Travel for Teens

Meet Steve Williams - TFT Counselor & Photographer

2012-02-03T13:15:00.000-05:00

Steve Williams embodies the spirit of the quintessential Travel for Teens counselor - great to be around, responsible, well traveled, and a fantastic photographer. Most of us at TFT love photography, a hobby and skill that goes hand in hand with what we do every day on the job. Anyone who has been on a TFT trip knows that our staff always have a camera in their hand, ready for that perfect shot. We share these photos daily on the web with the parents of all the students on our trips, giving them a unique window into our daily adventures.

Steve's creative and sensitive approach to photography allows him to capture some memorable images, such as these. Look for Steve this summer on our Australia & New Zealand trip!

Steve Williams: "I don't have a favourite subject to photograph on TFT trips, just generally what looks good.

Fun in the Cinque Terre. Photo: Steve Williams

I like the first photo because I find it funny and it was fun to shoot. The kids on the Cinque Terre trip that I was on were super fun, easy to get along with, and shared a similar sense of humor. So we just took an unexpected sign and had a laugh with it.

The second photo was taken at the Hagia Sophia on the day excursion to Istanbul whilst on the Greece trip. I like the lighting on the subject, I like the foreground being out of focus and I like the textures in the shot. Being a candid shot, to me it provides a little bit more truth about the place. And, there aren't any distractions in the shot - although the Hagia Sophia was crawling with tourists, this is just a quiet segment of what the place is about."

Taken at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Photo: Steve Williams

www.travelforteens.com

Traveler of the Month - Jacob Smith

2012-02-01T11:57:00.000-05:00

Jacob and Mama Tofu in South Africa

Congratulations to Jacob Smith, our February Traveler of the Month! Jacob has matured into a serious world traveler over the years with TFT, having traveled on our Amsterdam, Belgium & Paris, Spain & Portugal 1 and 2, and South Africa Community Service trips! In 2012 he will join us in Thailand and China. We look forward to traveling with him this summer!

Here's what Jacob has to say about his experiences around the world with Travel for Teens:

Travel for Teens has changed my life in so many different ways over the past three summers I have spent with them. The variety of trips that they offer, from Spain to South Africa really gives you a sense of how big and interesting the world is in a way that you can’t be taught, you have to live it to fully appreciate it. Travel for Teens does an amazing job giving you that sense of culture in different countries, and how food, language and everyday life varies from place to place. The people that go on Travel for Teens are some of the coolest people I have met and I still keep in contact with many of them over the years.

- Jacob Smith

Jacob (in red) in South Africa

Traveler of the Month - Xander Chase

2012-01-11T12:56:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Xander Chase, our TFT Traveler of the Month for January 2012! Read what Xander has to say below about his experience with Travel for Teens.

Xander in Santorini, Greece

Xander in Athens

My summer trip with TFT to Greece was absolutely amazing. In just 2 weeks I made great friends that I still see and hope to see for the rest of my life, I learned a ton about Greek culture, and made memories that I will have for the rest of my life. The experience couldn't have been better and TFT did everything, from having nice, funny, and friendly counselors, to planning a great curriculum perfectly. Greece now holds a special place in my heart and the memories I have of it would have been much different if not for TFT. I look forward to traveling with them in the future!

– Xander Chase

How Travel Can Win You A Scholarship to College

2012-01-10T07:34:00.004-05:00

Here at Travel for Teens we passionately believe in the real-world benefits of travel. Whether you travel with your family, your school, on your own or with TFT, the experience will undoubtedly change you and your way of interacting with the world. Yes, traveling with make you move outside your comfort zone - but you will grow and mature in surprising ways, and the path of your life will very likely change when you return home.

Brian in London (bottom right)

We recently caught up with Brian Cullen, who came on our London & Scotland and Ireland trips in 2008. When it came time to apply to college this year, Brian wrote about his experiences with Travel for Teens in his college essays (maybe because he read this!) He was not only accepted to his top choice, Temple University, but he was offered a full scholarship at the Fox Business School! Wow.

Brian's mother, MaryAnne, had this to say about her choice to send Brian abroad with Travel for Teens (emphasis added):

"I was very impressed with the excellent organization and communication from the TFT staff. I felt Brian was in good hands and did not worry about his safety. I feel the TFT trips helped him mature and definitely made an excellent impression at his college interview at Temple University. I am extremely grateful for the full tuition scholarship, which is worth $16,000/year. I consider this a great return on my investment in the trips with TFT."

We took the opportunity to ask Brian a few questions about TFT and his college admissions process:

Brian in Scotland (back center)

TFT: How did your TFT experience change your way of seeing the world?

Brian: My TFT experience dramatically changed my view of the world because up to the time of my trips, I had not been outside of Pennsylvania. Because of TFT, I decided I wanted to have a career that combined travel with work and that is why I want to be a diplomat and study international business in college.

TFT: Did your experiences with TFT help in any way with your college applications?

Brian: I used my experiences with TFT as part of my essays for college applications. Also, I believe the officials at the Fox Business Honors program at Temple University were very impressed when I was able to tell them all the countries I have visited through TFT.This may have contributed to my being offered a full tuition to the Fox Business School!

TFT: What would you say to other high schoolers who are considering traveling in the summer?

Brian: I would definitely encourage any high schooler to take advantage of the opportunity to see and experience another country and culture. It opens up your world to a whole new way of thinking. I can guarantee it that you will never regret going on a TFT trip and will remember it as one of the turning points of your life!

Thanks for your time Brian, and congratulations!

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Staff Profile - Meet Charlotte Greene

2012-01-04T11:59:00.003-05:00

Travel for Teens Staff are a pretty amazing group of people. This series highlights the individuals who staff our trips, giving you a window onto the people and personalities who are responsible for the rich experiences that TFT offers around the world.

Charlotte Greene

Charlotte Greene, a second-year Junior Counselor with Travel for Teens, brings her upbeat personality and considerable photographic skills to any trip she staffs. When not traveling with TFT, she is a student at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, serving as the editor of photography at her school newspaper. She is a veteran of our Southern Africa Safari Photography and community service programs, where her ability as a photographer really shines. Below, Charlotte writes about her passion for photography and her hopes for the future.

A Muslim woman solemnly looks on at Robben Island in Cape Town, South Africa as she hears the stories of what unfolded behind bars. Photo: Charlotte Greene

I started photography as early as seven years old with my Kodak disposable cameras I would take with me to sleep away camp. My mom was always mad when I would come home because I would never have pictures of people, just things that I thought looked cool. As soon as I got the chance when I was 15 to take a photography course at my high school I took it. Starting out the natural way with 35 mm Minolta manual camera, I began to explore the ins and outs of photography. Using film was a special experience and it got me to really appreciate the art of photography and learn about the history behind it.

A young Xhosa girl catches my eye as she takes a rest with Mama Tofu in Cintsa, South Africa.

As I continued with photography in high school, I took a digital photography course which propelled me into the world of Photoshop where anything was possible. It was an eye-opening experience for me and it made me realize that photography was actually something I wanted to do with my life. I got in touch with a local photographer, Richard Flaskegaard, who hired me as his assistant. He apprenticed me in the art of portrait photography and allowed me to use his knowledge and equipment to further develop my skills.

I continue to work for him today, constantly learning new things and testing out ideas in his studio, Jack Dog Studio, on Greenwich Ave.

I will always be a photographer in my heart, always snapping imaginary pictures with my hands when the rare moment comes when I do not have my camera. I see things in pictures and I think that allows me to see the world from a different perspective, to see the beauty in the simple things.

It is not like me to make many plans, but, for the future, I would love to do photography as a career, pursuing such options as wedding photography because of the excitement and beauty of it, travel photography because who wouldn't want to get paid to take pictures, or perhaps teaching to share my passion and love for photography just as my photo instructors have done for me.

– Charlotte Greene

Destination: Swiss Alps

2011-12-19T13:04:00.002-05:00

The Swiss Alps

The intense beauty of the Swiss Alps never fails to amaze us at Travel for Teens. We visit these unique mountains on two different trips every summer (Backpacking for Teens 1 and our new Swiss & Italian Alps Expedition trip) and this area is consistently ranked as one of our travelers' favorite places.

Transfixed by the Alps

We stay in a charming hotel nestled in a tiny mountain hamlet where the pace of life is a bit slower than what many of us are used to. We spend our time hiking through fields of wildflowers, learning how to mountain bike, and visiting a dairy farm perched on a steep hillside where we can sample freshly made cheeses. One of the highlights is the day that we visit Montreux and the famous Chateau de Chillon. The annual Montreux Jazz Festival is in full swing and the streets are packed with music lovers, performers, and open air markets. A short walk down the trail running around the shores of Lake Geneva takes us to the Chateau de Chillon, a magnificent medieval castle located on prime real estate right on the water. Jumping into the turquoise blue water of the lake, surrounded by the Alps all around you, is sure to be a highlight of your summer.

Canyoning!

Canyoning is also one of the coolest activities we do, and it's sure to get your blood pumping. Guided by a team of expert canyoneers, we put on a wetsuit and a harness and then we walk our way down a mountain stream. Along the way you have the chance to rappel down boulders and waterfalls into idyllic mountain pools - truly a unique way to get up close and personal with the majestic nature surrounding us.

If you want to see one of the most striking places in the world - sign up today to join us in Switzerland next summer!

Stunning Mountain Landscapes

Mountain Dairy Farm & Cheese Tasting

The Chateu de Chillon

Lake Geneva

An Eagle Soars Above Lake Geneva

Mountain Biking

Swimming in Lake Geneva

High Ropes Course

Traveler of the Month - Natalie Jones

2011-12-07T12:20:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Natalie Jones, our TFT Traveler of the Month for December 2011! Read below to see what Natalie has to say about her experiences with Travel for Teens.

Natalie in the Cinque Terre, Italy

I knew before I even left for my first Travel for Teens trip to Eastern Europe that I was going to have a fun time and maybe even learn a little history about places I had never seen before. What I hadn’t expected was the love for learning about (and even tasting) new things and places that I would acquire during my trips; throughout my experience with Travel for Teens I learned so much about the cultures and historical pasts of the places I was visiting, and Travel for Teens did a spectacular job of making everything we learned about engaging and interesting (something that most history textbooks have a hard time doing)!

Out to dinner in the Kazimierz district
in Krakow, Poland

Whether I was touring the Prague Castle or working for community service hours in Cinque Terre, there was never a dull moment. Not only did Travel for Teens leave me with some unforgettable memories that I will cherish forever, but both my trips left me with life-long friendships with people I would have otherwise never had the opportunity to meet.

Traveling to a foreign country full of new and exciting things to learn and see is an extraordinary opportunity, and Travel for Teens does a great job helping each camper get the most out of every trip. I had so much fun last year, and I can’t wait for another summer of visiting new places with Travel for Teens!

- Natalie Jones

Natalie (3rd from the left) doing community service
work in the Cinque Terre

An Italy Photography Success Story

2011-12-05T07:18:00.001-05:00

We recently heard from Allison Flom, who came on our Italy Photography trip in 2010, and we had to share her amazing story. Here she is in her own words describing how her Travel for Teens trip sparked her interest in photography, and the exciting things that are happening for her now:

Burano's colorful houses (Photo: Allison Flom)

Hi! My name is Allison and I’m a senior in high school in New York City. In 2010, I went on the Travel for Teens Italy Photography trip. I signed up because I wanted to make friends, eat pasta, and have a different experience. But the trip was so much more unique and special than I could have possibly imagined. When I got there, I literally didn’t know where the ON button was on my camera. But in nine days, I learned everything from the composition of a good photograph, to how to use the features on my camera, to how to learn and grow with a group of fun and diverse people. If I would have learned photography anywhere else, I might not have cared as much; but TFT brought us to the most breathtaking and interesting places, and everyone came back with photos that looked professional.

I continued taking photographs throughout my junior year, and I decided to post them on a blog. A gallery owner in Texas came across my website and contacted me, asking me to do an art show at his gallery. Three months later, I traveled to Texas to make a speech at the opening night of my 2-month long photography exhibition. People were buying my prints, and asking me questions about photography, and asking where I got all this passion and inspiration. TFT is the simplest and only answer to all of those questions.

Because of my TFT trip, I have new friends from all over the world. I know how wine is made. I know what my favorite gelato shop in Florence is called. I know how to write words in glow sticks and capture them in one shot. And I know so much more about being an international citizen, traveler, friend, photographer, and student just from my nine-day adventure with Travel for Teens.

Some of my photos can be seen here: http://urbanseason.wordpress.com/more-photos/

- Allison Flom

Thanks Allison! We here at TFT wish you the best with your continued work and we look forward to more updates on upcoming exhibitions!

Nic Emery
Italy Trip Director

Florence's Duomo (Photo: Allison Flom)

Venice (Photo: Allison Flom)

Locavore Movement? Ask the Sicilians

2011-12-01T11:26:00.001-05:00

One my favorite parts of our Sicily Community Service trip is the food. Everyone knows that Italian food is great, and I put a lot of personal care into selecting only the best trattorias and restaurants on all of our Italy trips. Yet there is something special about the food that we eat in Sicily.

A lot of this has to do with the fact that we prepare our meals with our own hands using fresh, local ingredients. This is the foundation of any great meal, and our Sicilian estate is surrounded by fruit trees, a vegetable garden, olive groves, wild mint, and vineyards.

So if you're into community service, food, and getting to know the nicest family I've ever met... sign up for one of our three sessions of Sicily Community Service right here!

