"Useless"

The world assist number as far as I know is completely useless, they never resolved my problem. The transportation company that was hired to pick up and drop off my students is also the worst. The bus they used to pick us up from the airport had no a/c and the temperature that day was of 100.

"Amazing tour guide"

Amazing tour guide - I would give Izabella 6 stars because she added so much value to the trip. Itinerary was excellent and well planned with good hotels and meals. Transportation was our only issue as some of the bus companies had unfriendly and uncooperative drivers that did not secure proper permits. Explorica was responsive to concerns and managed pre-trip planning well.

"What went right and went went wrong in Spain/Portugal 2024"

First, Flights had students arriving at night so they missed a whole day in Barcelona; we lost the chance to visit the synagogue because our city tour was booked when it was open; close Friday afternoon and we arrived too late Thursday, June 27th. This was a huge disappointment as we are a Jewish youth group. We had wanted tickets to the Sagrada Familia. We were only told the day we arrived that we were not getting tickets. Since we booked out trip starting in Nov, the Explorica planning team could have given us the option to have tried to purchase our own tickets with that much notice. Second I requested a train from Barcelona to Madrid, didn't get it. It was way too long on an old bus that only went 7-80 K an hour up the hills. We lost a half day of free time exploring and sightseeing in Madrid. Third, I requested help planning the trip. The final Itinerary was not the best trip possible. I have not been to most of the places and asked for assistance in creating the best travel plan. However, We were in the bus way too long daily. We should have gone from Toledo to Granada, then the beach in Costa del Sol, then Gibraltar, then to Seville, then Portugal. When I asked to set up the beach day, I requested to have it in Portugal I was told no. So again that added way too much bus time. Kids got sick on the bus. One was throwing up and very sick. We could not alter plans and he suffered as we drove hours and hours to get from one stop to the next. Often reversing back to where we came from because the order in the itinerary didn't make since. Yes I chose the towns, but a planning team could have advised me to say that program would be better set up this way. Third, the hotel dinner near Seville was absolutely horrible. The staff were really rude to our vegan and vegetarian members, breakfast was fine but the dinners were really bad. Best bet would be to offer dinner in town. Fourth, Finally we lost the chance to hear the Fado concert as there was confusion as to where to go on a Sunday evening. The concert hall said we had no tickets, none were available for later and later time would have impacted our dinner. It was a sad for our kids and chaperones. In fact I feel like we should be compensated for not getting to see the show. We did get to visit the Gaudi house with inside tickets so that was nice. But missing the Fado show with nothing to replace it was a real loss. We were not allowed to use to bus toilet. Sitting on buses for up to 8 hours and having to wait for stops wasn't convenient. The driver said the company didn't put a deposit on using the toilet. I find this absurd and outrageous. Times we were nearly to our destination like literally 12 miles away, when driver said I need my lunch break so we sat in the parking lot of a gas station for half an hour several times over the trip with our sight only 15 minutes or miles ahead. VERY frustrating to waste touring time in a gas station. I had high expectations from Explorica because when we traveled in France and Israel with this program; was much better. In Israel the organizer of the region met with me personally and we had on-going texts daily. The Israeli hotels were near town. In Spain we were in the industrial regions. No were to explore or sight see. What went well. We enjoyed Veronica our tour director. She tried hard to help us especially when kids were sick and we tried to change the itinerary to shorten bus time. We enjoyed the local guides as they did a great job and offered information regarding the Jewish history. We really liked the dinners in towns; (best were Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon was everyone's favorite.) Gibraltar was wonderful. They loved the caves, seeing the monkeys, free time and then we added a dolphin boat ride which was amazing. We enjoyed Toledo with the Jewish Synagogue, kids like the cathedrals and climbing the tower, riding on the train (mishap there but not Explorica's fault. No cabin car number 9 so we had lots of confusion finding seats) Veronica got us assistance and all was well. Wished we had had our train from Madrid too. Pools were nice. Bus driver was nice enough to drive kids to a sandy beach because where our hotel was the beaches were rocky and dirty. What made the trip special is this was a cohort of kids who studied for two years together. They were friends and so they made the most out of the trip. I have lead tours since 1995 and I felt like this tour needed more support from the planning department to identify that we would be in the bus so long. That we could have avoided so much bus time if they would have noticed the back tracking done in our program. I will not lead another tour to Spain or Portugal. However, I will lead more Explorica tours to Israel. I find that local team supportive and felt the trip in Israel was 4 plus stars.

"Walk Like an Egyptian! "

Our tour to Egypt was an incredible experience full of rich history, incredible sights, and a yearning to learn more each day we were on tour! I would highly recommend going through Explorica as every detail was polished and made the tour feel like an investment in our future selves. 10/10 experience!

"12 days in Spain"

Our tour director was phenomenal. She was deeply invested in the success of our trip and connected wonderfully with both kids and adults. Nearly all of our site visits were great experiences. Highlights were the flamenco dancing in Madrid (with student participation!), our visit to the Basque Country, and our two-day extension to Lloret the Mar. Our travel by air and land was smooth and our cultural experience was customized for our group. We had a great time!

