School Trips

All of the student trips' locations are very nice. But I would suggest going for the April trip because of the weather being so much better than February.

My wife and I went to Austria and Italy in February one year. Unless a trip is for skiing, the winter just is not as enjoyable for first time travelers.

I agree you need to consider the weather. Still will be pretty cold in those locations in April. May sound silly, but the trip can vary greatly depending on who she goes with. The chaperones and the kids on the trip can make a big difference. Which group do you think she will like best? Will she be going with a buddy? Is there a chaperone you know and trust going on the trip?

I just wanted to address the second reply. Yes, she will be going with a friend and the chaperons for all of the trips are teachers that she likes. She likes the idea of focusing on one country but also would like to visit multiple places and the fast pace of the Germany one won't affect her. The weather is a factor we are taking into account now but will Spain really be that bad of weather?

Pros and cons for all choices, obviously. But what a great opportunity for her, regardless of which one!

To complicate the choice, or perhaps help resolve it, you might consider how much more she'll get from the country where she knows the language best, i.e. Spain. Reading signs, understanding street conversations, etc. A better chance to experience the different culture with less of a language barrier. (I say "less" on the assumption that she's more familiar with Latin American Spanish than the kind they speak in Spain, but experiencing that difference would be a lesson in itself.)

February in northern France might be pretty cold and wet, not so much in Spain. April in the Alps will have a lot of snow (on the ground if not falling).

Good luck -- but no bad choices here, really.

Are there specific itineraries that you can look at? She can evaluate how much bus time/travel time versus sight seeing time. And see what sites they will actually visit. 10 days (8 if you take out travel days) for a Berlin/Prague/Swiss Alps trip seems quick to me, depending on what "Swiss Alps" means. Is there a trip that is considerably more popular with A LOT of people going? I would pick one of the others- she will have more freedom of choice on the less crowded trips.

Which language is she more fluent in? I remember when I first held up my end of a conversation in French (coincidentally on a high school trip). It is such a vivid, happy memory for me. That might be very exciting for your daughter.

Please let us know what trip she chooses!

Weatherbase is my favorite for averages by country, city and month as well as for current and predicted weather. This is a link to the page for Barcelona -- http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=18180&cityname=Barcelona-Spain. From here you can noodle around to the other cities.

Please note toward the bottom of the chart, Barcelona averages 5 hours of sunshine per day in February and has an average length of day of 11.1 hours. Sometimes it's hard to remember that Europe sits so much farther north than the United States. Depending on where she goes in Andalucia, it could be better weather, but you can check the cities for yourselves.

Paris in February has an average length of day of 10.8 hours and 6 hours of sunshine in February. Nice might be nicer, but Normandy will probably not.

Not all charts have the same exact information presented in the same exact way. Berlin in April says the average length of day is 14.6 hours but makes no mention of the hours of sunshine.

Of course, averages are just that. The charts do typically include highest and lowest temperature records.

If she packs right to stay warm and dry, she should be fine for any of these trips. I wouldn't anticipate that she would need a bikini for any of the beaches, though.

I've actually been to southern Spain in Jan/Feb and the weather was nice. Also went to Paris on same trip and it was freezing but I still loved it because it was my first time in Paris. At least Paris won't be as crowded in February.

This is the 15-year-old, right ? Have you considered as an alternative (or in addition) a summer exchange where she would live with a family in one place ? Or even a semester or year exchange ? (When we looked at the summer for my daughter, the semester cost was only a little more than the 6-week summer and in turn the school year only a little more than the semester -- so she opted for a gap year between high school and college. ) There's a lot of peer pressure to go with a school trip with friends versus doing an individualized program but it sounds like she has excellent options.

I just read through a thread on a travel forum that described some less than satisfactory experiences that people had when using a particular tour complany that specialized in high school group tours. I encourage you to check out whichever company you plan to have her travel with thoroughly in advance. I think that this may have a bigger influence on her experience than location or weather.