We make bread...

Making bread with our Sicilian host family

Tomato salad...

Making tomato salad

Pesto...

Homemade pesto sauce!

Tomato sauce...

Tomato sauce taste test

Using ingredients like these:

Just-picked zucchini and eggplants

If you love Italian food, Sicily is paradise. We work pretty hard doing community service in Sicily, and it feels so good to sit down at lunch and dinner to huge, nutritious meals that we put together ourselves. The fertile volcanic soil is perfect for growing huge zucchini, eggplants, tomatoes, and so much more.

Fried eggplant with garlic, mint, and olive oil

The open air market in nearby Catania is one of the highlights of the trip. This place is crazy - the fishermen, back from their night of fishing, hawk their fresh catches all morning and love posing for photos, as you can see below. The fruttivendoli (fruit and vegetable stands) are loaded with the most incredible fresh produce, which also make for some great photos.

Calamari anyone?

What is that thing???

Swordfish!

And of course the fresh fruits and vegetables are to die for.

Cheeses from all over Italy

New Trips in 2012!

2011-11-16T06:17:00.001-05:00

Every September, TFT core staff gather at our top secret bat cave and high-tech training facility in Wayne, PA to discuss the summer's adventures, share photos and experiences, and delve into planning for the upcoming year.

This also happens to be the time when we decide which destinations we may be adding for the next year! All staff are encouraged to throw any ideas they have into the pot, we let them stew together for a bit, and then only the very best destinations are selected, fleshed out, and given the full quality treatment you'd expect from TFT. We are more excited this year than ever to unveil our new destinations in 2012 - we think you'll be pleased! Check out our brand new trip map to get the full picture.

So without further ado, we present to you our full complement of exciting new destinations in 2012!

Dominican Republic Service & Spanish - Multiple dates during Spring Break

You could be here in March

Spend your spring break doing something meaningful and fun! Our 8 day adventure to the Dominican Republic includes 16 hours of community service, 4 hours of Spanish classes, and full day excursions of zip lining, horseback riding, and sailing to remote Caribbean islands for snorkeling and relaxing in the sun.

The Dominican Republic is a country of contrasting natural beauty and third world poverty; this carefully crafted service adventure trip aims to expose participants to both of those elements of this small Caribbean nation and foster an understanding for the needs of its people as well as an appreciation for its natural beauty. Join us on this unforgettable adventure and experience for yourself everything that the Dominican Republic has to offer. ¡Vamanos!

Thailand Service & Adventure - 2 sessions, June 26 - July 12 and July 12 - July 28

Paradise on Earth: Kho Phi Phi Ley

(Technically not a new trip, but we are bringing Thailand back this year after a 3 year hiatus!)

Thailand is an earthly paradise full of beauty and adventure. You'll experience the world’s bluest waters, world-class diving, saffron-cloaked Buddhist monks, temples adorned with mother-of-pearl inlay and golden Buddhas, mouth-watering cuisine, Thai cooking lessons, and the gentle smiles of the Thai people. Our 20-hour service project involves working alongside indigenous Thai hill tribes to improve their infrastructure (such as rebuilding or painting schools) and spending time participating in a cultural exchange with local children.

Thailand Photography - July 28 - August 8

The Reclining Buddha in Ayutthaya

Perfect your travel photography skills and build an incredible portfolio in Thailand as we journey to the ancient, crumbling temples of Ayutthaya and over the mountains and into the jungles of Northern Thailand. Our talented Staff Photographers will guide you in the arts of travel photography, giving you the tools you're seeking to capture the culture and identity of this unique place and its people.

China Discovery - 2 sessions, June 26 - July 12 and July 12 - July 28

Define "cute"

Discover the wonders of ancient and modern China with Travel for Teens. Ancient civilization fuses with high-tech modernity in today's China, and the time to experience this incredible transformation is right now. Visit Shaolin monks who practice kung fu, commune with endangered Pandas in Chengdu, walk the Great Wall, and so much more. Experience the best of China on this amazing journey of discovery.

Peru Community Service - 2 sessions, June 29 - July 15 and July 15 - July 31

Majestic Machu Picchu

Come explore the raw beauty and culture of Peru from the mysterious ruins of Machu Picchu to the lush Amazon Jungle. Learn about ancient indigenous cultures as you volunteer in the Sacred Valley to help out in a rural community painting houses, cooking with families, or helping with their animals. Explore ancient temples and colonial Spanish churches in Cuzco, visit the floating Islands of Uros, stay in a culturally vibrant town on the shores of lake Titicaca, play a game of soccer with local kids, and marvel at the exotic flaura and fauna in the Amazon Jungle. In this incredible 17 day adventure you'll learn all about the people and culture that make Peru so unique and unforgettable.

Swiss & Italian Alps Expedition - July 31 - August 9

Breathtaking mountain vistas and adventure await on this expedition in the Italian and Swiss Alps. This amazing trip features hiking in the Italian Dolomites and the Alps in Switzerland, mountain biking and canyoning, and relaxation and cultural immersion in charming Verona. If your thing is outdoor adventure and incredible natural beauty, this is the trip for you. Come with your hiking boots and a sense of adventure!

Our home in the Dolomites

Travelers of the Month - Chris and Zach Waldron

2011-11-08T08:34:00.000-05:00

Chris and Zach in Sorrento, Italy

The Waldron twins, Chris and Zach, are TFT's official Travelers of the Month in November! Congratulations to you both, and we look forward to traveling with you again soon!

Here are Chris and Zach in their own words:

Zach Waldron

Last summer I participated in the Cinque Terre Service Trip and it was AMAZING! My brother and I, and our friend Will Broms, found this trip for a class that we are in at my school that requires us to travel out of the country. We decided that we wanted to do a service trip and then found this one in the Cinque Terre. For starters, the counselors were all awesome! They served not only as fun and enthusiastic guides on the trip, but also as walking encyclopedias of information. They were each skilled in their own different subjects of art and history of the world. This trip also offered social bonding that can’t be experienced anywhere else. I became very good friends with everyone on the trip and was sad when I realized that we all had to go home and would go our separate ways. I am still in contact with most of the people who were on the trip. Finally, my absolute favorite part of the trip was getting to go to a different country and learn about a different culture’s history. Before I left, I purchased a small Italian phrase book so that I could connect with the Italian culture better. It proved useful in helping me greet locals and make friends out of most of the people I met. This trip was the most amazing experience that I have ever participated in. It awakened in me a passion for history and art and impacted how I interact with the people around me. Everything from the counselors to the other participants to the locals we met, it was fantastic!

Chris Waldron

In the summer of 2011, I traveled with my twin brother, Zach, and friend, Will, to Cinque Terre, Italy for the TFT community service trip. I knew that I would have a great time, but it was so much more than I had ever hoped for. Everything from the amazing food, to the awesome Staff, to the beautiful landscape of Italy made the trip absolutely incredible. Being particularly interested in ancient history, I had also wanted to go to Italy to learn more about Rome and other major cities like Sorrento and Naples. TFT’s organized schedule with excursions and awesome activities helped make of my dreams come true.

The twins at the Trevi Fountain in Rome

How World Travel Experience May Be the Ticket to the College of Your Dreams

2011-04-06T12:31:00.000-04:00

Getting accepted to your dream school is an increasingly difficult endeavor, and many students are wondering what will make them stand out among the sea of applicants. International travel can make a world of difference.

Being a savvy world traveler is seen by college admissions boards as a valuable part of any applicant’s life experience. Dan Logue, Guidance Counselor for the Preparatory Charter School in Philadelphia, PA knows first hand what a difference international travel can make on a student application. “In the hyper-competitive world of college admissions to the most prestigious institutions in the country, it is the meaningful extracurricular activities, such as that set successful students apart. Everyone is a great student, everyone has the test scores, everyone is an athlete or in clubs and activities. The question then becomes how do your other experiences help you stick out. Is what you’re doing meaningful? Are you connecting with the global community? Travel is above all a sign of maturity.”

Learning about the rainforest in Costa Rica

The willingness to step outside your comfort zone and travel abroad speaks volumes about your motivation, curiosity, and initiative. All traits will set you apart from the crowd.

Claudia Bona-Cohen was accepted to her first choice school, Middlebury College. She shares her thoughts about how her experiences with teen travel company Travel for Teens gave her an edge during the admissions process: “I have done community service work in Honduras and in Sicily. Both were life-changing experiences, and when it came time to pick a topic for my personal statement essay the choice was clear. My trips also made great conversation topics in college interviews, especially since experience traveling abroad is indicative of independence and initiative, which are appealing traits to admissions officers.”

Community Service in Fiji

Of course, not all travel experiences are created equal in the discerning eyes of the College Admissions Office. Lying out on a tropical beach for a week is great fun, but it doesn’t put you in contact with the local culture, traditions and history of a place. Meaningful travel abroad will put you in touch with an entirely new way of living and thinking about your world. When you make the effort to speak a few words of a foreign language, or sample a dish that you never thought you’d have the courage to taste, you inevitably grow and add valuable new experiences to your life. Having perfect grades is great, but when you find yourself in a college interview or writing your personal essay, you need more to go on than having an A+ in AP Rocket Science. Today’s teenagers are finding that travel abroad gives them the confidence, worldly experience, and global outlook that resonates with college admissions boards.

One of the greatest ways to have a life-changing travel experience while racking up points for college admissions is by participating in a trip with a cultural learning or volunteer focus. Students interested in traveling or volunteering abroad have a wide variety of options available to them through the many teen travel companies who specialize in various types of travel.

You can help build a playground in South Africa, work on a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Italy, learn about the rainforest in Costa Rica, or study marine biology in the Caribbean – the list goes on and on.

Learning about photography in Florence

Michael Hawthorne, a student at Flagler College in Florida, found that his experiences roving the world with Travel for Teens helped him enormously when it came to applying to college: “Traveling had a huge bearing on my life and me getting into college altogether. Colleges see traveling as something that takes responsibility, integrity, enthusiasm, intelligence, and maturity, which colleges look for extensively in their application process. Teenagers who are experienced in traveling tend to show all of these qualities and more.”

There are tons of great travel opportunities out there for all types of interests and budgets. Do you want to study Spanish in Madrid or go to Fiji to learn about traditional Fijian culture and do community service work? It’s easy to get started. Pick a destination and a type of trip that genuinely interests you, and then explore it online.

Remember, college admissions officers are looking for well-rounded students who will bring their own set of unique characteristics and experiences to campus. Travel abroad will set you apart, so get out there! Add some stamps to that passport and give a huge boost to your college applications while you do it.

Nic Emery
Italy Director
TravelForTeens.com

Traveler of the Month - Renee Smith

2010-11-02T08:34:00.002-04:00

Renee in Rome

We are proud to announce our first November Traveler of the Month - Renee Smith! Renee has traveled extensively in Europe with Travel for Teens, going from doing community service work in Sicily to the Scottish Highlands and just about everywhere in between.

As you can see from Renee's own words below, she is an avid traveler who has come to understand the secret of traveling - the journey doesn't end when you return home. It is a true pleasure to have Renee as a fellow traveler because of her constantly sunny disposition and incredible ability to make friends with everybody she meets. Congratulations Renee!

Here is what Renee has to say about her Travel for Teens experience:

"Two summers ago I started on an unknown journey to explore Europe with TFT, and two summers ago, I fell in love with traveling. Since then, I have had the privilege of spending two amazing summers with the counselors, CIT’s and other campers from around the globe discovering the wonders of the world around us.

Renee doing service work in Sicily

From Sicily to London, Munich to Scotland, from my life as an American teenager to an explorer of foreign culture, food, and people, my life has completely changed. Traveling with TFT has influenced my way of thinking, my passions, and even the topic of my college essay. TFT has opened my eyes to so many beautiful places and has helped me embrace every experience of every place that I am in, whether that means listening to a live jazz concert while twilight sets in over the Mediterranean Sea or trying to figure out the bizarre bathrooms at a ropes course in Switzerland.

Traveling with TFT has taught me that an adventurous spirit, the readiness to laugh in any situation and a willingness to meet new people are important not only when traveling, but also in everyday life. For instance, holding a live sea creature at an Italian fish market takes the same adventurous spirit as trying lazer tag for the first time with your friends. Wiping out while running down the side of Europe’s largest active volcano requires the same ability to laugh at a situation as spilling spaghetti on your white shirt would. Conversing with people in foreign countries who don’t speak the same language as you takes the same willingness to meet new people as would walking across the street and introducing yourself to your new neighbors.

While all of these are crucial points to being a traveler, the most important thing I have realized is that “traveling” doesn’t end on the plane ride home. Nor does it end when all the pictures are up on Facebook, the seasons begin to change, and the school year starts. The truth is, traveling never ends, and TFT has helped me realize that. Even though it was two long summers ago that I started my travels with TFT, the lessons I learned and the valuable experiences I gained will help me forever to live my constant journey and love every minute of it."

Traveler of the Month - Jacob Steinberg-Otter

2010-10-25T10:30:00.000-04:00

Jacob in Florence

The TFT Traveler of the Month for October is none other than Jacob Steinberg-Otter. Jacob has traveled with TFT through France, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Spain. While Jacob has journeyed with us to many destinations, the most important factor in his nomination as our Traveler of the Month is his exemplary attitude and unfailing smile.

The Traveler of the Month is a student who we feel exemplifies the TFT style of traveling – curiosity about the world we live in, an open mind, a ready smile and an eagerness to meet fellow travelers!

