It's summertime and school is out, but before you know it, the bell will be ringing to start yet another school year.
During the summer, teachers are planning their curriculum and their field trips, but they don't need to plan alone.
While travel agents are more commonly known for helping to structure honeymoons and family vacations, they can also help teachers with field trips.
"As a teacher, you have one primary goal, to provide an educational experience for your students," said Peter Lombard, founder and CEO of Insouciance Abroad in Freeport, Maine. "It likely also means that you don't have the wealth of experience finding the safest hotel, the best sightseeing destination or that hole in the wall restaurant that everyone in town swears by."
As a former teacher, Corey S. Determan knows first-hand the stress of planning lessons, teaching classes, grading work and planning tests.
"Nothing contextualizes learning better than real world experiences such as those provided by travel," said Determan, Good Travels Advisor & Certified Cruise Counselor, in Jacksonville, Florida. "It's important to find an agent who understands the unique needs of academic groups from all perspectives-the students, the teachers and the destinations."
Lombard said that teachers should hand over those details to someone who does this for a living.
"Someone who can tell you, from personal experience, exactly where to sleep and sleep in peace," he said. "Someone who can advise you on how many activities can fit in one day-and no, it's not as many as you think). When you work with a travel professional, specifically a group travel professional, you're not just asking them to make bookings, you're inviting them to partner with you and lend their years of experience."
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Once you decide to work with a travel agent, the agent will take you through the necessary steps to organize and book your trip.
"After interviewing the teacher for educational and budgetary goals, a knowledgeable agent should do all the preparatory work for the teacher," said Jacquie Whitt of Adios Adventure Travel in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
"The agent should set up the itinerary and advise the teacher on the best way to organize logistics, book hotels, arrange airport transfers and ground transportation, inform the teacher about document requirements and deadlines, provide safety and contact information for parents and provide a final travel document that includes embassy and local contact information."
Of course, an agent can help on the financial side of the trip as well.
"An agent can collect deposits from individuals, coordinate rooming requirements, special requests and payment schedules for the group," said Renee Tsang of Centre Holidays in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
A travel agent can also come to the school and explain the trip to the students, parents and chaperones.
"They can let them know what to expect from the experience and provide relevant reference materials," said Determan. "We outline your entire itinerary for you, from departure to return, taking into consideration airport transfers, local transportation, entrance passes, hotels and dining."
Determan also explains how travel agents can negotiate group rates with airlines and hotels if 10 or more students are traveling.
"We can set up special, pre-paid menus at local restaurants as well as pre-purchase attraction passes," he said.
"We will take into consideration the developmental stage of your student's age group to identify age-appropriate destinations and facilities. We are also in-tune with local and regional options as well such as academic enrichment programs at the local science museum or zoo, school band/choir programs at Universal Studios, and zoology and conservation science programs at SeaWorld."
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By allowing a travel agent to negotiate the logistics of transportation, housing, admission and the like, teachers can spend time and energy focused on lesson planning and, of course, teaching.
"All agents have industry insight and contacts that quite frankly teachers do not have, but an agent with experience in academic travel will anticipate your needs and pay attention to the details that others may overlook," Determan said.
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