"Overall it was a fantastic experience-…"

Overall it was a fantastic experience- there were amazing things to see and engaging activities that taught the students a lot. Our Tour Director Diego L. was fantastic. The downside was that there were 2 simultaneous tours with 2 different groups that often made things chaotic at hotels and restaurants.

"The greatest thing was the itinerary…"

The greatest thing was the itinerary but it was my design since it was a custom trip. Our tour director Rania Hamade was truly amazing, she worked countless hours because of what happened in France while we were there and always with a smile. She is truly fantastic. The restaurants were overall really good, especially the Brasserie Maurice in Annecy and the one we had in Cassis for lunch. I love the hotels Ibis, the one in Antibes was great!! On the negative side, my tour was costumed and many things were added that I never asked for like the visit of the confiserie near St-Paul de Vence, the Matisse museum in Nice, and the Monaco visit. I did not asked for any of this and Rania removed them. Also, I never asked for a guided tour of Versailles which we got and therefore, lost time for our biking which was very important to me. Sadly, we could not go on top of the Arc de Triomphe and the Tour Eiffel because of what happened in France and could not have our driver once we arrived in Annecy for 2 full days. We all had to walk to a local grocery store to put our luggage in storage there and get them back at night... because of not having that driver, we lost countless hours the 2 days that we were in Annecy and packed our suitcases, took them down to leave to have to bring them back to new rooms at the same hotel for an extra night because we still didn't have our drive to take us to south of France. Our driver (Johnny) , finally arrived 48 hours late on schedule and we therefore got to the South of France 18 hours later than supposed to and therefore lost a lot of precious time on our first day there. The rest of the days were good.

"There were several things that were…"

There were several things that were disorganized and not as described that I felt were important in the culture and education of the trip. One of the places we stayed at was super run down and there were other issues. It was still a great trip but there definitely should be a little more organization.

"One in a lifetime trip!"

The trip was well planned and organized and our tour guide made good decisions along the way. We all enjoyed the experience immensely. We truly made memories of a lifetime. I do think that prior to the trip, Explorica/World Strides could do a little better job preparing the group leader for what to expect in different cultures, especially non-European ones.

"We had planed this trip about 9 months…"

We had planed this trip about 9 months ago for our son and we bought the trip insurance plus. The flight was cancelled due to weather and was not rescheduled for 3 days later. I called Explorica about the insurance and they said to call the insurance and the insurance company said get a letter from Explorica about the flight cancellation due to weather and when I talked to Explorica they said no it was due to controller issues and does not qualify for the insurance. This insurance was purchased by us for almost 200 and now they are using wording that make the insurance worse

"We lost 1 AVE train before we left…"

We lost 1 AVE train before we left because Explirica changed our program 2 months before we departed. Then we loaded our 1 AVE train only to have our tour director Joe Calista tell us to get off for locals even though we had tickets. I called Explorica Intetnational & they said we could take a 2 pm train & still get to Córdoba sooner than the 6 hour bus ride Joe had us take in its place. So we list 1/3 day traveling & cut the Cordoba tour in half. It was 125 degrees when we arrived so late & had 2 with heat exhaustion.
Would like to be compensated for that.
Joe did not have organization or time management skills. Did not talk to leaders. 2x he just left us in Barcelona & Lisbon with 6 hours in the heat to figure out on our own what to do.

"Electric and Adventurous"

Electric and adventurous describes our tour of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Our tour guides of these three countries gifted us a snap shot of the best flavors of their countries through food, temples, pagodas, archeological sites and activities. When do we go back!!!!

"A variety of activities and experiences…"

A variety of activities and experiences was very enriching. The local guides on the Galapagos islands were fantastic. We felt safe and felt that the quality of our hotels and transportations was appropriate. Explorica guided me well along the way as we set up the trip and prepared little by little for an entire year.

What I would change is more written out or clear information about what would happen from day to day. We would like a timetable for each day on what time we would catch planes, take boat rides, etc. I was not given any clear information other than our guide telling us what came next. Also, some activities got dropped or were rushed. We also did not complete the "tree planting" that I had requested from Explorica, and it was on our itinerary online.

"Europe 2023"

Our tour guide Ilaria made our trip the most wonderful! She was kind, patient, fun, informative and knowledgeable.

"Our support from enrollment to the tour…"

Our support from enrollment to the tour was phenomenal. Brenden and Thalia provided prompt, detailed information. Our tour director, Antonia, was above and beyond helpful, brilliant and connected to each person in our group.