Here is what Jacob had to say about his experiences with Travel for Teens:

Jacob in Pisa

"The past two summers have been the best times of my life, and I have Travel for Teens to thank. Through my travels, I have gained an immense hunger for knowledge, an unsatisfiable cultural curiosity, a profound desire to immerse myself in unfamiliar cultures in order to gain a better understanding of humanity in general as well as my own, personal humanity. TFT has answered many of my questions, and, fortunately, has left me with more unanswered ones.

I no longer consider myself simply an American, or a New Yorker, or any other classification of the sort – TFT has helped me realize that I am a citizen of the planet, a single link in the vast chain of our global society. The environment that TFT creates is unlike any other that I have ever experienced. I have traveled with many people from across the world and have gained friendships that I hold dear to my heart.

When I was walking through the streets of Prague, biking through the pathways of Amsterdam, hiking the trails in the Cinque Terre, or photographing the sunsets in Venice, I did not feel like a tourist in a distant land – I felt like I was at home with all of these new friends, yet I was beholding magnanimous sights that rocked the pillars of my mind. Travel for Teens has transformed me into a wiser, more mature individual who strives to understand humanity; who yearns to see the world and all of its beauty; who aspires to be a contributing member to the worldwide community.

Thank you Travel for Teens for helping me become the person I am today."

Thank you Jacob, and congratulations on being our October Traveler of the Month!

-TFT Staff

Outrageous October Sale

2010-10-08T09:51:00.000-04:00

ANNOUNCING OUR OUTRAGEOUS OCTOBER SALE!

$250 off any single trip's tuition
$750 off any 2 trip combo's tuition (this is in addition to our standard discounts of 10-15% off your 2nd trip's tuition!)
$1,000 off any 3 trip combo's tuition (this is in addition to our price of $9,985 for three trips!)
Florence, Italy
In order to lock in these discounts, simply register and pay your deposit before October 31st 2010.

Please be aware that this discount is only valid for the trips you register to do - in other words, once you choose and register for a particular trip, you are locked into that trip. After Friday at 6:00pm EDT, if you switch to a different trip, your tuition will be subject to any discounts that may be available at that time.

These discounts are not valid for any school trips or private trips.

This sale won't last long - don't hesitate - sign up today! Call us any time, toll free, at 888-457-4534 if you have any questions.

We're looking forward to traveling with you this summer!!!

Cheers,

Travel For Teens Staff

SUPER SEPTEMBER SALE!!!

2010-09-28T06:19:00.001-04:00

Announcing our Super September Sale!

Here's the deal:

10% off any single trip's tuition

12% off any 2 trip combo's tuition (this is in addition to our standard discounts of 10-15% off your 2nd trip's tuition!)

15% off any 3 trip combo's tuition (this is in addition to our price of $9985 for three trips!)

In order to lock in these discounts, simply register and pay your deposit here before Friday, October 1st, 2010.

Please be aware that this discount is only valid for the trips you register to do - in other words, once you choose and register for a particular trip, you are locked into that trip. After Friday at 6:00pm EDT, if you switch to a different trip, your tuition will be subject to any discounts that may be available at that time.

These discounts are not valid for any school trips or private trips.

This sale won't last long - don't hesitate - sign up today! Call us any time, toll free, at 888-457-4534 if you have any questions.

We're looking forward to traveling with you this summer!!!

Cheers,

Travel For Teens Staff

Getting to Know TFT - Joni Anderson

2010-05-21T12:56:00.003-04:00

This week's staff interview is with Joni Anderson - a professional photographer and senior counselor who we are lucky to have with us all the way from New Zealand. Joni's fun-loving attitude and positive outlook make her one of the all-time favorite TFT counselors among the kids who have been fortunate enough to be on a trip with her!

Introducing... Joni!

Name
Joni Anderson.

Hometown
West Coast, New Zealand.

Current town
West Coast.

Languages you speak
English and a percentage of Maori.

TFT trips that you’ve been on:
Spain, Paris, London, Italy photography, Mexico.

Countries you’ve been to:
New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, USA, Spain, France, Italy, England, Portugal, Scotland, Wales, China and Saudi Arabia.

College major:
Photography.

Favorite travel book, magazine, or film?
I love the movie Lost in Translation.

What is your current job outside of TFT?
Professional Photographer.

Besides the essentials, list 3 things you refuse to travel without.
Camera.

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited?
Spain.

What’s the most beautiful place on Earth?
I love New Zealand.

If you could live in one country (besides your current residence) where would it be and why?
I think I would love to live in the USA, because I love the people and I love New York.

What’s the strangest food you have eaten?
I was a Wild Foods festival and tried a scorpion in a shot. Also i tried a strange drink when I was in Fiji called kava which is the roots from a plant.

Do you play a musical instrument?
Yes, Drums and Guitar.

What kind of camera do you bring with you when you travel?
Nikon.

What are your hobbies?
Photography, Painting, cooking...

What sports do you play?
Tennis and Squash.

Getting to Know TFT - Steve Williams

2010-05-14T11:10:00.001-04:00

It's no surprise that Steve Williams' favorite book is "On the Road". He's an Aussie with traveling in his veins who brings his A-game to every TFT trip that he leads. Steve is also a hugely talented videographer who is responsible for recording and editing video of TFT trips all over the world - no small task. Check out his documentary of the South Africa Community Service trip here!

Here he is ladies and gents - Mr. Steve Williams!

Name
Steve Williams

Hometown
Adelaide, Australia

Current town
Around Europe

Languages you speak:
English

TFT trips that you’ve been on
2009: Paris and the South of France (school trip), South Africa Community Service, Eastern Europe, Cinque Terre Community Service, Italy Photography

Countries you’ve been to
Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Mexico (well…just Tijuana), England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Spain, Latvia, Russia, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Egypt, South Africa, Thailand and Cambodia

College major
Education and Screen Production

Favorite travel book, magazine, or film?
On The Road - Jack Kerouac

Besides the essentials, list 3 things you refuse to travel without
If I have to travel, I can travel with just the essentials. I don’t have to have them, but I like: my iPod, a book and a pair of sunglasses.

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited?
Too tough! But maybe Yosemite National Park.

What’s the most beautiful place on Earth?
From what I’ve seen: it’s a toss up between Arches National Park & Yosemite National Park…I’d like to sometime get to Glacier National Park, however.

If you could live in one country (besides your current residence) where would it be and why?
USA for: the indie music scene; for the breakfast tacos in Austin, TX; for the basketball; for the pop culture; for New York City; for the National Parks and general beauty; for the arguable fact that it’s 50 countries for the price of 1.

What’s the strangest food you have eaten?
Nothing too crazy, yet.

What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had?
Promotional recruitment work for the US Army (strange, since I’m Australian).

Do you play a musical instrument?
Nope

What kind of camera do you bring with you when you travel?
Varies. So far it’s been either various point-and-shoots or mini-DV camcorders.

Have you ever backpacked through Europe, and where did you go?
Not technically, but I did a solo travel stint starting in Riga, then Moscow, St Petersburg, Warsaw, Krakow, Berlin & ending in Hamburg.

What’s your favorite landmark and why?
The Monument "To the Conquerors of Space" in Moscow, Russia. It’s massive and, in my opinion, designed beautifully. Just outstanding.

What’s your favorite beach and why?
Tamarama beach, Sydney Australia – the water’s beautiful, it’s in a nice little cove with cliffs around it and the waves are just perfect.

What are your hobbies?
Traveling, watching movies, reading

What sports do you play?
Basketball & tennis

What do you love most about working for Travel for Teens?
Traveling.

What are the top 10 places you want to visit?
Machu Pichu, India & the Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, Glacier National Park, Japan, Rio de Janeiro, Croatia, Indonesia, Turkey & Mozambique

Getting to Know TFT - Fjodor Islamaj

2010-05-03T12:38:00.002-04:00

Fjodor Islamaj is one of the very small number of talented people who Travel for Teens hires from a huge applicant pool each year. This will be his first summer as a Senior Counselor with Travel for Teens, and we can't wait to travel the world with him. When he's not teaching teens about the wonders of international travel, he's teaching them physics and coaching soccer in Worcester, MA. Here he is folks!

Name
Fjodor (Fjodi) Islamaj

Hometown
Tirana, Albania

Current Town
Worcester, MA

Languages you speak
Italian, French, Albanian, and conversational Spanish

TFT trips that you've been on
No TFT trips YET

Countries you've been to
(13) Italy, Albania, Macedonia, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico

College major
Physics

Favorite travel book, magazine, or film?
"The Island", "Eurotrip", "Silk"

What is your current job outside of TFT?
High school physics teacher

Besides the essentials, list 3 things you refuse to travel without
Notebook/Self made dictionary with common expressions, a piece of paper with important/relevant phone numbers

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited?
Palamos, Spain

What’s the most beautiful place on Earth?
This question is too hard

If you could live in one country (besides your current residence) where would it be and why?
Spain. Love the weather and the culture. I would be able to watch the Barcelona FC games en vivo.

What’s the strangest food you have eaten?
Fried rooster testicles

What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had?
Selling Cutco Knives

Do you play a musical instrument?
I love playing the african drums although I am sure it probably sounds a lot better to me than it does to other people.

What kind of camera do you bring with you when you travel?
Canon Powershot SD780

Have you ever backpacked through Europe, and where did you go?
Yes, Lisbon (Portugal), Madrid, Barcelona, Ibiza (Spain), Rome (Italy)

What’s your favorite landmark and why?
La boca del Diablo, Cascais, Portugal - A series of straight edge cliffs believed to be evidence that the continent of Europe has broken away from a once-upon-a-time larger land mass

What’s your favorite beach and why?
Formentera, Spain. The lightest and clearest water I ever swam in.

What are your hobbies?
Sports (especially soccer), Traveling, Languages, Spreading the love of physics

What sports do you play?
Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis, Table Tennis, Snowboarding

What do you love most about working for Travel for Teens?
The standard 9-5 schedule

What are the top 10 places you want to visit?
Bora Bora, The Filipines, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, The Azul Islands, Egypt, Dubai, Nepal, China, Czech Republic

Thanks Fjodi ... See you soon at Staff Training Weekend!!!

Interlaken Rhymes With Heaven

2010-04-30T13:01:00.001-04:00

Normally, I'd be super hesitant and scared to jump off a 10 yard cliff into a small pool of water...I'd linger and ponder. Just two days ago, with a mili-second of hesitation, and a flicker of a raised heart-beat, I jumped. Splashing into a small pool of water - this is canyoning in beautiful Interlaken, Switzerland. Decked up in full safety gear with guides who knew how to teach us to be super safe (they knew how to teach us to jump, rappel and even walk - through the canyon), I went with a group of five other strangers who turned into friends for the next two days.

Back in the small town, a chocolate chef shows off his skills and we nibble on his art - as much as we want.

Nestled between two lakes in the Swiss Alps, I felt cosier and happier than my time in Monterosso in the Cinque Terre - and I loved the Cinque Terre. I zip-lined and was happily challenged (more than I thought) on the high-ropes course and it was hard NOT to want a photo at every step. Look up - the Swiss Alps in all their glory are clearing up. Two hours later, the sky is smothered with a touch more white than blue.

Up Harder Klum on the 100 year old funicular (yet with a super modern car on the tracks - full bleed windows from the floor to the ceiling) - I pass ibex hanging out, lazily watching me. The view from the top of the mountain is spectacular - I can see both lakes, the river, my hotel, the chocolate shop - and para-gliders above me soar with birds.

I hike overlooking a valley just outside nearby Murren. Trummelbach Falls - a collection of waterfalls literally inside a mountain - roar louder than I can yell in a place of extreme beauty and amazement!

At night, a small creature crosses the road. I have no idea what it is - and no-one else is around to ask. Everything's quiet and dimly and charmingly lit. Wikapedia suggests to me it could be a marmot? You tell me. It was an intimate moment - we shared stories of where we came from - it never told me it's name.

Do you think I wanted to leave Interlaken - no way. Step down, Cinque Terre - Interlaken is the new awesome.

Check out our Backpacking 2 trip that visits Interlaken this summer (and the Cinque Terre too, for that matter) - from July 20th until August 1st, 2010.

Getting to Know TFT - Teddy Zug

2010-04-15T10:03:00.002-04:00

Teddy Zug is one of our most beloved counselors who never fails to bring huge smiles to campers' faces. His laid back approach to life is paired with a rock-solid sense of responsibility and capacity to deal with any situation that comes his way. Teddy is famous on TFT trips for busting out his hacky sack everywhere from ancient Greek ruins in Sicily to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Here he is!

Teddy enjoying life in Syracuse, Sicily

Name:
Teddy Zug

Hometown:
Media, PA

Current town:
Colorado Springs, CO

Languages you speak:
English

TFT trips that you’ve been on:
Classic Italy, Sicily Community Service, Eastern Europe, Paris, Ireland Adventure, Amsterdam Belgium & Paris

Countries you’ve been to:
Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Canada

College major:
History

Favorite travel book, magazine, or film?
‘In a Sunburned Country’ by Bill Bryson

(For non full-time staff) What is your current job outside of TFT?
Student

Besides the essentials, list 3 things you refuse to travel without.
Hacky Sack, Camera, Good people

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited?
Sydney, Australia

What’s the most beautiful place on Earth?
Cinque Terre, Italy

If you could live in one country (besides your current residence) where would it be and why?
I would live in Australia because of the wonderful people, weather, landscape, and ‘no worries’ atmosphere.

