Educator Led Travel to the World's Most Important Destinations

As committed as we are to promoting and facilitating independent and gap year travel, there are adventures and experiences that benefit greatly from the involvement of professional educators with close connections to the local culture working with a cohort of learners to facilitate engagement, service, and exploration. With this in mind, we have developed highly specialized itineraries to parts of the world that would be difficult to access or engage with for many independent travelers, and which offer the deepest possible relevance to the world in which we live today. As these educational travel opportunities are run by full-time educators, we are currently limited to offering travel in the month of July. Space is available in our 2023 cohorts - learn more below and secure your space soon!

Our Unique Approach

Two Models, One Vision

Due to varied academic calendars at the institutions our educators and travelers are bound to, we are currently limited to operating guided travel in July of each year. Within that timeframe, we are committed to offering two very different guided travel experiences, both grounded in our values and mission, and both highly customizable and relevant to individual traveler interests. The world's most important destinations for countless fields and professions are closer than you think!

Excursions

Multi-week adventures providing deep engagement in a region, facilitated by world-class educators and local community leaders working in tandem.

Our annual excursions are the bedrock of our guided travel program - offering deep, meaningful interdisciplinary learning and service opportunities on itineraries that take the time to prioritize genuine engagement between our cohorts and the communities we are visiting. Over the course of a few weeks, students get to see, hear, feel, taste, and engage with destinations in myriad ways as they build meaningful connections with the rest of their cohort. The increased duration of this option as compared to our intensive program means more flexibility and customization based on traveler interests, as well as a more meaningful and unique experience. Our excursions are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities designed by veteran travelers and educators in tandem with partners on the ground that can't be found anywhere else. Check out our next destination below.

Intensives

For those with limited time - we've created itineraries of about a week that squeeze in as much adventure, engagement, and growth as possible!

We recognize that summers get busy and not everyone has the option of spending three weeks away from friends and family on the road. That's why each summer, we design a shorter itinerary designed to introduce you to a country or region in as little time as possible. These adventures offer a quick plunge into parts of our planet that are shaping the world we live in today with our best industry-leading team. We work to maximize the diversity of destinations and experiences in a limited period of time to provide a genuine cultural immersion experience, even on a tight schedule. Check out our next destinations below.

Unparalleled Educator Led, Cohort Based Educational Travel

Our July 2023 offerings are listed below - prices include group flights from major international gateways and all meals, transport, accommodation, and group activities while in the field. Prices are valid through December 1, 2022. For more on our pricing and general terms, explore our payments and pricing page.

Excursion 2023:
Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan

20 Days - $13,885 USD all-inclusive
July 1-20

The Nile. The Pyramids. Jerusalem. The Dead Sea. Petra. The Beaches of Tel Aviv. The night sky of Wadi Rum. This excursion isn't short on headline destinations, so it might surprise you to hear that these aren't the experiences that stick in the hearts and minds of our past participants most viscerally. They take with them strong memories of the human impact of competition for land, resources, and political control in this globally vital part of the world. They also remember the food, dance, culture, and hospitality that has kept this part of the planet critically important to belief systems, economies, geopolitics, and traditions worldwide since time immemorial. Our itinerary brings together thought leaders from across numerous political and geographic divides in this region and is designed to allow our travelers to safely and deeply immerse themselves in the culture of the destinations we visit. We are the world's best-qualified team to take young people on this journey - it's our passion and our legacy.

Details and Itinerary

Intensive 2023:
Montenegro, Dubrovnik, Bosnia, and Herzegovina

9 days - $7,225 USD all-inclusive
July 23-31

Rugged terrain, storied medieval riviera cities, and a complicated amalgam of religious and cultural legacy make the Balkans undoubtedly one of Europe's most fascinating, and important, destinations. For such an under-explored part of the world, the Balkans has a profound wealth of historical and cultural treasures and remains the most important part of Europe for a number of fields of study. The site of Europe's most recent major military conflict and human rights catastrophe and home to the continent's newest state, there is so much to engage with and inquire into on this short but rich itinerary through the borderlands of the European Union. The region also offers world-class mountain ranges, religious diversity unrivaled elsewhere in the Western world, and unique culinary and artistic traditions. As we explore the contrasts of some of Europe's best-preserved cities alongside those recovering from ethnic conflict our travelers will engage with the varied perspectives of the parties that call this historical global crossroads home.

