EF College Break

I hate EF...My wife and I used them for a student trip once years back and I will not endorse them. We hated the hotels that they used and we had no recourse with any complaints. They changed our dates of travel 3 weeks prior to March Break which caused major headaches with the school board.

You might also want to look into Contiki. They run tours for people 18-35 with most in their early/mid 20's. EF has a good reputation. Unfortunately, not all tours run well......A friend of mine led tours for both companies. EF were fun with a more academic slant. Contiki were for people who wanted to party. (The average age is early to mid 20s.)

So EF doesn't really party.. I dont want to party my whole trip or for more then half of it... but it would be nice to go out a little bit... Rudy- where did you go with your wife? Was it under EF student tours or college break? ive heard horrible stuff about their student/teacher tours.. but obviously it cant be too different than their college ones! :) My only problem with Contiki is their prices!, they dont include airfare.. :/

My error. I confused EF Student tours with their College Break. I'm not familiar with their college break tours. I was discussing their Student tours.

Heather, this was many years ago and from what I can remember, we did London, Paris, Lucerne, Innsbruck and Munich. In Paris, we kept walking around Sacre Coeur and Les Pigalles until the morning because no one wanted to stay in the hotel and they would not let us stay on the bus. Munich was not much better. Short notice on the date change messed up everything. This was a high school trip during March break. My wife had to fly out early because of her teaching contract. It was cheap and the chaperone/student ratio was very low, but this still did not stop my wife from voraciously campaigning against EF advertising in her school board.

I took an EF tour back in 2004, which included paris, french riviera, florence, rome and sorrento. I have to say, while i was on the tour, at 18 years old, i loved it! It was great to be on a tour with not only a few of my highschool friends, but i also met friends from san fran, maryland and ohio. This was a student tour, with teacher chaperons, but even with that, a few of the nights in each city, i know that the student that were of age were allowed to go out. im not a club goer so i spend time on the balconies of our hotels. The hotels werent horrible, but i know the locations were not the greatest. Im pretty sure in paris we stayed next to pigalle, since we were in view of Gare de l'est. It really is just a trade off. My view was that i was young, i wanted to see europe but i didnt feel prepared yet to travel it on my own. it was kind of like an overview. As im sure with alot of tour groups, there are alot of disapointments. too much time waiting on the bus, trying to get 50+ people settled into each hotel and restaurant. Also, the time they give you to see each place may be not enough or too much for you. 2 hours in the louvre was too little, but 4 hours in assisi was too much for me. either way, there are alot of pros and cons of any tour company. i would make a list of things you NEED, things you WANT and things your willing to compromise on in order to get the tour you want and then compare them. if you have any questions about being on an EF tour itself pm me.

Just know, for all tour groups, the hotels are smaller than what you are used to at home, and the cheaper the package, the further out in the suburbs your hotels are. We stayed in "Florence" but had to take a tour bus to the city center etc. Also know some of the "sites" you may visit like leathergoods demo or a perfume factory are really just stores, and the company will often get a cut of the deal of what you buy. All of that considered, I did a trip in high school and it was a great way to get my feet wet in Europe. You'll have a fantastic time!