What’s the strangest food you have eaten?
Lamb Sweetbread

Do you play a musical instrument?
The vocal chords, vocal percussion, and the mandolin

What kind of camera do you bring with you when you travel?
TFT standard issue or my Canon EOS Rebel

Have you ever backpacked through Europe, and where did you go?
Not officially

What’s your favorite landmark and why?
My favorite landmark is Pikes Peak because I never get tired of the joy it brings me every morning.

What’s your favorite beach and why?
My favorite beach is Coogee beach in Sydney, Australia because it’s a short bus ride from downtown and it’s absolutely gorgeous with a great atmosphere.

What are your hobbies?
Singing contemporary a cappella, foot bagging (hacky sacking), and Frisbee

What sports do you play?
Skiing, snowboarding, hiking/backpacking, running, hacky sacking (that’s coming up a lot isn’t it?), ultimate Frisbee, inner tube water polo

What do you love most about working for Travel for Teens?
The people that I work with and sharing my love of traveling with new people

What are the top 10 places you want to visit?
The Galapagos, Antarctica, Patagonia, Japan, Uganda, Alaska, Switzerland, Germany, China, and Egypt.

Teddy hard at work in the vineyard on the Sicily Community Service trip

Thanks Teddy!!! We're looking forward to traveling with you this summer!

Getting to Know TFT - Kate Clark

2010-04-08T04:51:00.006-04:00

TFT Trip Director Kate Clark is an accomplished world traveler and elementary school teacher of gifted kids. She brings her incredible enthusiasm and unfailingly positive outlook to every TFT trip that she leads, whether its in Greece or Australia & New Zealand. This summer look out for Kate in Greece, Eastern Europe, and South Africa!

Name
Kate Clark

Hometown:
Oreland, PA

Current town:
Conshohocken, PA

Languages you speak:
A little of Greek, Italian, French, and Spanish-working towards fluency in one of those languages someday

TFT trips that you’ve been on:
Australia/New Zealand, Classic Greece, Greece/Italy, Classic Italy, Cinque Terre Community Service, Fiji, Paris and South of France

Countries you’ve been to:
Australia, Ireland, England, Greece, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Egypt, Fiji, French Polynesia, St. Maarten, Anguilla, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Grand Cayman Island, Honduras, Canada, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and New Zealand

College major:
Elementary and Special Education

Favorite travel book, magazine, or film?
Let's Go or Lonely Planet series. Fun reading would be any "chic flick" type book or The Alchemist

What is your current job outside of TFT?
I am an Elementary Teacher of gifted students

Besides the essentials, list 3 things you refuse to travel without.
Camelback, grandmom's rosary beads (she always wanted to go to Italy - but never did cause my grandfather served there), and journal

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited?
Too hard to pick. But I was completely giddy at the pyramids of Giza

What’s the most beautiful place on Earth?
Anywhere can be beautiful - just depends on who you're with
Top favs though include:
Fiji islands
Sunsets in Thailand and Morea, French Polynesia
The view from Pat's balcony in Paris
The coral reefs of the Red Sea, Similan Islands in Thailand, and Honduras

If you could live in one country (besides your current residence) where would it be and why?
Italy - beautiful culture, boisterous and fun people, and gelato of course

What kind of camera do you bring with you when you travel?
Canon powershot- I'm not sure the exact model -just ask Ned ; )

Have you ever backpacked through Europe, and where did you go?
Not yet

What’s your favorite landmark and why?
Eiffel Tower is my fav. because my husband proposed in front of it

What’s your favorite beach and why?
Sea Isle City, New Jersey because I was a lifeguard there for five summers. It's like home away from home.

What are your hobbies?
Scrapbooking

What sports do you play?
I'm a swimmer and former swim coach

What do you love most about working for Travel for Teens?
Definitely the people I meet - the staff, campers, and friends from around the world - are amazing!

What are the top 10 places you want to visit?
In no particular order:
1-Indonesia
2-Micronesia
3-Hawaii
4-Costa Rica
5-Brazil
6-Belize
7-More carribean islands
8-Spain
9-Croatia
10-More places in US-like Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Fingerlakes, Vegas, and San Diego

Getting to Know TFT - Johnny Perkins

2010-04-07T10:33:00.001-04:00

Johnny Perkins is one of the talented few who count themselves as full-time Travel for Teens staff. He handles the TFT website, Internet marketing, and also manages to be one of our Spain Trip Directors. Johnny is fluent in Spanish and has spent 4 years living, traveling, working, and volunteering in Mexico, Central and South America, and Spain.

Introducing the man, the myth, the legend...

Name: Johnny Perkins

Hometown: Watertown, MA

Current town: Philadelphia, PA

Languages you speak: Spanish

TFT trips that you’ve been on: All Spain trips, Discover Europe

Countries you’ve been to: Most countries in Western Europe, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil

College major: Still deciding

Favorite travel book, magazine, or film? Motorcycle Diaries

Besides the essentials, list 3 things you refuse to travel without: Guitar, brass knuckles, and my lucky pink rabbit’s foot

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited? Sevilla, Spain

What’s the most beautiful place on Earth? El Chorro, Spain. El Diablo Waterfall in Ecuador. Views from the Greek Islands.

If you could live in one country (besides your current residence) where would it be and why? I used to say either Barcelona or Sevilla, Spain but after visiting Costa Rica I may have changed my mind.

What’s the strangest food you have eaten? Saw someone eat goat head/eyes/brain, dared someone to drink a bottle of hot sauce for 100 pesos (which like a total doof, he did), never eaten anything too crazy with the exception of Trader Joe’s sushi.

What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had? Translating for a wedding coordinator at a beachside restaurant in a tiny surfing town on the Pacific in Mexico.

Do you play a musical instrument? Love to play a little guitar whenever anyone’s interested in listening or singing along.

What kind of camera do you bring with you when you travel? iPhone

Have you ever backpacked through Europe, and where did you go? Was fortunate enough to spend 2.5 months when I was 18 traveling from Amsterdam to Bruges, to Paris to Barcelona, to Granada, to Sevilla, to Madrid and back up to Amsterdam on a EuroRail pass back in ‘02

What do you love most about working for Travel for Teens? Working in the office and going to camp fairs!

Getting to Know TFT - Jonathan Bolick

2010-04-06T13:35:00.002-04:00

Our next staff profile is all about Junior Counselor Jonathan Bolick. Jon has been with TFT for years, starting out as a participant and working his way up as a CIT. He's coming back in the summer of 2010 for his second year as a Junior Counselor, and we are very lucky to have him with us.

Name: Jonathan Bolick

Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Current town: Columbia, South Carolina

Languages you speak: Intermediate Chinese and Beginner Spanish

TFT trips that you’ve been on: Thailand & Cambodia, Australia, Greece, Paris and the South of France, Eastern Europe, and Amsterdam Belgium and Paris.

Countries you’ve been to: Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, France, England, Italy, Monaco, Hungry, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Greece, The Netherlands, Belgium, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Bahamas, and Mexico.

College major: Marketing and Management

Favorite travel book, magazine, or film? Travel & Leisure or Matadorabroad.com (Blog)

(For non full-time staff) What is your current job outside of TFT? Political Intern for Curtis Loftis’ South Carolina Treasurer Campaign.

Besides the essentials, list 3 things you refuse to travel without. My Travel Backpack, A disposable camera, and an open mind.

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited? Thailand…AMAZING trip!

What’s the most beautiful place on Earth? There are WAY to many beautiful things to just pick one, but from the places I have visited I would have to say Ko Phi Phi, Thailand.

What’s the strangest food you have eaten? I’d have to say Kangaroo courtesy of TFT’s Australia Trip. They may be cute and cuddly, but they’re delicious all the same.

Do you play a musical instrument? Used to play piano, trumpet, and guitar.

What’s your favorite landmark and why? The St. Louis Arch because you can spell things on the ground! This picture was taken from the top of the arch as me and 25 other people spelled out “Hi” on the ground.

What’s your favorite beach and why? Tie between Isle of Palms, SC and Ko Phi Phi, Thailand.

What are your hobbies? Photography, Volleyball, University of South Carolina Athletics…GO COCKS!

What sports do you play? Volleyball, Soccer, Swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, Bowling

What do you love most about working for Travel for Teens? The people! TFT has the best staff in the industry and the participants are the coolest! And the places we go aren’t too shabby either…

What are the top 10 places you want to visit? Iceland, Argentina, Japan, China, Antarctica, The North Pole, Southern Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and Brazil.

Getting to Know TFT - Maro Rose Sevastopoulos

2010-03-25T12:17:00.000-04:00

It's time to meet veteran TFT Trip Leader Maro Rose Sevastopoulos. You'll find Maro this summer using her extensive knowledge of Greek language and culture on our Greece & Italy trip. She'll be leading a group of lucky travelers from Athens to the Ionian island of Lefkada, and on to Pompeii and Rome in Italy.

Name: Maro Rose Sevastopoulos

Hometown: Cleveland, OH

Current town: Portland, OR

Languages you speak: English, French, Greek

TFT trips that you’ve been on: Greece; Greece & Italy

Countries you’ve been to: Greece, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Togo, Mali, Burkina Fasso, South Africa

College major: Political Studies

Favorite travel book, magazine, or film? Shirley Valentine

What is your current job outside of TFT? Senior Union Organizer

Besides the essentials, list 3 things you refuse to travel without. My lucky protective “ugly doll”, abreva, and a sense of humor

What’s the strangest food you have eaten? Fire-roasted Bat, followed closely by bush rat ragout.

What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had? My current one. My work is different every day and can vary from canvassing to baking cookies.

Do you play a musical instrument? Used to play cello & piano

What’s your favorite landmark and why? The omphalos at Delphi. Because it’s a belly button :)

What’s your favorite beach and why? Kathisma in Lafkada (Greece) – gorgeous!

What are your hobbies? Boxing, tango, reading,

What sports do you play? Used to play volleyball, softball

What do you love most about working for Travel for Teens? Sharing what I love with new travelers

What are the top 10 places you want to visit? Costa Rica, at least 5 more African countries, Belize, Thailand, India

Thank you Maro!!! We'll see you this summer!

Staff Interview Series - Getting to Know TFT Staff

2010-03-25T11:13:00.003-04:00

Staff Training Weekend 2009

Travel for Teens staffers are quite the interesting group - we come from all over the US (and the world) and as different as we all are, we are all very big into - you guessed it - TRAVELING! In the series of Staff Interviews that follows this post, you'll be able to get an idea of who we are, where we come from, and maybe... where we're going!

Coming very soon to the TFT Blog - Staff Interviews. Don't miss 'em!

Two jet-lagged counselors crash at TFT Headquarters

Trish is on it

Making the magic happen at TFT Headquarters

And don't forget to check us out at TravelforTeens.com and Here on Facebook!!!

Adventures. Service. South Africa!

2010-03-19T13:00:00.005-04:00

A secret: This time last year, I was not excited about South Africa. Greece - super excited; Eastern Europe - super, super excited; and South Africa: umm..cool, but it's going to be winter (I'm a huge fan of the summertime).

Let me tell you though, I fell in love with South Africa almost immediately. Yes, there are places that are dangerous in South Africa - I didn't go there and neither do any of the global Travel for Teens trips. Again, let's be straight here: racial issues in South Africa are still a little hostile, but it's the choice of every individual in this world to fall into that stupid game, or to see the world as it should be. This is a long wind up, but please bear with me here. I didn't make any of the plans or do any of the research for the SA trip in 2009 - that was done by other Travel for Teens staffers, particularly Vice President, Ned Clark. Ned did a tremendous job as all of the group had an amazing adventure, visiting beautiful natural attractions (The Cape of Good Hope, The Wild Coast, Kruger National Park); poignant and thought provoking historical attractions (Robben Island*, District 9 Museum); and then there is the incredible heart of this trip - the community service project. I can only think that instead of compounding the problem of racism - because of the people and places we visited due to the itinerary, we made some small but decent progress into neutralizing the racism curse.

I won't put a photo or video in here, but picture this:

Waking up in a bungalow, the warm colors of early morning light streaming across your face, you grab some tasty, healthy breakfast (the freshest of fruits simply prepared) and you sit outside in the mild sea-side air, overlooking an endless, beautiful ocean.

We drive for not even an hour to a rural village, the ocean still in the distance. The creche backyard is amass with long, dying grass and weeds, trash, some rocks - there are burnt patches of ground, and the playground equipment is rusty and broken.

No-one realised that our new friends, the beautiful people and children of that village, who worked alongside us as we cleaned the place up and constructed a sturdy wooden jungle gym...no-one thought that they were giving so much to us. We had fun, we told jokes, we all smiled together, we learnt some of the 'clicking' sounding words of Xhosa. We gave them a playground, some t-shirts, some soccer balls. Not much really. I honestly can't describe the extent of what they gave us: "an incredible experience" falls short; "their hearts and their love" sounds tacky; "a different view" is too intellectual and stale...and yet all of these statements combined can give you some sort of murky idea of how blessed we all felt at having spent 5 or 6 days working alongside incredible people.

Sure, we saw baboons up-close in the wild. We saw giraffe, lions, beautiful zebra, crocodiles, buffalo and elephants to name just a few (i doubt i'll ever have a more amazing animal experience in my life than one particular ten-minute session of elephant observation). We ate incredible and colorful food, we went surfing (the ocean, indeed the winter, wasn't too cold at all), we went horse-back riding, we climbed sand dunes with no-one else around, we saw numerous amazing sunsets.

