"From start to finish the trip was…great"

From start to finish the trip was great. My advisor from Explorica was extremely helpful in the planning process.

"This was the worst experience of my…"

This was the worst experience of my life. The tours were awful, the mornings were early and the nights were late. The tour guides were kind but the tours were poorly selected and every day was long. Would not recommend to anyone with less energy than a long distance sprinter. The best days I spent here were travelling between countries, and waiting in another country because of a cancelled layover flight to the country we would be touring.

"Fabulous tour-we loved every minute of…"

Fabulous tour-we loved every minute of it!

"The hotel locations were decently close…"

The hotel locations were decently close to city center/airports. The bus transportation was clean. The food was excellent, decently sized portions and very culturally focused. Our daily guides were knowledgeable and friendly, and our tour director was upbeat and helpful.

"Amazing trip!"

Once again, Explorica came through with a memorable, well-organized, safe trip for my students. The trip to Costa Rica was seemless, the tour director and bus driver AMAZING, the activities were just what we were hoping for and the level of care and attention in every aspect of the trip was impressive. I cannot find fault with any aspect of the experience from the initial planning stages through the safe arrival back at school. I will definitely plan our next school trip with Explorica and would recommend them wholeheartedly.

"Amazing Tour Directors"

Amazing Tour Directors! The knowledge and expertise they show, the patience and understanding for the students and parents on the trip, it's all so impressive.

"M.A.S.E. Paris City of Lights Review"

Our trip started off rocky when we missed our 2nd connection flight to Paris, which is one of the reasons I rated the trip experience a "3." Explorica should refrain from assigning travel groups two connection flights. Had we only had one, we would have made our flight to Paris. However, having had a delay with our second connection in Chicago, we missed our connection flight from Newark to Paris. Not to mention, it also increases the probability of our luggage not making it to our final destination.

We called WorldAssist Emergency and were placed on a flight to Paris the next night and stayed overnight in Newark at a Hampton Inn. We were issued UberEats meal vouchers, which we were unable to use at the airport and in Paris. In light of the situation, we made lemons out of lemonade and visited NYC for the afternoon, which was nice, but in exchange, we missed the first day and half of our itinerary, for which I hope Explorica will reimburse us.

Conversely, the best part of the trip was the synergy between our tour guide and both of our groups. Fatma Labed was an Amazing Tour Guide, who I highly recommend and with whom I would love to do future tours! She's friendly, thoughtful, and very helpful! On our free-day, she escorted our group to the metro and wrote out explicit directions on how to go and return from Disneyland Paris. I literally had students tearing up our last day of the tour, saying they will miss her and are still asking about her.

We enjoyed the meals at each of the restaurants in Paris and London, with the exception of Flam in Paris-- Day 5 of our tour--which was the worst part of the trip. Should I ever repeat this tour, please be sure to REMOVE FLAM from our group's itinerary. The service and the food were downright lousy!

My table, in particular, did not receive our pizza platter dinner nor our salad bowl, and only received the dessert pizza platter. Graciously, another two tables from our group shared their pizza platter with us and their salad bowl; however, leaving us all famished.

I tried to politely explain this to our server, who went off on me, yelling at me that it was our fault that we were late for our reservation and that we needed to hurry up and get out because there was another dinner party of 20 who were coming after us, and that we were not going to be served anything else. Mind you, she never inquired about the reason behind our tardiness, as we had encountered a number of unforeseeable events that day, from the transportation to the Eiffel Tower to the ascent of the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless, as we were leaving the restaurant, I told the waitress that she was very rude and that she should not treat or talk to customers in the manner that she did, at which point, she proceeded to only get more belligerent and disrespectful, making a huge scene in the middle of the restaurant. Both my group and the group from Minnesota ended up going to dinner at McDonalds because we were famished. Consequently, we would like to be reimbursed for our McDonald dinner, as we had to pay out of pocket that night, as each adult and student traveler had to buy dinner immediately after "dinner."

