It is becoming more and more common for schools to cancel Graduation or Senior Trips due to liability or fear of problems that might arise. What are High School Seniors who are looking for a memorable and safe rite of passage supposed to do? Many are turning to favorite teachers or even parents to chaperon and then they do all of the planning and fundraising on their own.
Students are enlisting the help of Group Student Travel Companies, such as Adventure Student Travel, to help them with their planning during this already busy time of their lives. By contacting experts, they are assured that they are taking a safe trip and getting the most amount of trip for their hard earned money. It also takes most of the burden off of the students planning the trip.
By hiring expert tour coordinators, students are able to focus on their senior year and let the professionals take care of the minute details such as reservations for museums, lodging, attractions, restaurants, etc. which consume so much time. Planning a Graduation or Senior Trip also requires considerable research for those who are unfamiliar with the destination they are traveling to.
Planning group travel also requires some serious negotiation skills if the group is to get any kind of discount or group rates. Most high school students have not yet learned these advanced business skills, nor would they have the time to make the phone calls during business hours to learn.
Well meaning parents or sometimes even teachers, will offer to take on the responsibility not realizing how time consuming the process can be. Once again, hiring a professional tour coordinator would be the best route for planning the Graduation or Senior Trip.
By hiring a professional tour coordinator or a group travel agency, parents can be assured that their children are going on a safe graduation or senior trip, and not just going to some flea bag motel in Mexico where they will drink themselves into a coma, or be mugged, raped or killed.
Price is often the first and only factor considered when planning the trip when it should be one of the last. No, I am not saying that price should not be considered, but a student’s safety or choices of activities (including drinking age requirements) should be top priority to parents or teachers.
I strongly recommend that parents not allow students to travel to places with low drinking age requirements for their high school graduation. At 18 years old they are not prepared to make decisions regarding drinking and their own well being. I would hate for my child’s trip of a lifetime to turn into their final trip. In Mexico and some places in the Caribbean the legal drinking age is 18 so if these kids go down there they are legally able to drink and party the night away.
Many companies are requiring that high school students have a minimum of one chaperon if they want to travel to one of these destinations. Cruise lines will not allow students to cruise alone until they are 21 years old due to the problems that may arise with liability. I would suggest that students not be permitted to go to these destinations until they are in college and have been a little more exposed to this party type of atmosphere.
Once again, by hiring a professional travel coordinator, parents will be in the know as far as which locations are safe for their students and which are not. Many times the students come home and ask for a trip to Mexico and parents, eager to please, say yes without getting all of the information. They are basically footing the bill for their children to go and legally drink themselves to death. By calling a professional they will be able to hear the full story with all of the details they will need to make an informed decision on their student’s travel plans.
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