But.

As incredible as all of the 'extras' were, meeting and working with the Xhosa people filled my heart. And this summer, I'm more than excited to go back to South Africa. It might even look like I'm giving: working hard, building another playground, assisting people in-need...but I know what they give to me.

Steve Williams

PS - If you want to see video I shot of this trip, please check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=43C7613A15788027

PPS - The other BONUS about going to South Africa in the winter time is that it's not "super-amazingly-this-stinks-hot"...type hot...and the milder temperatures also mean that mosquitoes aren't out to get you. I didn't take any malaria pills last year at all (and personally, had no problems), but if you choose to go to South Africa, this is something for you to consult a GP with and make your own decision about.

PPPS - Awesome recent films to check out on South Africa if you haven't seen already: Invictus (directed by Clint Eastwood) & District 9 (a fairly intelligent allegory in the form of an action/sci-fi film)

*We didn't get to go to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for around 25 years) due to rough seas whilst we were in Cape Town, so I'm SUPER looking forward to getting there this year in 2010.

And now, some pictures:

Italy Photography - Tuscany & Venice

2010-03-16T05:09:00.004-04:00

Among the essential items in most travelers suitcases, you'll find a digital camera. Whether it's a little pocket camera or a huge dSLR with 4 different lenses, nobody takes a trip without a camera these days.

The Travel for Teens Italy Photography trip this summer (August 1 - 10) combines two things that we at TFT love: Travel and Photography. For me personally (Nic Emery writing here, Italy Trip Director), the two have always been inseparable. On my first trip abroad when I was only six years old, I remember holding my father's big Canon film camera and looking through the viewfinder at the English countryside. I distinctly remember the satisfaction that the noise and tangible *click* of the shutter gave me. I was hooked.

Now, when I travel, my camera is perpetually slung around my neck and at the ready. Being in the mindset of taking photos makes me much more aware of the details of my surroundings. I actively search for unique details that are specific to a given place. In Venice, I might see a wall that is a patchwork of crumbling plaster and ancient red bricks, or in Florence it may be the warmly lit fruttivendolo (fruit and vegetable shop) in early evening that attracts my lens.

A crumbling square in Venice

A Florentine fruttivendolo

Taking the photograph forces me to stop and carefully look at my subject. I have to consider the light, the angle, and what I want to include in the frame.

Being a good travel photographer is directly connected to being a good traveler. And this is what travel photography is all about - taking a moment to think about the unique identity of a place, and how you can use your creativity to express that identity through your lens. On our Italy Photography trip we'll visit Tuscany and Venice, two of the most beautiful places in all of Italy.

The Venetian fish market

Florentine street performer in front of the Uffizi Museum

We'll take inspiration from our sublime surroundings and learn how to use our cameras to capture the identity of these incredible regions.

For more information about this unique photography trip to Tuscany and Venice, visit us at www.travelforteens.com or give us a call any time at 888-457-4534.

To see more of Italy Trip Director Nic Emery's travel photography, visit his Flickr account here.

Barcelona

2010-03-12T19:20:00.001-05:00

There are few cities with as much character, charm, history, art, and beauty as the Catalonian capital. Visiting Barcelona evokes a feeling which cannot be easily articulated, but is undoubtedly what has drawn world famous artists, writers, architects and film makers to live in the city over the past 2 centuries. Most of them drew much inspiration from the city itself and were eventually commissioned to make their mark on its infrastructure.

Street Lamp Designed by Antoni Gaudi

Miro Mosaic in the Center of La Rambla

Edward Scissorhands

Typical Scene on La Rambla

Central to its charm is the Old City district, split by the famous la Rambla boulevard, where travelers and locals swarm. Walking down la Rambla is an experience in and of itself—part bazaar, part circus, part cosmopolitan restaurant row, la Rambla is made up of an ever flowing river of people (centuries ago the street itself was a river) who gather, sometimes in the hundreds, to watch the top notch street performers (some are so good they can make 80,000 Euros a year!), marvel at original works of art sold by the artists themselves, or shop for anything from live birds to designer clothing. On either side of La Rambla is a disorienting network of shady pedestrian streets which occasionally give way to quiet plazas with fountains and outdoor cafés. These streets are packed with tiny shops, restaurants, quaint live music venues, hostels and hotels; it is on these streets, just 2 blocks from la Rambla, where we stay on our Spain & Portugal II trip and Barcelona Language program.

Barcelona's Head
Built in 1992

Another unique feature of Barcelona (thanks to remodeling efforts in preparation of the 1992 Olympics) is the mixture of modern sculptures and buildings with spectacular architecture from the old world. This inlay of old and new can literally be seen in the construction of one of the most visited monuments in the world, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Cathedral, still under construction after nearly 130 years! Two of the façades, which were constructed while Gaudi was still alive, are clearly from another era, while the rest is being built from a modern blueprint (the original blueprints were destroyed by anarchists at the beginning of the 20^th century).

Gaudi's Masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia Cathedral

Outdoor Cafe Scene

What would typically be considered ordinary or mundane activities back home are often a memorable experience in Barcelona. Sitting at an outdoor café in a quiet plaza with friends, listening to the occasional street musician play a Bob Marley cover on her guitar or watching a performer juggle 5 bowling pins while telling jokes is far more memorable than getting a latte at a crowded Starbucks back home. Walking to the store to buy a soda you may pass a 500 year old gothic cathedral, a trippy looking street lamp designed by Gaudi, a Michael Jackson impersonator, a mosaic created by Miro, or any number of other sublime, surreal, and historic works of art, culture or architecture; it is unavoidable, a reminder of just how far you are from the world you’re accustomed to. Your mood is constantly elevated.

Juggling on La Rambla

On both of our trips to Barcelona you’ll experience an intangible sensation that comes from the first time you walk up and down la Rambla, arch your neck at La Sagrada Familia, ride along the boardwalk and lie out on Barceloneta beach, cruise the harbor, stroll through Ciutadella park, get a panoramic view of the city and harbor at Parc Guell, and dance into the night at a club on the water. Join us this summer!

The View of Barcelona from Parc Guell

The Amazing Barcelona Beach

Top 10 reasons why the CINQUE TERRE is my favourite (sic) place in Italy

2010-03-08T16:37:00.007-05:00

I'd never heard of the Cinque Terre before. Italian classes in primary school had taught me enough to know my numbers - so i knew that cinque (chin kwe) meant five and I knew that Terre was probably also an Italian word.

Cinque Terre - five lands. Five tiny towns, perched in valleys or on shelves of land, nestled between steep cliffs and a beautiful ocean. Travelers told me it was fantastic. Everyone knows that photos never do a place justice. I knew it was going to be better looking than what I'd seen in 2 dimensions.

The Travel for Teens group that I was lucky enough to work with in 2009 were just fantastic - eager to help on the community service task (maintaining the UNESCO world heritage trail that runs between the 5 towns), keen to engage in the Italian culture and great fun to be around.

And here are the Top 10 reasons why the Cinque Terre is my favourite* place in Italy:

10. The pesto - arguably pesto comes from this region. Mmmmm...it's that good I'm embarrassingly salivating.

9. The people - friendly Italians that are not in the rush of the city, welcoming, jolly and tanned.

8. The train - riding through tunnels between the towns, smelling the salty seaside.

7. The trail - one of the best hikes I've ever done - challenging at times, always gorgeous.

6. The ocean - beautiful shades of blue from a distance, clear cool and refreshing up close.

5. The night-life - well...I'm a fan of sea-side acoustic and cultural music, busy (but not too busy) terraces of happy people, and pleasant yellow street lamps. It's not Club-Euro-Disco-2000. It's way better. Just perfect.

4. The gelato and granita - is it just that ice-cream tastes better at the beach? No...that limone granita I had one evening in Monterosso trumps every frozen cola product I've ever had: combined. It was a pleasant evening too, though.

3. The feeling that you're the only people in the world - trapped by cliffs and the ocean, I can still vividly remember the night-time on the hill that divides Monterosso - the last sounds of the band playing for the night in the distance, people cheering and laughing and I'm imagining I'm trapped here forever. And I'm smiling.

2. The scenery - whether you're looking back at the shore from a boat or a tidy little swim, or looking down at the ocean and towns on one of the peaks of the trail - this is some of the best scenery in the world.

1. The gorgeous, all-inspiring beauty of the place! - back alleys in the cinque terre are charming, not dirty. Colorful towels hang from colorful windowsills that belong to colorful houses. Walking down the cobbled street, shopfronts are small, quaint and beautiful - not an eyesore in the place. Whether it's the obvious beauty of nature - the hills and the beaches speak for themselves - or the delightful Italian architecture, or a cat lazing in the grass - there's something magical about the Cinque Terre. Don't believe me - check it out for yourself!

- Steve Williams

*I'm Australian - so we spell favorite with a 'u'. I feel better that way. I have however spelled a whole bunch of words the American way in this article because I don't like that little red line appearing underneath the words.

Australia--Not Just Shrimp (Prawns) on the Barbie

2010-03-05T15:53:00.003-05:00

It's starting to warm up here in Philly (whoo!) and my feet are getting itchy to get on the road. I spent some time today browsing through my TFT pics on my laptop and can't wait to get back to Australia. Based on listening to our news and media here in the States, you'd think nothing happens in OZ, but here are a few things you might want to know:

Water/Seasons/Traffic---they're all opposite from ours in the States. Yes, it's true that the water drains the other way. Also, it does in fact rain in the outback. Before I went to the outback I thought it was filled with cows, dingos and maybe your occasional Ayers Rock/Uluru. Turns out the outback is unbelievably vast and really, really spectacular. We go to a cattle station for the first part of our TFT Australia trip and get some of the stereotypes about Australia cleared up. There are indeed a lot of cattle out there and they need tons of roaming area because the land is so scrubby. But, the fact is that we're there to do more than look at cattle. While we're at the ranch, we learn to throw boomerangs, crack a whip, ride horses across the property and more. Way more. What struck me the most about my time in the outback was just how friendly the people are. Australians are a happy group of people! The attitude of fun was so contagious.

You also might want to know that the wildlife down under is like no other on the planet. First of all, let's switch gears to the roo. You can actually see wild kangaroos in Australia and they're fast little creatures. Well, ok, so kangaroos are actually pretty large and we were able to see them while we took a 4x4 tour of the ranch. They're wild, so of course they ran away naturally. Wallabies are the smaller of the "roos". While on the TFT trip you get quite a few opportunities to get up close to tame wallabies. I went to Australia Zoo and was able to get a few pics of myself petting a wallaby. (Sidenote: I'm a serious animal lover, so this was the epitome of awesomeness for me.) The wallabies were actually pretty lazy when I was at the Zoo. One of them reminded me of a giant cat, sunning himself belly up in the warm afternoon rays. Visitors were able to come up to him with a handful of a sort of roo trail mix they had at the zoo. He'd shift his head over, nibble out of your hand and give you a "scratch my belly" type of a look. Another wallaby was hanging out in the trees with her baby in her pouch. The animals at Australia Zoo definitely have the life...

There's definitely more to Australia than just the outback and just kangaroos. I haven't even begun to talk about the food, the big cities, the sports or the culture. There's more to come on OZ and NZ; for now I'm off to take a quick stroll outside in this lovely warm(ish) 50 degree weather. Check out http://www.travelforteens.com/trip/Australia%20and%20New%20Zealand/Overview for more on our Australia & New Zealand trip.

Cheers,

Trish

Why I love to fly - reflections of a frequent flier.

2010-02-19T13:29:00.000-05:00

Ask any full time trip director at TFT, and people will often tell you that people tell us that ‘we have the best job ever’ but at the same time some of those people are intimidated by layovers in foreign airports, overnight flights in economy and public transport from the airport to their destination. The major difference between a tourist and a traveler? A traveler even embraces the mode of transportation as part of the authentic experience.

One of the things Travel For Teens exposes is the value in taking the most authentic means of transportation possible. I am sure that you and I have both found ourselves in that position of boarding the plane longing to be seated in the comforts of first class travel, but there is nothing more authentic than the economy section of a flight whether it is a long haul international flight or a short domestic flight.

When flying, I feel good when I get to the first security check point and use the ‘expert traveler’ line. (You know the one with the silhouette of a no-nonsense business woman whose cartooned body language already tells you that she can take off her shoes, remove her laptop and empty her pockets faster than you.) I plan my outfits for flights around minimal garment disruptions and always dress belt free. In my laptop case, you’ll always find a pair of ear plugs, and eye patch mask, chap stick, a stack of business cards, an extra blackberry battery, a fully charged iPod, two pens, a mead note book and some sort of travel related reading material.

Traveling as often as I do, I consider myself an authority on who to fly, when to fly, where to sit and how to make the experience of traveling to your destination an enjoyable part of the sum total travel experience. I am by definition, a frequent flier. 75,000+ miles a year on dozens of different airlines, through airports of every imaginable size and shape, new and old, departing and arriving at almost every hour of the day even crossing the International Date Line at times. I’ve made my flight, missed my flight, had my flight delayed, re-routed and even cancelled but no travel delay has made me less excited to reach my destination. I have had extra pages added to my passport, twice. I know hundreds of airport codes by heart, which carriers service what airports, between which cities and with whom they are in airline alliances. I enjoy knowing the ins and outs of not just flying but how the flights around the world work together. I am also a frequent flier point junkie.