Details and Itinerary

World Class Educators, Veteran Travelers - Your Trip Facilitators

Industry Leading Safety and Logistics

Dynamic Cohort Based Model

Our expertise is the reason we are willing and able to offer these itineraries - itineraries that nobody else in the industry can offer with the skill, depth, and security that we can. Our Safety and Child Protection policies are detailed elsewhere, but here we'd like to highlight the result of those policies - we are the best-equipped team in the world to allow students to engage with the most critical environments and situations our planet has to offer. Our logistics teams, from international satellite communication and coordination networks, to local teams on the ground in our destination countries, to top educational travel leaders at the best schools on the planet allow us to operate at an unparalleled level of precision, quality, and impact, maximizing benefits for our travelers and the communities we visit.

If you've been researching ETC, you've heard this before, but this is the heart of who we are and what we do. Our intensives and excursions take young travelers into some of the most significant and critical environments in the world to engage with complexities, opportunities, and logistical challenges in a way that nobody else can offer. Our team is uniquely qualified to help young travelers engage authentically, spontaneously, deeply, and dynamically in these critical environments while respecting the local community, building lifelong value for all participants, and creating understandings and skills with a value that cannot be quantified. We can offer our travelers support when needed, context as required, and freedom to interact and explore authentically and securely - this is only possible because we know our destinations like the back of our hands, and working with young people is what we do best.

Our Application Cycle

We are committed to making the process for joining our cohorts as smooth and efficient as possible while ensuring that our itineraries are the right match for each individual traveler. Once your deposit is received, we will reach out to schedule an initial interview and onboarding conversation to make sure all travelers are physically and mentally prepared for the meaningful fieldwork we will be participating in, as well as to answer any questions and prepare us to customize our activities and our trip leadership team to best reflect and connect to areas of academic and personal interest. For more information check out our payment policies, or contact us with any specific questions!

Real engagement, growth, and learning come from a community that is built around the passions of all of its members. Everyone - from elite firm management, to leading educators, to reality TV casting teams - knows the value of intentional grouping. One of the things that make us unique is our capacity to dynamically respond - in terms of staffing our guided travel as well as refining our itinerary - to the interests of our cohort, both when it comes to pre-departure activity adjustments and on-the-road modifications. Our professional experience designing and facilitating thinking gives us an advantage our competitors cannot match in terms of intentionally selecting participants in our guided travel programs. We work hard to get to know our travelers before and after their enrollment in our programs to ensure that we are bringing the most diverse and engaging range of perspectives possible on our guided travel opportunities, maximizing the benefits of these once-in-a-lifetime experiences for our travelers.

Ready to take the first step?

Our intimate cohort-based model of running this excursion means that there are limited spots available. Full terms and conditions are published here, but the first step of our admissions process is the submission of a deposit, which allows us to schedule our initial admissions conversation! Upon acceptance, you'll have a variety of options for the payment of program tuition, which can be paid upfront or in three installments due on the first of December 2022, February 2023, and April 2023.

Note that the total price of attending the Middle East excursion, including all food, lodging, activity costs, guide fees, and transportation from a major international airport of our choosing is US$13,885 for those registering prior to December 1st, US$14,635 from December 1st to January 31st, and US$15,385 from February 1st onward.

In the case of the Balkans Intensive, the total price of attending, including all food, lodging, activity costs, guide fees, and transportation from a major international airport of our choosing is US$7,225 for those registering prior to December 1st, US$7,885 from December 1st to January 31st, and US$8,485 from February 1st onward.