ever hit that target but some days I came close.) I felt sure that I'd be returning often. Then life happened, and it was 40 years till my next European trip. In the 11 years since then I've been trying to make up for lost time, but I'll never have the energy I did as a lad. Carpe diem!

You've been to Europe already and have the bug. At 17, with 2.5-3 weeks with your mother and sister, you will develop travel skills. I'd seriously consider skipping the school trip and using the money for a solo trip after HS graduation (assuming you'll be graduating in 2017). You may even find that one or more of your classmates will want to join you after they've been on the class trip. At 18, you can cover a lot of ground in Europe's major cities by backpacking and staying in hostels, where you'll meet lots of other young travelers.

I agree with Chani. Even though the cost of the school trip is high, it will be s great experience and it can become your "reference book" for future trips. I hope you'll write trip reports.

I'm with Nancy and Chani on this one. I'd keep that $5000 for another trip. If perhaps it concentrated on one country and had a more reasonable itinerary, it might be worth it. But that's just too much traveling with too little time in each city, for too much money.

In high school, my daughter spent 6 weeks in a French language program run by Indiana University. The entire cost was just under $5000. If you have a few colleges in mind, look at some of their study abroad programs. You might find the incentive to save your money.

I agree that you should travel now, not waiting until you are graduated, married, retired, etc. but the family trip sounds like the better opportunity. I think $5000 is too much to pay for a 10-day tour, especially with a full bus of 50 people, although I assume it does include your airfare. In comparison, Rick Steves' tours are cheaper and go with half as many people (but don't include airfare), and I know our customers appreciate the smaller group size. Paying for airfare to Europe twice within a few months (and spending all that time on the plane) is not something I would choose to do, even though my job might mean I could afford it. I would try to make the most out of one trip.

I paid $5000 for my older daughter to go on a similar 10-day trip. It was very important for her at the time to be with her friends. She returned and said it really wasn't worth the money. The kids mostly stayed on the bus and looked out the windows, only talked to each other, only ate planned tour group meals, and only saw the predictable big sights. She had never been to Europe before, and while it was fun, it wasn't really experiential travel. She said it was the same experience as going to a camp near home with those same people. For a lot more money.

A few years later, we did a seven-week family trip to Europe independently. She loved it and experienced so much more. Then she did a gap year, which only cost $10,000 for the year, and learned more yet. When we met her in Switzerland after that year, she took US around, and did all the transportation planning.

So that's the word from a teenager's mouth...hang with your peeps at home, and travel more independently.

Hi everyone!
Thank you all so much for your feedback. You've given me a LOT to think about! Even though I'm sure there would be some good aspects of the HS tour, I'm now leaning towards not going. I know there will be some dissapointment when the group gets back and can't stop talking about their amazing time, but it's important to me to travel a lot later in life, and since I'm going with my family in the summer, it makes sense to save the $5000 for a trip (or even 2) in a few year's time instead of going twice within a few months now. The study abroad option is very appealing! Again, thank you so very much for all of the help! I will certainly be back to tell you all of my decision!

Ethan

Good for you, Ethan. Enjoy your friends' photos and stories and think about your future trip. Post again!

I went on a trip to France and Spain with my high school when I was 14. And I enjoyed being with my friends but it was not the best travel experience. Like others mentioned, we spent a lot of time on buses, ate a lot of our meals in hotel restaurants, and had zero say in our itinerary. Since it was my first trip to Europe, I didn't have another experience for comparison. But it felt like something was missing. I didn't feel like I got to experience the cities. I felt like I was just watching them from the window. Since you have had the opportunity to travel before, you might feel that way even more so.

Now some travel is better than no travel at all. But if you skip the school trip, you can take that 5,000 and put it in an account and plan for a post high school trip or a study abroad program in college, like others suggested. In fact, when you look at colleges, inquire about study abroad opportunities. It was a big factor in why I chose my college and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Have a great time whatever you decide. Good luck to you!

mMEthan if the school tour is with EF tours I wouldn't go.. have you read the reviews.. cheap food, crappy hotels that SAY they will be central.. but never are.. and rush rush rush.. If you are smart I would save that 5,000 ( what a overblown price.. ) and go after highschool alone with a friend or two.. you could go for a lot longer ( TEN DAYS FOR 5,000 dollars.. .. or how about 3 -4 weeks...) ..

You and friend could devise a better trip and have way more fun staying in hostels and meeting other kids from all over..

My daughter is 18,, just graduated hs last june.. she made a choice to not go on a hs trip in grade 11,, she , like you did the math and realized she would have a better time on her own with a friend,, designing their own trip .. going exactly where they want, when they want. We would have let her go.. but we are proud she made the right choice for her.

She is looking forward to a trip next summer.. a trip her and her friend are planning..

That make sense to me! Thank you all once again for your wonderful feedback! I definitely have more to base my decision on now. I will post again in the future!
Ethan

Pat's argument is compelling, especially about value for price.