I love travel and I really enjoy flying. I know some people bemoan the new security measures imposed over the past decade of travel. Most people my age or older remember the good old days of flying with liquids, sharp objects and upon take off hearing the flight attendant asking you to turn off your Discman or walkman. I take the new security measures in stride as just part of keeping flying safe. Once I am beyond security, I really enjoy people watching in the waiting areas of the terminals; international airports are even more awesome for this.

Once beyond security, some people want to be really chatty, other people want to just spend some time uninterrupted; I fall into the latter category. Flying is a perfect chance to be uninterrupted; you may have a crying baby near your seat but your cell phone won’t ring and unless you elect to purchase wi-fi on the plane, you aren’t going to get any emails. It is a perfect chance to disconnect.

I am a foodie and I enjoy airline food. Flying provides a great chance to try some local food. Yep, read that line again if you don’t believe me. Not all (airline) food is created equal but unlike most people I know, I really enjoy airline food. If you are on a domestic or international flight outside of the USA, it’s more than likely you are going to be offered a snack or meal which is the airlines attempt at providing a meal which would please the greatest population of that airlines country of origin. Airline food is the chance to the airline to offer you something authentic from their home country. I love that when I peel back that aluminum cover on a hot dinner dish, it rarely resembles anything I would expect to find on the menu of an American chain restaurant (think TGIFridays). On a flight within Malaysia, I looked at the menu (all in Malay) and pointed to what looked like chicken satay with rice. Perfect, I thought to myself. When the airline attendant put it down in front of me, there were dozens of sardines mixed into the rice. Upon a more careful examination of the image, sure enough, I saw sardines in the rice. Had I not been really hungry, I surely would have passed on this dish but to my surprise it wound up being pretty good. Without trying some airline food, I would never have elected to have tried such a ‘scary’ looking dish.

Flying is a great chance to watch movies & read. My personal favorite airline to fly internationally is the one with the personal entertainment system where I can watch different movies & gives you a free newspaper (in English) as you board the plane. Conversely my least favorite airline to fly internationally is the one which has just the single screen dangling from the ceiling. I don’t watch many movies at home but when I am traveling, I love it! The airline I have found to have this most consistently would be Lufthansa (another perk of TFT!). The best airline I have ever flown was Emirates: they had 50 movies on demand! Additionally, the camaraderie amongst passengers to share reading material and newspapers is unprecedented. When people are finished with a newspaper or a magazine, people are almost always willing to share the reading materials with you.

The people who work on planes are interesting. Pilots often have a dry sense of humor during their announcements can provide levity during layovers and delayed departures. Recently while I was waiting to take off from Charlotte to Philadelphia on a delayed flight, the pilot finished his short greeting to the passengers with the line “so we’re going to fly this thing like it’s a rental and see if we can get you home a little sooner.” Flight attendants are often some of the best sources of good insider tips for your destination and if asked properly are often willing to make hilarious (good humored) mock announcements over the PA which makes a group flight all the more enjoyable.

Planes are the closest thing to a time travel machine. When you were a kid, you may have dreamed of transporting instantly from one place to another. The planes that most of us fly aren’t exactly time travel machines but they can definitely set up of one of my favorite sensations: culture shock. Go back to what it was like to be a kid for a second, you wanted to have this time travel machine because you wanted to escape where you were and go to a place that was completely different. Flying to a new place whether it is in your country or not can bring you to a dramatically different landscape, people, language, climate and time zone. Varying combinations of these factors create culture shock. I actively seek out experiences to put myself outside of my comfort zone and I enjoy being culture shocked when I visit a new place for the first time. Each time I get on a plane, I get excited because I know I am going to a new place, different from my home.

So next time when you are going through security, and you have to take off your shoes, watch, hat, sweatshirt, belt and empty your pockets – take a deep breath – on the other side of that metal detector is a great travel experience just waiting to happen.

How I Spent My Snowpocalypse - by Nic Emery

2010-02-13T10:03:00.003-05:00

The snowpocalypse has come and gone.

Or so I hear - While the rest of the country has been demolished by record-breaking blizzards this week, I've been cavorting around the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. It's my first time in this great state, and I came down here as part of my US tour for TFT, visiting schools and doing home visits around the country. Being in Arizona for the first time has made me think about how much of the USA I have never seen, and how drop-dead gorgeous so much of this country is. I resolve to come back to the Southwest at the first opportunity.

First impressions of Arizona (I grew up in Texas and then New England, and now live in Italy, so those are my points of reference):

The weather is incredibly pleasant in February. I wouldn't want to be here in July, but hey - while the snowmageddon rages, it's a nice place to be.

The people in Arizona are very cheerful, and very nice. Americans are really nice people in general, but Arizona takes it to a whole other level.

Arizona is actually full of cacti. This delighted me as only a stereotype fulfilled can.

An actual cactus

Outside the cities, it's emptiness. I realized this while driving from Sedona back to Phoenix, and seeing the entire landscape spread out below me for miles and miles in every direction. There was literally nothing to be seen except for arid grassland. In the Northeast, there's always something filling up the landscape - buildings, roads, people, parking lots, or at the very least a forest or river.

Emptiness

There seem to be very strict building codes in Arizona which regulate the size, shape, and color of buildings. The buildings that I saw were all remarkably well-adapted to the natural desert colors that surrounded them. Most of the houses and even shopping centers that I saw were beige, brown, tan, or rusty-red colored, which made them blend almost seamlessly into the landscape.

Buildings fit with the landscape

Phoenix, the fifth largest city in the US, seems strangely small. I assume this is because maybe I somehow never actually made it into the downtown area - I was staying in Scottsdale - but still. Maybe Phoenix doesn't have a downtown full of tall buildings? Houston, the 4th largest city (where I was last week) has a downtown area that is seriously impressive, with soaring, shiny skyscrapers.

Arizona is also a wonderland for a photographer like me. I wish I could spend weeks here, exploring the incredible landscapes and rich desert colors. I had never seen anything like it before in my life, especially when I drove to Sedona, in northern Arizona.

Sedona is literally one of the most beautiful places I've been on the planet – It's at least as stunning as the Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast, or the Dolomites in Italy.

Here are some of my favorite shots from Sedona.

Road Trip!

Desert Colors

Desert Rainbow

So here I am on the plane winging my way from Arizona to Philadelphia, epicenter of the snowquake and TFT Headquarters. Next leg of my US tour - NYC this weekend, Washington DC next week!

Nic Emery

Italy Trip Director

20 (or so) Questions with Trish

2010-02-05T15:15:00.000-05:00

Name: Trish Baker

Current home: Malvern, Pa

TFT trips you’ve been on: Paris (multiple sessions), Australia & New Zealand, and Australia with a school from Boston

Most Visited Countries: France!!! My family and I absolutely adore France, so we end up going there the most.

Favorite travel books: I have a hard time deciding between “Lonely Planet” and “Let’s Go”. As far as travel writing goes, I’ve read almost all of Bill Bryson’s books and enjoyed David Sedaris’s essays on living in Paris.

It’s a toss up between “In a Sunburned Country” and “A Walk in the Woods” for my favorite Bryson titles.

Job at TFT: I work full time at the TFT HQ in Wayne. I’m the logistics coordinator here at TFT. I toggle between tasks such as finance, paperwork, flights and customer service. In the summer you’ll find me at the Newark airport in Terminal B greeting new campers. I really enjoy speaking to parents and campers and sharing the excitement of an upcoming TFT trip.

How do you prepare to visit a new place?: My basic method for visiting a new place is to start reading online about it. I search for blogs, podcasts, and travel guides for my ipod. Next, I start compiling my “must see” list with the help of my favorite guidebooks.

One great aspect of working here at TFT is that we have a resource of fellow travelers to talk to. Going to Costa Rica soon?---ask Johnny. Want to know the most authentic restaurants in Paris?—ask Pat her favorites. Chances are that someone on our staff has visited your next travel spot and can give you a wealth of insider tips.

What 5-10 items are always with you when you are on the road?:

Travel journal, ipod, sweater for the plane ride, a novel to read for the plane

What are your top 5 favorite places you’ve ever visited?:

Kroombit Park on the Lochenbar Cattle Station (Biloela, Qld, Australia)

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Swan Lake in Sumter, SC

North Captiva Island, off the coast of Ft. Myers, FL

Landing beaches in Normandy

What’s the strangest food you have eaten?:

Fish eyes. When I a kid I went to a dim sum restaurant in Atlanta with my grandparents and they neglected to tell me that the chewy bits in the stew were fish eyes and head. It actually was really tasty and a cool bragging right when I was in elementary school.

I also believed for about ten years that I’d accidentally ordered a horse meat cheeseburger while traveling with Pat in the Loire Valley. Turns out that she was joking and I only found out last year…

Have you backpacked through Europe, and where did you go?:

I’ve backpacked through France, Spain, Ireland, and Italy.

What’s your most recent trip?:

My last trip was in November and was a road trip. I drove through Vermont and into Montreal, then back down again through Vermont. I’m obsessed with Vermont and Montreal now!

What’s your favorite beach and why?:

My favorite beach is any beach with my friends. I’m not too picky when it comes to beach time!

What are your hobbies?:

I enjoy ceramics, animal rescue, and of course travel! In the summer I hike our local trails in Southeastern, Pa. Many weekends I go to local events in Philly or around the Main Line (Philly suburbs). My Jack Russell Terrier keeps me busy too!

What are the top 10 (or so) places you hope to visit?:

Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Isle of Skye, Kenya, Maine, Ethiopia, Cuba, Cape Verde, Toronto, and Seattle….

WHAT ARE WE DOING DURING THE WINTER?

2010-02-02T17:56:00.001-05:00

Ahhhh, we’re in the heart of the offseason here at TFT and the summer adventures through distant lands with our groups of teenagers seem like distant memories. Comparatively speaking, the winter season (for those of us that are full time TFT’ers) is a bit uneventful…or is it?

Lots of you kids ask us what we do all winter and I’m about to give you a quick roundup of what’s been happening around the office since we last saw you all in August. After our trips ended, we all had some time off to enjoy adventures of our own. Johnny spent some time chilling out with Phil up in the remote beauty of Maine, while Nic and Ned took some down-time in California’s wine country. I went my own way and visited my family in Colombia and traveled to several cities including Medellin, Bogota, and Cali.

About six months have passed and our laundry list of things to do has included researching our NEW TRIPS! Nic and Johnny have both written about their adventures to Costa Rica and Thailand and I was lucky enough to have gone to Amsterdam, Sweden, Denmark and Portugal.

Of all my years traveling, it’s hard to believe that this was my first time in Amsterdam. It was kind of what I expected and I was instantly charmed by the canals and thousands of bicycles everywhere!

Two days later, I landed in Stockholm and was amazed at the relative diversity of the people. This city of islands is an old, interesting place that is comprised of a series of lakes, rivers, canals, foot-bridges, parks, old cobblestone roads and really modern shopping centers. It’s a city of high fashion, super friendly people and lots of activity! I had blast running around looking at all the major sights and museums.

My next few of days were hectic as I flew to the middle of the Baltic Sea to explore Gotland Island and then to Copenhagen in Denmark. Gotland is a Swedish summer resort known for its medieval capital city of Visby and the medieval festival that happens every August (WHEN WE’RE GOING TO BE THERE!!). I traveled via ferry on a four hour journey from the coast of Stockholm and arrived on the island at about 3:30pm where it was already the dark of night (luckily, in the summer, the light has the opposite effect as the sun doesn’t set until after 10pm). It was a Sunday evening and walking the narrow, winding, cobblestone streets gave me the feeling that I was navigating a movie set.

Two days later, it was off to Copenhagen, Denmark where I explored the Danish way of life by bike, crossing canal after canal en route to learning the city. Copenhagen is another progressive place with vibrant harbors, museums and an impressive palace that boasts one of the world’s oldest monarchies.

My final stop was Lagos, Portugal where we will end our Spain and Portugal 1 trip. It had been since 2001 that I had last been to this relaxing little town on the western-most tip of Portugal. Unlike the rest of the Algarve (southern Portugal), it has managed to avoid being overrun by the towering resort hotels that are so prevalent in other parts of the region. I was able to meet a bunch of really laid back locals and ex-pat Aussies and English guys who will be helping us run surfing and mountain biking excursions when we return in July.

Since my research trip, I’ve returned to the office where we are now in the middle of our sales-season. From December to March, we travel all over the U.S. telling people why we’re the best teen travel company available. In the last month I’ve been to New York and Connecticut and I leave for San Diego and Los Angeles tomorrow. Fellow TFT teammates Ned, Nic, Johnny, Trish have been leaving tracks all over the country as well covering Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Texas, St. Louis, Chicago, Seattle and Florida.

As you can see, even though we don’t have 30 high school students in tow every day, we still have plenty to keep us busy during the long winter months. Don’t forget to check our website to see where we’re going to be during the month of February. If you see us coming to your town, let us know so we can say hi. In the meantime, stay warm and remember, only five months to go until we pack our bags to start yet another summer full of adventure and knowledge!!

Costa Rica - Happiest Place On Earth

2010-01-21T19:28:00.003-05:00

I read recently that the people of Costa Rica are the happiest on earth, which didn't surprise me at all. In fact, within hours of landing in San Jose to do research for our 2010 Costa Rica Service & Spanish and Costa Rica Adventure & Service trips in October, I remember thinking the exact same thing; it wasn't until I was boarding the plane home, having seen both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts and a few places in between, that I realized that ticos (Costa Ricans) could actually qualify for being the happiest population of people I had ever met!

