Leave the flip-flops, grab the snow pants.
This is what the luggage looked like for a group of Wellesley High School students who had signed up to visit the Galapagos Islands for February break, but instead went to Iceland due to political unrest in Ecuador.
The STEM-focused Iceland trip was still the trip of a lifetime for my son and the eight other kids who went. But it caused headaches for many parents who had already paid the $4,300 and could either go on the Iceland trip or get credit for a future trip.
So what can parents do? We reached out to WHS teachers who regularly transport their students around the world to get their advice for parents considering school-organized international trips.
1. Pay for premium travel insurance.
Spoiler alert: I didn't get the most expensive insurance.
For the Galapagos, EF Tours offered two levels of insurance: $190 for Global Travel Protection and $590 for Global Travel Protection Plus. The trip was canceled on January 15 after the president of Ecuador declared a state of emergency. However, because the U.S. State Department has not changed its travel advisories for the country, lower-tier EF insurance only offered travel credits.
With the lower tier insurance, my son had the choice of Iceland – the same price as the Galapagos – or a credit towards a future trip. My son is in 11th grade, so he could have used the credit next year (the seniors who signed up weren't so lucky). Yet my son decided to go anyway – the fact that the trip included no parents may have swayed him – and he loved it.
Tatiana Novobrantseva, Wellesley's mother, was also frustrated that EF's second-tier travel insurance didn't offer reimbursement. Rather than take out a travel credit, her 11th grade daughter decided to go to Iceland even though she had already done so.
“Life happens, we all know that. What makes it a very complicated and unmanageable arrangement is that we pay the money, but it is the school that actually interacts with EF Tours and has to be in the middle,” Novobrantseva said. “On top of all that, tours to Iceland cannot cost the same as those to the Galapagos. How can it cost so much?
WHS science teacher Ken Bateman, who led the Galapagos-turned-Iceland trip, said he would spend more time discussing insurance with parents during the planning stages of future trips.
“Definitely buy high-end insurance in case something happens, like what happened here,” said Bateman, who has taught at WHS since 2006. “Or if you're not willing to spend money extra money, be flexible and just know that your son or daughter will be going on a trip, but you will need to be flexible and know if something were to happen there could be a pivot.
Wellesley Public Schools artistic director Thom Carter, whose 2022 school trip to Peru was canceled, agreed.
“Some people say, 'Oh, it's still a few hundred dollars.' It’s better than losing $5,000,” said Carter, who has taught at WHS for 20 years and led school trips for 16 years everywhere from Morocco to China to London to Spain and 'India. “We had children who got sick the day they left. That’s what insurance is for.
2. Be flexible (and patient).
On a WHS art department trip to Spain a few years ago, the group was on the bus and almost to Barcelona when they realized they had left 10 passports in the hotel safe. hotel in Madrid.
“They were going to spend the night at their house, but it was a big book party, so there was no mail,” Carter said. So, the group pivoted and, yada-yada-yada, “We got two free days in Barcelona!”
Both Carter and Bateman said it is essential for parents to be patient and flexible with the schedule. In addition to unexpected changes, like delays while waiting for new passports, school trips can also include unpopular flight schedules or layovers. For the Iceland trip, the students had 12-hour layovers in Baltimore in both directions. (Bateman explained that this was due to the late change to Iceland; tickets for the large group were purchased three weeks before departure.)
Additionally, school trip organizers often only publish exact trip dates 4 to 6 weeks before departure. Instead, parents are told that students will miss several days of school, but it is not known which days until a month before the trip.
For art trips, Carter said students typically miss three days of school in the week before the break begins. For the Iceland trip, the return flight arrived on the Monday morning after the vacation, so the kids missed a day of school.
“You have to be flexible because you never know. Something will change or go wrong. Our route will change. Something might be closed,” Carter said.
3. Make sure the passport does not expire within 6 months.
On the Iceland trip, one of Wellesley's students traveled to Baltimore with the group, but was denied boarding the international connecting flight to Reykjavik because her passport expired within six months . Ecuador doesn't have the same requirements so it seems this was overlooked when the trip was changed.
This has also happened on other trips, when the itinerary changed and required a stop in another country, Carter said.
The best way to protect yourself?
“Make sure the passport does not expire before six months and a day,” he said.
4. What should I do if my child is quiet or doesn't know anyone during the trip?
Nervous about sending your student on a trip far, far away? It’s pretty normal, the teachers said. For many children, this is their first international trip, or perhaps their first trip without family.
“I love the power of travel,” Carter said. “If your child is shy and has never traveled abroad, don't hesitate to send them on one of our trips. It changes them and shows them how different life can be elsewhere. It just opens them up.
For Bateman, school trips build stronger bonds between teachers and students.
“When you teach, it’s all about connections. Traveling together is a really good way to learn more about them, what their goals are in life and what they are passionate about,” Bateman said. One of her favorite moments was on the 2023 school trip to Panama, when one of the students impressed the local tour guide so much that she offered the Wellesley student a job at any time in the future.
5. Leave homework at home.
When a trip departs before the start of the school break, Carter said he requires students to complete all assignments that will be due to them. It's a better experience for everyone if kids don't have schoolwork or pending deadlines.
But of course there are always exceptions. Carter says that on one trip, a student had to turn in a 12-page assignment a few days into the trip. He didn't bring his laptop – so as not to lose it – but that meant he typed the whole thing on his phone.
“I couldn’t believe it, but he typed the whole paper with two fingers and turned it in on time,” Carter laughed. “He was so happy when it was done.”
6. Bring a travel umbrella. And two pairs of shoes.
This could be good advice for all travelers.
