Off to The Orient: February 8 is the Deadline!

“The sunset over Cape Sounion on the west coast of Greece is not orange or amber but blocked mostly from view by the sea’s windswept clouds. The light that does escape is golden and cuts through the gray sky to illuminate patches of sea. The resulting coins of light are alive with texture and movement,” writes UACCM English instructor, Lyndsey Daniel. “The sight is beautiful by any standard, but viewed from an ancient temple to Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, with the solemn columns and the wind in my hair, the sight is…well….
‘I had a moment, Ms. Daniel.’

I look over the back of my seat in our magenta motor coach. My petite student hasn’t lifted her head from her sketch pad. ‘What do you mean you had a moment?’ I ask.

‘I just had a moment,’ is her only reply, head down, long hair tangled from the sea air and hiding her sketch pad. I don’t ask her to clarify again for a couple of reasons. First, I’m her English teacher, and she deserves a break from my constant insistence on specificity. Second, I know what she means anyway.”

Travelling with a group of college students is probably the best-kept secret around. If your idea of a vacation is to lie around on the beach all day or play golf, then student travel is not for you. However, if you love the adventure of learning about the world and its people up close—and don’t care if you have silk sheets and room service—you can travel with a student group no matter what age you are.

“I prefer to travel with students,” says Karen Caig, another UACCM instructor. “First, it’s cheap. I’ve priced group tours before, and nothing comes close to the price of a student tour with companies like EF Tours, the oldest, or Explorica, a newer company that specializes in student travel. Also, I like traveling with student companies who have to answer to high school student parents (even though we lead college tours) and have stringent safety standards. They provide bilingual guides who travel with the group constantly and monitor any volatile situations so they can change the itinerary if necessary. Of course, you have to be flexible, but to me that is part of the fun of travel. That’s the adventure.

“Finally, I prefer to travel with students because their vitality is contagious. On our last tour in Greece, we had a Franciscan nun from Texas, Sister Jo, in our group. She was in her seventies and had a couple from her church in their early sixties with her. They all agreed that travelling with students keeps people young. Sister Jo said that even returning to a country she has visited before is exciting with a new group of young people.”

International travel can be frightening (especially the first time) and expensive, but going with a group of students allows travelers to have more pocket change, more security, and maybe even a few “moments” of their own.

If you would like more information about upcoming trips, contact Lyndsey Daniel at daniel@uaccm.edu or Karen Caig at caig@uaccm.edu. The trip to Japan in May has openings, but the deadline to register is February 8th.

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