Considering Costa Rica's rich natural beauty (over 50% of the land is protected national park!), the government's decision to abolish its army in 1949, and an unprecedented commitment to environmental and social issues, its no surprise happiness is so ubiquitous. What is it like to be immersed in a population of such happy people? There's only one way to find out... Pura Vida!

My trip, as will the Costa Rica Adventure & Service trip in August, began with a journey to the Caribbean cost to a lodge in Tortuguero National Park. The lodge sits on a thin stretch of land, sandwiched between the river and the ocean. To get there we drove the Pan American highway until we turned onto a dirt road that snaked for a few hours through the countryside and a banana plantation. Finally we arrived at a river and hopped a river boat that took us on a 2 hour trip upstream.

The lodge was impeccably maintained (despite being virtually a part of the surrounding jungle) and within minutes of arriving I noticed an iguana the size of a chihuahua (a chihuahua with a 4 foot tail) sunbathing in a tree. The lodge's restaurant (meals consist of an amazing buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner) is right next to the pool, which is right next to a small frog farm, where red eyed tree frogs sleep all day. Perhaps my favorite part of staying at the lodge was how it blended so well with the jungle yet was extremely comfortable and not rustic.

That night, a guest at the lodge came back from the beach and announced that there were turtles hatching and running down the sand into the sea--I grabbed my camera and ran out to see 20 to 30 baby turtles struggling to free themselves from their shell before brazenly flapping down the beach into the crashing waves. It was quite a sight--and something we're sure to see on our summer trip as well!

The next day I ventured down a dirt road that runs along the ocean to the tiny town of Tortuguero, which is supported mostly by tourism and fishing. Within 20 minutes of walking around the town I got to chatting with a group of children who showed me a box of puppies, thoroughly enjoyed playing with my iPhone, and invited me into their houses.

I spent the better portion of the day wandering around, meeting people, watching a local soccer game, and eating at a small restaurant. Walking back to the lodge that evening it occurred to me that, despite being in what technically constitutes a third world town, not one person asked me for money (only to email the pictures I'd taken) and I never once felt remotely unsafe or like I was an outsider; quite contradictory to previous experiences I'd had in the years I spent traveling in Latin America!

Tomorrow:
Photos from the lodge and the next leg of the journey, Arenal.

Ned's Travel Notebook: The Pyramids of Giza, Riding Camels, and the Egyptian Museum

2010-01-20T10:35:00.003-05:00

We woke the 3^rd day excited as ever only to find a thick pea soup fog blanketing the city. This caused major chaos and delays for most drivers as fog this bad is highly unusual. We fought through the traffic and the fog with our driver masterfully honking his horn on average once a minute en route to our first destination: the Egyptian Museum. Throngs of tourists lead by guides were corralled out front of the main gate by security guards who exchanged high fives and payoffs from those same guides to keep things moving smoothly. Lesson 6: Say it with me….Baksheesh….pronounced, back-SHEESH. Got it? That’s Arabic for tip. In Egypt, tips are the grease that keeps everything moving smoothly. Nothing comes for free and (almost) no one is doing you a favor out of the goodness of their heart. This isn’t to say that Egyptians are not good hearted people; they are an incredible people full of life and very passionate about their country. However, anyone who is in the business of tourism or people services (read almost everyone you will encounter as a traveler or tourist) is working hard to earn baksheesh. So on several occasions during the trip, my friends and I participated by giving baksheesh or witnessing our guides spreading the wealth around so that we got what we wanted or where we needed to go faster…which is not unlike why we tip in our own countries. The difference is that in Egypt it feels like almost EVERYONE is angling for a tip no matter whether or not you want to give one.

So here’s an example of how it works: our guide tips the right person, we skip the line and presto we are looking at a replica of the Rosetta stone in under a minute. Unfortunately…a lot of Egyptian antiquities do not reside in Egypt. We move through the museum at lightning speed, (our guide Moustafa doesn’t do anything slow) weaving between large groups of tourists with their earphones and blank emotionless states with our guide feeding us historical facts. Moustafa peppers us with facts big and small as we meander through the museum en route to King Tutankhamun’s display. Now…maybe it was just me but I remember learning about King Tut around the age that Legos were cool and G.I. Joes were the next best thing. Seeing his solid gold coffin is absolutely incredible….it looks like something out of Hollywood but it’s real. Lesson 7: The real antiquities of Egypt are like Hollywood props on steroids…it is exhilarating to be in the presence of such beautiful antiquities. (Later on in the trip, we visited the Valley of the Kings where King Tut’s tomb was discovered and that made the museum seem like t-ball. More on that in Part 3) Leaving Tut’s exhibit, it seems as though our tour of the museum is over…but wait…our tour is not finished yet, for a little extra money, we can see more mummies. Lesson 8: Egypt’s sights are very good at always offering an opportunity to buy an extra ticket to see something more special than what you saw before. My advice - listen to your guide about whether or not they think it is special enough and budget some extra money so that when visiting Egypt, you always have just a little extra cash to take advantage of those extra special opportunities.

Fully content from mummies, gold sarcophagi and Rosetta Stones, we took the only photo you can take at the museum because no cameras are allowed inside (see Kate above) we jumped on a felucca boat to cruise up the Nile to our lunch.

Seeing Cairo from the water is a must do experience. The Nile in Cairo is not a clean looking river but neither are rivers I know of which flow through any major city in the USA. Nevertheless, you see Egyptians fishing from the banks and in the center of the river. Huge hotels and sky scrapers flank sides of the river slightly obscured behind the ever present smog which hangs over the capital.

We docked at a riverside restaurant, filled up on Egyptian food and hopped back in our bus bound for Giza. About 20 minutes before you arrive at the Pyramids, you catch your first glimpse of them on the horizon. As you get closer, you are overwhelmed by the Pyramids. Just like Tut, you have been hearing about the Pyramids since you were a little kid and then…HERE YOU ARE!

Just inside the gate your guide probably begins to tell you all about the pyramids but chances are, you are so anxious to take photos and get up close, half of the history of Cheops goes in one ear and out the other. The Great Pyramid of Giza is Awesome. It can also turn you into the tackiest of tourist, inspiring you to ‘walk like an Egyptian’ or smile in wide-eyed wonder like a little kid as you climb up and down the massive blocks at the base - see below.

Turning around you look back to see the city skyline of Giza and Cairo. Our guide advised us against paying the money to go inside the main chamber but for 20 Egyptian pounds (about $3.50) we go into a smaller burial chamber next to the main pyramid. It still feels like a really good Hollywood movie set but it’s so real!

Next stop is a distant sand dune to take the quintessential image anyone who has been there before has shown you with the 3 pyramids in the background.

Now, up to this point, you have been skeptical of the infamous tourist activity of riding a camel past the pyramids. Our guide keeps trying to convince us to spend the $35 bucks to do it. This is where you have to let go of your disbelief and just go for it! We shell out the funds, our guide begins yelling Arabic and 3 camels begin lumbering towards us. Getting on a camel is kind of like a horse but much more awkward: one foot in the stirrup, swing your body over, grab the horn of the saddle and hold on for dear life as the camel puts its back legs up first which sends your center of gravity WAY forward making you think you are going to topple forward before the camel’s front legs stand up and even you out.

Your journey begins with your camel mahout (in our case a 14 year old young man) leading you away from the crowds towards the excavation site where the workers who build the pyramids lived. Recent archeological discoveries have proved that the Pyramids were not built by slaves, they were paid workers. One of the best things about the riding a camel this way was the photo ops you get with no tourists around you and an unobstructed view of the pyramids; specifically, I found myself in love with the shadow’s we cast on the sand complimenting the pyramids.

Half way through our journey, our young camel mahouts let us get some quality pictures complete with Bedouin head wrap known as a Keffiyeh. Next we got back on our camels and rode down to the Sphinx at a pretty good speed. Unfortunately, riding a camel, unlike a horse, gets MORE uncomfortable the faster the camel is moving which inspired me to come up with the line “you look more uncomfortable than a tourist on a camel.”

We dismounted the camels, passed our mahouts some baksheesh and proceeded to the Sphinx. The entrance Sphinx is a crowd clusterfuck; the single original doorway built thousands of years ago was never designed for crowds. Once you are through the door, the Sphinx is still awe inspiring. We snapped several pictures with the Sphinx and the setting sun and went back through the throngs of tourists waiting for an up close glimpse and exited to the parking lot but not before we stopped and took a few more pictures of this incredible panoramic view of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids.

Our day finished at a papyrus store where we learned the history of papyrus, how paper is made from papyrus and why it is such a durable material for ancient manuscripts. We purchased a tapestry and headed to the airport extremely satisfied with all we accomplished on our first day in Cairo and ready for the next leg of our journey – 2 days in Luxor.

Ned's Travel Notebook: What the Guidebooks Don't Tell You About Egypt

2010-01-18T05:03:00.000-05:00

Landing in Cairo, Egypt I was thrilled with excitement and at the same time I had my guard up. As a travel expert, I pride myself on researching a destination ahead of time to be ready for anything but those first steps on foreign soil always feel the same; you want to appear confident despite the fact that this might be the first time you’ve ever been there. Exiting the plane, following the signs in Arabic and English to Customs, we remembered that we needed to purchase our Egyptian tourist visas before we could go through customs. Waiting in line to buy our visas, the man behind the desk who is selling the visas just gets up from his post, lights a cigarette and informs the line of 20 people that his office is now closed. Lesson 1 about Egypt: shops will open and close at the whim of the shop keeper. Lesson 2: Egypt is a very smoking friendly culture, restaurants, hotels, airports…you name it; in Egypt, if you have a roof over your head, chances are you can smoke there. Passing through customs I was mildly bothered when the customs official slapped my Egyptian visa sticker upside down over top of my Belize passport stamps but I really didn’t care, we were now in Egypt!

After collecting our bags, we jumped in a van bound for our hotel. I tried to ask interesting questions about Cairo but struggled as jetlag was getting the best of me. On the highway, I learned a few more things about Egypt. Lesson 3, the lines on the highway must be there only for aesthetic appeal as our 3 lane highway carried 5 cars across most of the journey and even when there weren’t many cars around us, our driver mostly ignored the lanes. Driving on the highway in Egypt is as much about avoidance as it is about speed. Lesson 4: as an Egyptian driver, it is not just your right to have a horn in your car, it is your duty to use it as often as you want, if you are passing a car, changing lanes, speeding up, slowing down, making a turn or just saying hi…you honk your horn, not just once but a couple times for good measure. Some cars have taken this to a new level to with those goofy sounding horns mostly reserved for clown cars in the USA. Lesson 5: using your headlights while driving is not the law. Coming from a country where it is law to use your headlights from dusk to dawn and while raining, it was very strange to see a multitude of cars at night whose only lights I could see were their brake lights.

Getting off the highway in Giza, we glimpsed our first street views…which meant lots of store fronts & traffic.

Egypt’s traffic is fantastic! Most times of the day, you just budget yourself an hour to go anywhere in Cairo or Giza because you will be dodging trucks, tuk tuks, camels, motorcycles, horses, bikes, pedestrians and the occasional rickshaw. But hey, isn’t this why we all travel; to experience a different way of life? That night we took it easy, ate our first Egyptian meal and prepared for our first full day in Cairo.

226,787 TFT Photos

2010-01-08T13:39:00.001-05:00

Anyone who has been on a Travel for Teens trip knows that we take LOTS of photos. Our cameras are out when we're eating breakfast, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, watching fireworks in Venice, riding elephants in Thailand, or going diving in Fiji.

These photos are essential for TFT HQ when it comes to putting together our annual brochure, keeping our website current, and showing potential participants and their families what our trips are really like day to day. Out of all the photos we take on any given trip, some of them are great, some are funny, and many are delete-worthy. Any good photographer will tell you that out of 100 shots, only about 5 will end up being keepers.

So where I am going with all this? Well ... One of my jobs this Spring is organizing our TFT photo archives going back to 2003. That means going through a grand total of 226,787 photos. Eeeeek (see photo at left). These photos were taken everywhere from Hungary to New Zealand, so it promises to be an interesting task, and I'll keep the TFT Travel Blog updated with some of the gems I will inevitably find.

And if you're into photography, be sure to check out our Italy Photography, Southern Africa Photo Safari, and Thailand Photography & Service trips to learn all about travel photography and get unparalleled hands-on teaching and practice.

- Nic

Nic's Travel Notebook - Kho Phi Phi, Thailand

2010-01-06T10:09:00.002-05:00

Long tail boats crowd the port on Kho Phi Phi Don in the Andaman Sea, Thailand.

During my trip in November-December to Thailand, the tiny island of Kho Phi Phi Don was one of the most magical places that I saw, and when speaking of Thailand that statement should not be taken lightly. I arrived at Kho Phi Phi via the larger island of Phuket. A short flight south from Bangkok put me in Phuket's small airport, where I met a couple Brazilian guys who shared a cab with me to the port. One of the great pleasures of traveling alone are those moments you share with other travelers you find along the way - in this case we laughed about our escapades in Thailand all the way to the port, where we dumped our bags next to the water and waited for our boat.

