How to Capitalize on the Post-Trip Excitement

After-the-trip activities can include:

•  Creating an online web page of tour pictures and participant comments, linked to the school website
•  School bulletin boards featuring trip pictures
•  A school-wide assembly focused on the tour
•  Articles written by participants for the school newspaper
•  Devoting yearbook space to both the prior tour and the newly proposed tour
•  Creating a T-shirt that lists participants’ names and the tour destinations
•  Summarizing the tour superlatives in PTA and other parent-oriented literature and correspondence
•  A party where all participants bring food related to the cultures visited and their pictures for sharing

Long-Term Activities

Trip group leaders and moderators may wish to establish a school travel club that is led by students who have been on past tours. Club activities can include:

•  Watching video of the prior trip (assuming a participant taped the tour activities)
•  Watching brief travel DVDs and videos relevant to future trip destinations
•  Celebrating holidays that tie to foreign cultures (example: Christmas in Germany or Scandinavia; a Dickens Christmas)
•  Inviting foreign exchange students to share their experiences
•  Displaying picture collages and tour information at school club fair events or PTA gatherings
•  Submitting students’ personal tour accounts and experiences to local newspapers or other media
•  Engaging in fundraising activities to raise money for future trips
•  Field trips to local museums with exhibits that relate to trip destinations
•  Meals at local restaurants that serve regional or ethnic cuisine related to the trip destination
•  Ethnic festivals with music, dance, food and crafts
•  Inviting speakers with expertise on trip destinations

Seasonal Trip Meetings

Teacher group leaders can keep the trip momentum going by scheduling seasonal trip meetings. These meetings bridge past tours while instilling interest in future tours. Parents and students should be invited. Parents of former student tour participants are the best available reference for those with questions about tour operations.

Activities at trip meetings can include:

•  Sharing portfolios created from recent trip experiences
•  Discussing what new destinations potential participants might be interested in
•  Making available all trip essentials such as spending money, insurances and trip expectations

If the same tour provider is used, it is also helpful to schedule such meetings to coincide with visits by regional representatives of the provider.