FAQs.

How long are your Washington, D. C. trips? What is the cost?

Schools can choose between 3, 4 and 5 day trips depending upon their educational needs, budget and other factors.  In some cases, longer trips up to 7 days can be scheduled by special arrangement.  Earth Explore History Pathways trips are equal or are lower in price than any other comparable Washington, D.C. experience.  They average $800 to $1650 including airfare.  Call us for a quote for your chosen number of days, activities and departure city.

What is the age range of Earth Explore History Pathways participants?

Any student currently in the 5th through 12th grades is eligible to take part.  We have separate groups for elementary, middle and high school students.  Occasionally, we accept students who fall outside these age guidelines based upon their interest and other factors.

How do we form a group? 

To participate in a History Pathways trip, schools first contact us to request a recruiting packet.  Using the materials provided, they share the travel and learning opportunity with the families in the school, or in the entire district.  In some cases an Earth Explore History Pathways representative may be available to visit to present the program to families. 

Who are the adult chaperones? Can other adults, like parents, take part ?

The adult chaperones for each trip are generally history and social studies educators, but can be teachers in any subject area (or other adults like parents, if this is approved by the participating school or district.)  Although our trips are primarily a student and teacher experience, parents can often join the group and participate as paying members of the delegation.  The number of spaces allotted to parent participants is determined by each individual school or district.

How are students recommended to Earth Explore History Pathways programs?

Students are introduced to one of our Adventures by a teacher they know in their own school or a neighboring school. In many schools, principals and teachers operate a class trip, which includes one or more grade levels who travel together on the History Pathways Washington, D. C. program.

Can my school form its own group?

Yes.  Most commonly schools form their own, individually traveling group.  Several teachers may choose to register together as a school leadership team.   If the History Pathways Washington, D.C. trip is offered to the entire district, often there are 2 or more full groups that participate.  There is generally space in our Washington, D.C. groups into early March.

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What are the dates?

Our summer date assignments are based upon your local school closure dates, and your school's needs. We can arrange a custom date for your school based upon the preferences of parents and school administrators.  The Washington, D.C. trip can also be scheduled as a spring break trip.

How do the students travel?

The size of each group is kept to approximately 35 students and 3-5 Educator/Leaders to ensure the most rewarding, hands-on experience for each participant. Earth Explore arranges group air transportation for all participants.

Students travel together with their local Leader(s) from the time they leave the local departure city until return. Upon arrival, students board a deluxe 47-passenger coach and are joined by their Travel Manager and History Pathways gude, who accompanies the group during its entire program. The coaches are normally equipped with video systems, air conditioning, and restrooms.

What are the accommodations like?

All of our groups stay in excellent tourist class hotels.  In hotels students generally share a room with two to three roommates.  Depending on location, many of our hotels have pools, and in the Washington, D. C. area are generally in the suburbs to insure quality and safety.

What are the activities like?

If you like to learn and explore in a hands-on way, History Pathways is for you.  Our activities are fun, active, and led by experts.  Whether we're doing an evening history walk by lantern through the historic streets of Alexandria, or walking the grounds of Washington's home at Mt. Vernon, we keep the experience active and interesting.

Because of the quality and variety of our scheduled educational activities, all of our programs qualify students to earn academic credit, at the high school or college level.

How is the airfare calculated?

Earth Explore arranges air travel as a courtesy for each group, to insure problem-free travel.  This amount is included in the price on our History Pathways Washington, D.C. trips.  Some west to east flight schedules may require red-eye flights that leave the evening before the program departure date.

How much is it? How about bag fees?

Our airfares range from $0-$350 for most groups.  When combined with the program tuition in our all-inclusive price, we are generally lower in cost than any other comparable Washington, D. C. program.

Bag and airport fees are included in the program cost for all History Pathways Washington, D.C. trips.  Bag fees charged by the airlines currently average $25 per direction. 

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Is there pre-travel preparation?

Yes. Earth Explore provides structured pre-departure sessions to our teachers which they present to our students. The interactive sessions help to bond the group, and cover lots of travel-related information.

Do you offer academic credit?

Absolutely.  All of our programs offer credit at the high school and college levels.  Students do assignments related to their program, and take notes on what they learn during the Adventure in their field journal.  Individual districts should be consulted to determine if they accept eductional field study credit at the high school level.  College level credit is an additional option for students in the 7th grade and higher.   Find out more about our credit program here.

Who is the Travel Manager?

This person is an additional staff member who is charged with handling all program logistics on-site during the trip. This includes hotel check-in and checkout, coordination with program locations and venues, and trouble shooting. This leaves Leaders free to devote their time and attention completely to the students.

What items do the students need while traveling?

No special items are required on History Pathways trips to Washington, D.C.  Earth Explore provides a custom travel cap, photo credentials, T-shirt, field journal, luggage tags and other items for students. The spring edition of our program newsletter includes a packing list covering suggested clothing and person items needed for the trip.

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What is a typical day like?

The day begins at around 7:30 or 8:00 AM when our students rise and prepare for breakfast and the morning meeting. Following breakfast, students set off for a day of adventures, which typically involve organized morning activities, lunch, and another afternoon activity. After dinner, we often have an evening activity.  The next day's schedule is generally posted for all students at the hotel.

Time may be allotted for games or other group activities. Often there is a chance for swimming at the hotel, socializing with friends, and other free time activities before the Leaders conduct room checks and lights go out.

How about supervision?

Our adult to student ratio is the lowest in the travel field. One adult Leader is in charge of 6 to 8 students (depending on the Adventure). One to two Travel Managers also accompany each group. Finally, our partners add additional resource persons (educators, guides) at each venue, bringing the activity ratio to approximately 1 adult to 5 students.

Additionally, our Leaders follow a Travel Handbook that covers rules for group travel and addresses all travel contingencies, including proper supervision at hotels, free time rules, and all other Leader-related issues. These rules are reviewed with parents at meetings in the months prior to travel.

Can I travel with a friend?

Most likely the answer is yes. This depends upon whether your local group has reached capacity by the time that friend contacts us. We allow all participating students to invite friends or siblings for joint participation. Space on the program is allotted on a first-come, first-served basis.

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When is final payment due?

Final payment is due 45 to 60 days before departure.  For our summertime trips, that means final payment is generally due between April 15th and June 1st.