The 2.5 hour ferry ride from Phuket flowed by in a sleepy haze and when I lugged my backpack onto the dock at Kho Phi Phi the first thing I noticed was the heat and humidity that pressed down on me. In Bangkok it had been pretty warm, and up north in Chiang Mai and Pai the weather had been perfect. Kho Phi Phi wanted to make sure I knew it was a tropical island, even though November was coming to a close.

Kho Phi Phi Don is one of two tiny islands floating in the Andaman Sea off the Thai mainland. The other island is called Kho Phi Phi Ley, a tiny and paradisiacal rock that is better known as "The Beach", where the movie was shot with Leonardo DiCaprio and where the original book was set.

One of the biggest reasons travelers seek out Kho Phi Phi is the world-class scuba diving to be done in the waters surrounding the island. One of the things I "had" to do while in Thailand was get my Padi Open Water dive certification (rough job, right?) and so for 4 days I hit the books, watched the videos, and got wet. I came away with my dive logbook and the memories of a lifetime. The best way I can describe the sensation of scuba diving is that you feel like you suddenly have the ability to fly, and you're flying over an alien planet inhabited by the wildest creatures you've ever imagined.

I'm not a person who always dreamed of scuba diving, in fact the idea of it always kind of scared me - why venture into the briny deep when I'm breathing air just fine up here? However, my first dive, at Bida Nok, absolutely blew my mind. Some of the many creatures I saw on that very first dive include giant moray eels, barracuda, a blue-spotted stingray, a leopard shark, many parrotfish, triggerfish, anemones, clownfish, and a varicose wart slug. Yes, a varicose wart slug. My life is now complete. On my next dives I saw 7 hawksbill turtles, 2 black tip reef sharks, sea cucumbers, an amazingly camouflaged cuttlefish, 2 lion fish, a grouper, and countless other colorful species. Go diving. You won't regret it.

View from the "Viewpoint" on Kho Phi Phi

On my way down from a short hike up the hill to get a view over the island - see above photo - I ran into this little vivacious monkey tethered to a post. He was sitting on a table with a baby Thai boy and wanted nothing more than to play with this kid, who was way more interested in playing with some kind of white fruit that I had never seen before. The monkey continued to pull the kid's ears and manhandle him while his mother and her friends laughed. Just another day on the island, I suppose.

Kho Phi Phi made it into the news in 2004 for being especially hard hit by the tsunami on the day after Christmas. As you can see in the picture of the viewpoint, the main town of the island is situated right on that low-lying isthmus. After this tragedy, an array of early-warning devices have been installed on and around the island to alert the inhabitants to future tsunamis.

Travel for Teens will visit Kho Phi Phi this summer on the Thailand Community Service trip which goes from July 7–21, 2010. We'll soak up the sun, go diving and snorkelling, go hiking, and soak up the unique island culture on this tropical paradise. Click here to register and check back for more on Thailand...

Nic's Travel Notebook - Chiang Mai, Thailand

2009-12-07T11:37:00.001-05:00

Trip Director Nic Emery returned from a trip to Thailand a few days ago, and the next series of blog posts will cover the fascinating locations in that beautiful country where TFT will go to this summer.

Chiang Mai, Thailand – In the north of Thailand, in the misty green hills not far from Laos, sits the hip university town of Chiang Mai. We visit Chiang Mai both on our Thailand and our Thailand Photography & Service trips. It's a laid back town where you'll be able to relax while learning tons about Thai culture. You'll have the chance to participate in an in-depth Thai cooking lesson, learn the basics of Muay Thai boxing, and create your own paper lantern, which you will then set free into the night sky. Chiang Mai is also full of magnificent Buddhist temples - Doi Suthep, located on a mountainside that overlooks the city, is one of the most sacred places of worship in the country. Here we'll have the chance to learn about Buddhism and appreciate completely new cultural and spiritual traditions.

Chiang Mai is also famous for its night bazaar, a vestige of its legendary past as a way station for Chinese merchants traveling the nearby Silk Road. At the night markets in Chiang Mai you will find everything you ever dreamed of and more... from incredible bags and purses to silk scarves, various figurines, amulets, street food, and the coolest t-shirts you've ever laid eyes on, you could spend days wandering through the market stalls and ogling the merchandise. And of course, when you want to buy something you'll have to perfect your bargaining skills as you are fully expected to haggle! On our Thailand Photography & Service trip we will also devote time to an organization who works with Burmese refugees in Chiang Mai. You'll find that this may well be the best part of the whole trip, as you forge real connections with these strong people, learn their stories, and share some smiles. Come with us to Thailand this summer and you are assured of making memories to last a lifetime...

Check back soon to read about Pai, another amazing destination in the north of Thailand for travelers in the know!

Patrick's Travel Notebook - Los Angeles

2009-10-21T05:56:00.004-04:00

Los Angeles doesn’t look like I thought it would look. I expected high rises, skylines, downtowns. Instead, its landscape is dispersed, decentralized, so that you take the freeway everywhere you go. It is, however, just as fun I expected.

Santa Monica Pier lights up at night, and fills with people of all ages who have come out to take a stroll, ride the carnival rides, or chow down on fried fish, corn dogs, and funnel cakes. Even at night, people line the end of the pier with fishing rods in hand, waiting for a bite.

By day, I rode up into Beverly Hills to check out Rodeo Drive, full of high-end boutiques, and stopped off for lunch at Urth Café. Then I headed to Hollywood for a look at the famous sign, and for a tour through the entrance to Mann’s Chinese Theater, where some of the biggest stars in film history have enshrined their handprints and footprints. There are studio tours on offer, so that you can check out famous movie lots and old movie sets, and around the city there are a number of amusement parks like Disneyland and Universal Studios.

Down on Venice Beach, I watched ridiculously muscled bodybuilders flex in the sun, and looked on as surfers played in the enormous waves. I’m happiest in the sun, and was thankful for the minor tan a morning at the beach gave me.

Saying good-bye to L.A. I headed back up the coast, taking the Coastal Highway (CA-1) back to San Francisco. My drive took me through Big Sur, where the road cuts through redwood forests and enormous cliffs drop with terrifying ease into heavy Pacific waves. It was by far the most beautiful drive I’ve ever been on.

After a week out exploring the American West, I’m happy to be home in my quiet city by the bay, but I’m thrilled to be heading back to all these places this summer on new TFT’s West Coast U.S.A. trip. I hope to see you there!

Patrick's Travel Notebook - Grand Canyon

2009-10-19T15:44:00.005-04:00

There might be nothing quite so deserving of a name as the Grand Canyon. I’ve certainly never seen anything more grand. But there’s also something strange about staring down into the vastness of the space that the Colorado River has spent the past eons carving out of the layers of striated rock. Because you’re staring, quite literally, at nothing.

And so your eye can’t quite decide what to do. It runs along the edges of the cliffs, and tricks itself by plunging, more quickly than you’ve ever expected, into horrifying depths before flinging itself out again into the vast, seemingly endless, sky. Your eye, in short, sort of freaks out, and deals with the impossibility of ever actually taking in this landscape in its entirety by scampering in all directions, without a plan, without hope. This is where the excitement comes from.

It had been a long day of driving from Las Vegas, punctuated for lots of stops for coffee and water. Just driving through the desert and taking in the miles of grit and sun that surrounded me were enough to bring on a crazy thirst, and I was relieved by the apparent wetness of the forests leading up to the canyon. Deer grazed calmly in the meadows along the road that takes you into the park, to the edge of the massive landform that for centuries travelers and writers and naturalists have tried to come to terms with. I still wanted to see a rattlesnake, but still no luck. I did, however, manage to see a condor in flight, and listen to a talk on these amazing birds delivered by a naturalist working for the park.

The lodge at the canyon is charming and fun. There are people there from all over the world, who have flown or driven or biked into the park to do exactly what I was doing: stare and be amazed. I hiked a bit out from the lodge to a great viewpoint, and tried to take it all in before heading back for a great meal and some time chatting with the park’s other visitors.

I was sad to say good-bye, but was also looking forward to the next day’s drive, which would take me back into California for a few days in sunny LA…

Patrick's Travel Notebook - Las Vegas

2009-10-16T01:32:00.005-04:00

Leaving Yosemite, I was informed that Tioga Pass – the strip of rt. 120 that cuts through the Park – was closed because of weather. It was raining in the Valley, which meant that at 9000 feet there would be snow, and I could only imagine the crazy road I’d been on the previous day slicked with ice. That meant I had to go the long way, heading back west into California before I could grab the highway through the Mojave Desert into Nevada.

From the extremes of the mountain climate, I headed into the extremes of the arid Mojave, lit at sunset with burnished oranges and long shadows. Between the Nevada border and Las Vegas there is next to nothing – a few towns that seemed mostly excuses for gas stations, and a few rest stops, for which I was thankful. I’d been drinking a lot of coffee and covering a lot of miles; the breaks were good, if only to get out and stretch my legs and hear the crunch of the desert gravel under my shoes.

Out of the dark, Vegas hits you as a deep glow, and as you get closer the lights untangle from the general mass and form themselves into tall hotels and neon signs. It’s not like a city at all, but instead like a life-sized model of a city, like a dream.

Everything here is tall and skinny, so that every room in every hotel has a view of something, or of the great black nothing that lies just outside the city’s borders. Everything here is also fake. Or, I guess, fake-but-not-fake. You know how sometimes it happens that you dream and in your dream you fall asleep? Think of Vegas as that only inside-out, as if you could wake up from your waking into a world that’s just like this one only more so. Crazy talk, right? Well, Vegas is a crazy place.

I checked into my hotel and took a spin around the casino floor, listening to the music and the errant beeping of the slot machines, the quiet calls of the dealers at the tables. I wondered, though, what else there was to do in a city built upon gambling. So I took a walk around, and it doesn’t take much searching to realize that Vegas is full of amazing things to see and do without dropping cash on craps and Texas hold ‘em.

There’s tons of shopping and games, roller coaster rides and incredible shows. Outside the casinos, fountains perform regularly, wowing spectators with gusts of water choreographed like ballet dancers. In front of Treasure Island, there is a pirate show that goes off every half hour, and from the sidewalk you can take in all the music and explosions as two ships face off in a battle for ownership of an artificial cove. I took a swim at the hotel’s outdoor pool, and considered heading to into the casino to try my luck, but I decided instead to tour through some of the city’s famous hotels. So I checked out the amazing indoor canals at the Venetian –where you can take a gondola ride through a replica of Italy’s most beguiling city – and explored the shopping at Caesar’s Palace before rounding out my evening with a trip under the model Eifel Tower at Paris.

I managed as well to head to a performance by Cirque du Soleil, and to eat at one of Vegas’s famous all-you-can eat buffets. When I come back, I want to check out the Blue Man Group in action, and to be brave enough to plunk down at a poker table and see what happens.

For now, though, my travels have to move on, and I’m planning a drive through Utah and Arizona for my next stop at the Grand Canyon. Check back in to see how it goes….

Patrick's Travel Notebook - Yosemite

2009-10-14T13:24:00.003-04:00

So this week, I've gotten myself a rental car and I'm cruising the American West to check out all the spots we'll be hitting on TFT's West Coast USA adventure next summer. I thought I'd keep you all updated on my progress. So check back in this week for new pages from my notebook!

Yosemite National Park
Driving into Yosemite you want to say big things with big words, but your tongue moves too quickly without consulting your brain and you’re left with nothing but wordless mutterings and exclamations – grunts and “wows” to express the sheer wonder at these sheer cliffs and vistas. I’d been on the road from San Francisco for a few hours, tearing through a California countryside full of almond groves and grazing sheep. It was lovely and long, and I approached the park with Kings of Leon and Kate Bush keeping me company. It was late in the day, on toward sunset, and the park was covered with a thin haze that made the roadways in look like magic, like the park was full of quiet secrets, which, I suppose, it is. I’d come in on rt. 120, which just outside of the park loses its mind and winds its way up to a height of over 6000’ through a series of hairpin turns. Past the gates, though, things mellow out, and you cruise down into Yosemite Valley on a gentle decline that takes you past unbelievable views of Half Dome and El Capitan – two of the Park’s most notable sights.

The steep white face of El Capitan does something I can’t quite describe. It grabs you not so much by the hand as by the brain, and massages you not entirely gently until you totally freak out over how absolutely stunning it is. The chopped beauty of Half Dome does something similar, but softer, coaxing you toward the same lunatic stutterings of approval you’ve been making, only now their louder and seem, somehow, to make more sense.

Like everyone who comes to Yosemite, I’d wanted to see a bear. I did not. But my consolation prize was even more memorable, so I won’t hold a grudge. On my way into the Valley, a large doe crossed the road, her legs moving slowly, awkwardly, but without sacrificing any dignity. Her movements were so deliberate, so steady. I slowed the car and parked, held the handle as I closed the door in an attempt not to scare her. Suddenly, I felt stupid, like a bull in a china shop pretending to browse the shelves. There was no keeping myself secret: she knew I was there. Who was I trying to fool? Because, I realized then, she’s better than I am. At everything. At rooting the valley floor for fallen things, at pecking at leaves, at untangling her face from branches, at looking around and seeing what there is to see. She knew I was there; she just didn’t care. And so I also knew that it was only with her permission that I got at all close to her.

And just as quickly as there had been one, there were two. A buck with horns I forgot to count came creaking out from the brush and grazed by her side. How long had he been there, I wondered. How long had he too granted me this favor without my acknowledgement? I took some pictures. They didn’t come out. And then I said good-bye. I got back in the car and kept on.

(Next Stop....LAS VEGAS....)