Lastly, the Residence Inn at Saint Maurice was 2.5 stars at best. The breakfast was very mediocre, compared to that which we were served in London. None of the participants liked the Residence Inn. Personally speaking, I liked the location in relation to the metro to restaurants, but my room itself was very dirty and had not been swept or vacuumed. Our sheets and pillow were also dirty, and did not appear to have been changed out, and all travelers in my group indicated to me that their bathrooms, ours included, had a foul odor coming from it and were dirty. Therefore, in the future, please do not place us back at this hotel again. Instead, please put us in a hotel that is more comparable to that London Croydon Town Centre Hotel. The room and the bathroom were clean. They offered a better breakfast variety of options, which I would like to see in my future travels next year, when I do the Best of France Tour.

"Overall, it was an amazing experience for my students with some hiccups."

Overall, my large group had a great experience. Our tour guide was amazing and worked hard to make everything work smoothly.
Comments:
1) Informing the travelers that the hotels were pet friendly, and this triggered asthma attacks in a few students and on myself.
2) U
sing group entrances to museums because in Sagrada Familia, Louvre, Prado, and Eiffel Tower we had individual entrances with longer waits.
3) Most students were not able to hear the anything pertaining the Sagrada Familia because we had individual entrances and many could not download the APP that was required for the audio tour. If we had known about this beforehand, we would have been better prepared.
4) Same issue at the Louvre, we had individual entrances rather than a group entrance.
5) Our hotel in Paris was definitely in a sketchy area, the rooms had large windows that had no safety devices like the ones in Barcelona. Any student could have done something ""not smart"". Also, most bathrooms had visible mold on the ceiling.
6) 4 people were left behind in Frankfurt, and although this is not your fault, and I forcefully advocated for them in Denver and in Frankfurt, they were not able to participate in the activities on the 1st day. I had to deal with a very upset parent who claimed her daughter missed out on the 1st day and had to spend money on clothes because her luggage did not arrive until the next day. I have filled out all the paper work with Lufthansa so that they can receive some sort of compensation.
7) The metro tickets that were sent to our tour guide were mostly demagnetized. We had a mess at every station because they kept not working. One student had a facial laceration because a metro door did not open when he pushed it. The last day in Paris was intense because a couple of the kids made the decision to go together through the metro because their tickets were not working. The adults did not notice this, the metro guards pulled them aside and were intimidating them with jail and penalties. My school principal started videotaping, like in the US, and this infuriated the guards more. In the meantime, the tour guide was exchanging, yet again, more demagnetized tickets, she returned and was trying to calm down the guards. In conclusion, I had 2 crying students, and I had to pay a penalty of 60 euros on the spot so that they would not call the policy on our students and for having documented the event on video.
8) I appreciate the World Assist department because I had called them or texted them on a few occasions, and they responded promptly.
9) I want to give kudos to our personal tour guide, to all bus drivers and local guides.

"Explorica Travel in France (northwest)"

Our tour guide, Sabrina, was incredible. She bonded with the students and was helpful in planning, organizing, and problem solving. Our bus drivers were equally great.

The one problem that we repeatedly ran into, however, was the continual disregard of dietary restrictions. Chaperones had to constantly check for allergies in food, and the variety was non-existent for those with gluten allergies or high blood sugar.
The hotels were also inconsistent. Not only did the rooming situations change every day, we also have had really great hotels and very bad ones (especially in the countryside). It's one thing to have old hotels, but it is inacceptable to have unclean hotels with a ceiling full of spiders and other insects. Bathrooms also don't have doors in some cases, which is a huge issue for students traveling. If Explorica can please vet their hotels, that would help us avoid a myriad of issues.

"Explorica and the Galapagos Islands…"

Explorica and the Galapagos Islands Tour
I just got back from a 10 day guided tour of the Galapagos Islands with Explorica. These islands are very difficult to navigate between and Explorica managed our group of 35 people with efficiency and ease. Because the difficult parts of the trip were organized like this, our group members could enjoy the beauty and wonder of the Galapagos Islands without worries. Well done, Explorica! We will use you again!