School trips abroad for middle/high schoolers

[Kathryn K.]

Personally, I think $4-5K for an 8th grade school trip is way too much money for a pretty canned (and short) experience.  It's okay if your daughter doesn't like to travel (or it sounds like she's interested in a few things, but not what you're interested in doing), a lot of adults aren't crazy about travel. Or maybe she will be more interested later. 

Also agree with others, that if your kid does do the trip they need to contribute at least partially to the cost.

[Secretly Saving]

I can speak from another viewpoint.  I am a teacher who takes students abroad every year.   Obviously, I wouldn't do it (tons of work while abroad, NOT a vacation, tons of work ahead of time, lots of responsibility...) unless I really believed in the value of the experience.   I traveled as a kid and I love that I am able to offer these life changing experiences to students.


Ages:   I will only take students who have completed 8th grade through 12th grade.   DO NOT send a middle schooler out of the country.

Cost:  That is high for 7-10 days.  Can I ask what company the school is using?  Your child should absolutely be a part of the process with financial skin in the game.   They should be helping to fundraise.  Also, the school should be helping to fundraise.  We offer a lot of scholarship money to make it more affordable.

High School or College Credit:  Many programs offer this.  See if it is included in the price.  These experiences (especially if there is significant community service while abroad embedded, can be great topics for college essays or interviews.

Extra Special:  Is there a homestay type option involved?  Do they meet with local politicians?  Do they experience "insiders" views of any of the locations?

Safety:  Please make sure that your child is traveling with experienced teachers who have this whole process under control.  I can give you a list of questions to ask the adults.  If any of their answers makes you uncomfortable, it may not be a good fit. 

Size of the Group:  This matters.  You want a safe student to responsible adult ratio. 

I am happy to PM with you about other details.

[Mgmny]

I think that's called adolescence . . . My mom used to firmly tell us, "We're going to have fun whether you want to or not!"

I love your mother!

We used to have "FFF" days growing up too! It stands for, "Forced Family Fun"

[Gone_Hiking]

Personally, I think $4-5K for an 8th grade school trip is way too much money for a pretty canned (and short) experience. 

This.

$4-5 K might be appropriate for an adult who stays in nicer hotels and drinks wine with dinner every night.  Students - not so much, even including museum tickets.  The amount, within the context of student trip and teenagers' idea of creature comforts, seems inordinately high.   Have you seen the proposed itinerary? 

[joonifloofeefloo]

Just to add one more bit of anecdotal input, my younger brother was an awful traveler when he was a kid. He ruined almost every family trip he came on, decided around age 12 that he was going to absolutely refuse to camp ever again (which was a bummer, since that was pretty much the staple of our family trips), and just did not have any fun (or let others have much!). Poor guy just hated it, and didn't deal well with change or new situations.

Fast-forward to today, when he's a terrific person in his mid-thirties who LOVES to travel. He's lived & worked in several different countries, recently introduced his girlfriend to international travel, and works hard to make as many of his vacations travel-based as possible. Oh, and spent ten minutes during a recent phone call explaining to me about how great camping is...the nice thing is, over the phone, no one can see me facepalm ;-)

I don't know what made the difference, just wanted to throw out that just because a person is unenthusiastic about family trips doesn't mean they won't grow up into a traveler. Or anything else, for that matter. People are surprising!

I was thinking about something similar earlier: This was basically me! I hated travelling with my family or any group when I was a kid. I didn't like groups, constant stimulation, rigid schedules full of activity, common "fun" school events (dances, etc), and so on.

When I turned 16, I started travelling and loved it, because I was alone! I met very cool people en route, so wasn't isolated, but could daydream, rest, go at my pace, read, have solitude as needed, etc. That's what made travel rock for me :)

[GizmoTX]

Unless you are FI, put the money towards college or other advanced training.

We did international family trips that were a lot more informative, allowed us to set the pace, & meet with locals.

[FiguringItOut]

I want to thank everyone who responded and provided their opinions and/or experience.  It was very helpful to me.

After some more conversations with the kid yesterday and more reflections on my part, I am going to say no to the 8th grade trip. 

High school trips will be decided upon when the time comes.

[Laura33]

More anecdote FWIW:

1.  I said no to a $3500 one-week spring break school-advocated "Spanish" trip to Central America in 10th grade.  It struck me as minimal value for the money and an excuse to hang out on the beach and do poverty tourism and call it "educational."

