Come Prepared!!!

Student travel is one of the most rewarding ways to travel. If you are priviledged enough to be a student or a teacher taking students on trips get the most out of it as you can. One of the most important things I can say for students that are going on an educational trip is to come prepared. I have guided student trips in Costa Rica and the groups that show up that have devoted class time before arriving to the History, Climate, Bio-Diversity, and culture and customs always turn out to be the students that retain the most information and leave really knowing a lot about the country and places they have visited. It is great as a guide to be talking about the History of the country and a student interupts you and says "Wasnt he the president that abolished the Army?". This leaves the job of the guide on the trip not to teach all new facts to your students but to simply put the pieces together and make it all a bit clearer with new bits of information to go along with other bits of information they have already learned. Well what if your teacher is not knowledgable on the country of where you are traveling? This is easy all you have to do is buy a Lonely Planet book and read the basics of each section. Another option is to get intouch with your guide or trip provider and try and start an email conversation or blog with your guide. This will put you on a personal level with your guide before the trip even starts and he can supply information that will be covered during the trip. So before you take off on a student trip do your homework and show up prepared!