socaliforniamagistra

Posted on 9/02/09

Thanks for the last posting and I hope that more teachers
contribute the names of the smaller companies they travel
with. The large ones are not offering quality service.

I've found a wonderful company called, LEAD (Lead Achieve
Explore Discover)out of San Diego.

I have looked into Nations Classroom, and they seemed like
a genuinely nice bunch of people, but there was a major
requirement that I had, that most companies, including
Nations Classroom, do not offer: the 24-hour teaching
guide. (Perhaps they would, if asked.)

As per my extensive research and four year in-field
experience, it seems that most tour companies have an hotel
coordinator in charge of two to ten groups. These
coordinators would go over my itinerary at the hotel in a
teacher hospitality suite or at a concierge desk near the
front desk. The next morning, we had to travel and pick up
our guide on a street corner for a four to six hour city
tour. Unfortunately, I had this person for only a short
time and just as the students got involved, it was over!

The rest of the time I was relying on my bus driver to get
us to places on time. Typically, bus drivers cannot tell a
group which door to enter or how to check a group into a
place, especially if it is inaccessible to the bus, like
the US Capitol. It was frustrating and annoying at times,
especially when I had 45 students 'breathing down my neck'.
Unfortunately, with two different companies, our drivers
were totally clueless, and we constantly got lost, even
with GPS! On one occasion, we missed our Capitol
appointment, and on another, we were 45 minutes late for an
embassy visit because we were driving around in circles!
You can imagine how embarrassed I was!

Then there were the times that we were staying in hotels en
route that did not have a hotel coordinator and I had to
check in the entire group; that's OK until there are
problems with the rooms (we were given rooms on three
floors and they were all smoking rooms). With one company,
the escort traveling with us informed me that the hotel
check-in was our responsibility, and then disappeared until
we boarded the bus the next morning! Or the time we showed
up at a restaurant, and they had no room for us! If we had
had a good guide traveling with us, he or she could have
taken care of these problems, rather than have me
constantly telephoning the tour offices for advice.

The reason I'm so fussy is that I was on a school trip to
DC about 15 years ago with a full-service company (EFS)
that no longer exists. (I heard it was bought and
subsequently dismantled by Worldstrides and now
Worldstrides no longer will offer 24-hour educational
guides to new groups).

I remember our tour guide clearly. She was with us 24
hours, did everything for us, and knew more than our
teacher! We loved her! From the moment we arrived at the
gate at the airport (you could meet people at the gate in
those days!) until we took off, she was there. She was with
us from Williamsburg to New York and connected all the
places we visited together. We didn't need any other
guides (except for Williamsburg). She played games with us
in the hotel and taught us historic songs and poems on the
bus. She even took an unplanned detour to a Civil War
memorial in Fredericksburg. She was also very funny! It's
all in my journal!

I missed that service and individual attention with the
four class trips I have since taken with three other
companies.

It wasn't until I found LEAD, leaddiscoveryusa dot com
which always provide the 24-hour teaching guide, that I
became truly happy. (I suspect that the owner was a 24-hour
guide, herself.)

The guide LEAD has assigned us is superb! She knows how to
get around (we never stood in lines!), both stimulates and
entertains my 8th graders, knows her history, and can
handle situations gracefully and professionally. She is my
requested guide for our next trip this spring. The best
part is: I'm no longer 'stressed out' on tour.

Obviously, I advocate that every tour should have a 24-hour
teaching guide dedicated to them.

We don't follow the usual student tour since I have a 'wish
list' (I teach US history and Latin so classical culture
reflected in DC is extremely important) and then Marie
Martin adds in a lot of educational components including
hands-on activities and reenactments, that no one else
offers. She and her staff are teachers, so they understand.

If you are looking for a new company, consider one that can
offer a full-time teaching tour guide - it makes all the
difference in the quality and educational content of your
trip.

I've found one in LEAD, and I'm estactic

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