2.  After much debate and angst, I said yes to a $4500 3-week band tour through France and Germany, where the kids played concerts in local churches and town halls almost every night, the summer after 9th grade.  My gut reaction was that it was way too much money.  But we could afford it, and on a per-week basis the cost was reasonable, and I thought DD would bloom given that degree of independence (the line from "Pride and Prejudice" springs to mind that she wouldn't rest until she had exposed herself somewhere), and it so happened that the end of the tour coincided with when we planned to be in Europe anyway for a family vacation and so we were going to have to buy her a plane ticket anyway, and between that and the avoided costs of summer camp etc., the delta was probably closer to $2-3K.  So I said yes and told her that we would pay the fees and she was responsible for all spending money (the kids were on their own for lunches, so it was like $700).  And amazingly, my total spendthrift kid saved almost all of her allowance and student aide money, and she and a friend threw a big bake sale that made $300 between them, and 9 months later when it was time to go, she had like $850 saved. 

I wouldn't call any of this mustachian -- it was a totally frivolous luxury that she's damn lucky we can afford to give her.  But it was worth it for her and for us. 

[Kathryn K.]

After some more conversations with the kid yesterday and more reflections on my part, I am going to say no to the 8th grade trip. 

High school trips will be decided upon when the time comes.

Great! In my biased view, I definitely think you made the right choice.

..and I thought DD would bloom given that degree of independence (the line from "Pride and Prejudice" springs to mind that she wouldn't rest until she had exposed herself somewhere)...

  Ha, love a good P&P quote. 

[Dicey]

I think that's called adolescence . . . My mom used to firmly tell us, "We're going to have fun whether you want to or not!"

I love your mother!

We used to have "FFF" days growing up too! It stands for, "Forced Family Fun"

Love your mama too!

A friend of mine's mom used to tell them they were going for a "Random Scoot".

[Krolik]

I also think the cost for the trip is very high. I travel to Europe on regular basis and even if have to go during most expensive months (Summer or Christmas) the plane tickets don't exceed $1300 (max I paid). Off season the prices can drop to low $600.

I understand that the idea of trip with friends is very appealing to your children but the cost is very high (in my opinion).

[Dee18]

I loved my trip abroad at 17. When I was 16 I heard about a summer program (taking language classes daily for 6 weeks and living in an inexpensive dorm) in Spain for high school students.  It was sponsored by our local university.  I asked my mom if I could go.  She said I could if I paid for it.  I worked as a waitress on weekends and babysat after school.  (The trip cost $800.  I waited tables for $1.35 an hour plus tips and babysat for $.75 an hour.) In a year I saved up the money and I went. I learned a lot of Spanish, but more importantly I learned I could plan long term, work hard and then get to do what I wanted.

Decades later, my daughter's high school school offered trips abroad every year to multiple locations.  Parents routinely paid $3500-4500 for these 9 day sightseeing tours. They were run by a private company that keeps a big chunk of the money in exchange for arranging everything.  The students have no responsibility and are transported around the various sites. My daughter asked to go.  She had no special passion or interest in the places, but wanted to go because her friends were going. I said no, but said she and I could go to Paris for 10 days after her junior year if she wanted. While most kids were traveling, she stayed with the few other kids who did not travel:one year they did volunteer work; the next year they went rock climbing, canoeing  and camping locally with a female teacher that was a great role model. 

When I said she couldn't go on the first international trip, I said I would be happy to spend some of my hard earned money so we could enjoy that together.  We had a wonderful time.  I taught her how to buy train tickets, read bus and metro maps, and travel inexpensively by cooking many of our meals in our efficiency apartment, after shopping at the outdoor market.  She insisted we walk as far as allowed up the Eiffel Tower...what fun that was!

It was hard for both my daughter and I to resist the peer pressure of those high school international trips.  I had the money for them.  I think the fact that I had just begun reading MMM influenced my decision.   

[COEE]

That price is redonkculous as i like to say.  I'm glad you didn't spend the money.  I recently brought my family of three to Paris for 10 days and north Africa for another 7 days.  Total cost was 6k USD for all 3 of us.  We had a wonderful time and had many cultural and fun experiences.  That included two days at disney paris too.  We certainly could have done that trip cheaper if i had tried too. 

I really would encourage a family trip at this age or at any age over 5 really.  It doesn't need to break the bank though.  Some of my fondest childhood memories were going to Mexico  with my family as a pre-teen.