"I had trouble getting things resolved…"

I had trouble getting things resolved and ironed before our trip launched but when it did launch the company did step up to the plate and fix a multitude of issues that should have never existed in the first place. I found the company better to deal with the EF tours however as a customer I am not finding the value I want and expect in most of the student travel companies. The adult focused travel companies don’t treat their travelers the way that I have seen the student trips as whole. I give Explorica much higher marks than EF but there is a lot of room for improvement. We should know our restaurant names, lunch options, times entrance tickets given in advance, hotel choices all in advance. I also think they need to be more honest with their contracts in what you are buying and getting because our cooking class on tour was great example of being mislead. We arrived to discover that the company has had a contract with Explorica for 6 years and never to do they actually provide a cooking l class as it is not in the Explorica contract and additionally there contract with Explorica has been reviewed in 3 years. Instead what we were given was no instruction and minimal support from one chef for 14 people and told to make our own tapas. We enrolled and expected a cooking class and this was not what we were given. They really need to provide more details and honor those details when selling trips because a trip that costs what there average trip does should not be facing all the issues that we faced. For example our experience is that we were sold and told that we would take a coding class at Bletchley and then told we couldn’t get this because the morning we tried to book it the class was sold out. This should be explained at the onset not taken away weeks before departure when people have paid to do that exact experience. Why sell something you can’t deliver this seems fraudulent to me. Similarly we were sold an excursion inside Buckingham Palace only to find out this was never going to happen because in all the years they have done this it is always done in July which would have been more than three weeks after we left. They promise something that is not delivered and their basis is the kids had fun. I feel that unknowing student travelers and unseasoned teacher travelers don’t know that they are being mislead by the company and the Tour directors. The structure system and sales delivery needs to be reviewed. My students though had a great time but they didn’t get what they paid for and we had to fight to get close to what we paid for and that should happen when a contract is signed otherwise it was contract made that had not intent on honoring. I think the company gets strong marks for trying to make us happy while on tour, but I would have preferred not having had any of the issues in the first place. I must say I did have a much better experience with Explorica and although this has criticism throughout it I would like to say I would use the company again and they really did try hard to make things right and that says a lot! I would recommend them but your sponsoring teacher will need to research and question things prior to the trip leaving.

I would also like to add that Explorica has GW Hospital doctor on call program for its travelers and this was a fantastic resource!

" Awesome Tour"

It was awesome, I loved every day of this tour, from Madrid, to Toledo, back to Madrid, Estepona, Gibraltar and even more the five days in Morocco.

"The trip to Ecuador was an amazing…"

The trip to Ecuador was an amazing experience. The country is beautiful and breathtaking. The people in Ecuador is very kind and friendly with a high proud of their culture and heritage. The food is exquisite!!!!

"Melissa Barrett was not available in a…"

Melissa Barrett was not available in a timely manner, friendly and patience with service prior to trip.

"We were booked on a school excursion…"

We were booked on a school excursion from June 20-July 1, 2024 We toured France and Italy. They booked our flights on AER LINGUS. This airline had been threaten to strike for weeks in advance of the trip. When our group leader inquired about the strike and asked if Explorica would change our flights, they indicated that if something happened that our flights were canceled, they would work expeditiously with the airline to get us rebooked. The room accommodations at some stops were not safe for kids (or adults for that matter). One stop in France was a motel that smelled like sewage on the first floor and at least one room had spiders under the mattresses. A group of us refused to stay in those accommodations and were promptly moved to a more suitable hotel. Another stop in Italy was a hotel located in a not good part of town and we heard gun shots in the middle of the night not far away. I did not sleep for the rest of the night. When it was time to return home on July 1, 2024, we arrived at the airport to learn that our flights had been canceled due to the strike the day before. The airline told us that they contacted Explorica the day before to make them aware. Explorica did not contact us. Explorica had not worked to rebook us on another flight. Our group leader contacted the Explorica emergency line and was told that their regular reservations department did not open until 3 hours later due to the time difference. We were instructed that we would have to sit in the airport and wait until then, call back for someone to assist us with rebooking. Meanwhile, there were three other flights on different airlines that would be leaving before their reservations office would even be open to help us. Some of use decided to take our kids and rebook flights on our own- which meant we had to pay AGAIN for flights that we already paid for. This trip cost $5000.00 a person and I spent another $4700.00 to secure flights to get back home. A few who waited until Explorica opened to work with them to get flights out to get back home from Italy, they indicated that Explorica was little to no help and they had to take matters into their own hands and work with the airlines directly to get home. They did not get home until July 4th- 3 days later and we were supposed to get home July 1st. Now several of us had to submit mounds of paperwork for claims to get our money back. This was a terrible trip and Explorica did nothing to ensure the safety of their customers traveling abroad. I am so glad that I decided to accompany my daughter on this trip instead of letting her travel with the group alone. This was a nightmare that has not ended because now I have to wait at least 30 days to get my money refunded for the extra airline tickets I had to purchase on my own due to Explorica's reservations office not being open to assist with rebooking us on one of the several next flights.