Following the Equator

$200 discount on 2011 tours with EF

It's not too early to begin planning a 2011 educational tour, and EF is giving student travelers a huge reason to get started now.

We don't normally post promotional offers on this blog, but this one is just too big to pass up:

All participants who enroll on a 2011 tour with EF Educational Tours by December 15, 2009, will receive a $200 discount on their tour's Program Fee.^*

That's right: $200 off! Just for signing up now for your 2011 tour.

Here's how to start taking advantage of EF's biggest discount ever:

• If you're a teacher, you can call an EF Tour Consultant at 1-800-637-8222, or you can start planning online.
• If you're a student, find out if there's a teacher at your school who travels with EF, or you can start a tour at your school.

For more information about EF Educational Tours, visit eftours.com or call 1-800-637-8222. Or post your questions or comments below.

* Terms and conditions apply.

EF Teacher Convention Tours

Imagine celebrating New Year's with the Moai on Easter Island or floating in the Dead Sea or snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.

Many of EF's experienced group leaders won't just be imagining those dream travel experiences in 2010, they'll be living them.

EF's Teacher Convention Tours—offered through our Global Rewards program—give experienced EF Group Leaders unprecedented opportunities to explore the world's most amazing destinations with fellow educators.

There is still plenty of time for EF Group Leaders* to enroll on our 2010 convention tours. There are 10 different tours, including three over this New Year's, one in January and six next July:

Focus On: Ted Kennedy's visit to EF

Senator Edward M. Kennedy's passing last week made the selection of this week's post an easy one.

On September 26, 2000, Senator Kennedy visited EF Education to take part in the dedication ceremony of a huge, 12-foot-high slab of the Berlin Wall placed just outside the doors of EF's U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts (local news accounts of it are here and here). Kennedy spoke of his brother's reaction in 1961 to the construction of the wall, and, of course, of the famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech that his brother delivered in Berlin in 1963.

I was working in EF's European headquarters in Amsterdam at the time, so I could not be among the hundreds of EF staff in attendance on that sunny day. But all of us in the Amsterdam office — Americans and Europeans alike — huddled around a projector to see a live (if not very "streaming" — this was only 2000) webcast of the event.

Thanks, Ted, for dedicating our piece of the Berlin Wall, and lending your heft to establishing it as an everlasting symbol of EF's mission to break down barriers of language, culture and geography.

And thanks for your decades of perseverance, achievement, public service and concern for others. They make for a fine formula to pursue both before and after barriers fall. Godspeed.

Life on Tour on Twitter

The highly anticipated second season of Life on Tour—EF's reality travel series—begins filming tomorrow in Spain, and you can follow along on Twitter.

Life on Tour follows the adventures of seven high school students on their educational tour throughout Spain and Morocco. The tour itinerary was specially created for the group by EF Tour Director Steve Hart and is sure to include several surprises along the way.

The reality series will debut online this fall, but you can follow filming for the next week and a half on Twitter. EF staff members will be posting behind-the-scenes update on the official Life on Tour page at @LifeOnTourTV, and Steve Hart will be tweeting at @stevehart2.

There also may be tweets from the student cast members. To catch all of the action on Twitter (and even participate in the conversations), be sure to search for (and use) the hashtag #LOTtv on Twitter.

For more about Life on Tour, check out the LOT fan page on Facebook and watch the entire first season. Also, be sure to follow @EFtours on Twitter and become a fan of EF Tours on Faceook.

The Best of May and June

It's been a busy couple of months, resulting in fewer posts than normal. But May and June were particularly exciting months because we announced the winners of EF's photo and video contests and we followed EF's Global Citizens tour on Twitter.

Thanks for reading our educational travel blog. As always, I encourage you to comment on any post, share posts on Facebook or any social-media site and subscribe to our RSS feed. Plus, if you're on Twitter, be sure to follow us @EFtours.

Follow EF's Global Citizens on Twitter

EF's Global Citizens become world travelers next week.

Ten inspiring U.S. high school students were selected to receive tour scholarships through EF's annual Global Citizens essay contest. These outstanding Global Citizens depart this weekend on an incredible educational tour to Berlin, Prague, Munich and Lucerne.

The best part is that you can follow along on Twitter. Each day on tour, a different Global Citizen will tweet about their experiences. You can follow them at twitter.com/efglobalcitizen.

EF Tour Director Alex Luther—a Germany native and good friend of Following the Equator—may occasionally be tweeting during the tour, as well. You can follow Alex at twitter.com/AlexLuther.

Video contest winner

Sean Briare has been a world traveler since age 6, which has given him not only a lifetime of experiences but also a ton of video footage.

For his creativity, effort and enthusiasm, Sean—a high school junior from Clackamas, Oregon—was selected as the winner of EF's student video contest. As the grand-prize winner, Sean will receive an iPod Touch. Check out EF's student photo contest winners: Donnie Morrow, who won the destination competition; and Kayla Bess, who won the friends competition.

Sean first heard about EF's video contest from his father, William, who is a longtime EF Group Leader. Sean always joins his father on tour, so he knew he had a lot of experiences to draw upon.

Photo contest winner: Tortuguero

The only thing better than traveling with friends is meeting new ones along the way. Kayla Bess and her friends discovered that this spring on their EF tour to Costa Rica.

Kayla, a high school junior from Nashville, Tennessee, won EF's student photo contest for submitting this photo to the EF Tours group on Flickr. As one of two grand-prize winners, she will receive an iPod Touch. Kayla won the friends photo competition; the winner of the destination photo contest was featured here yesterday.

"Wow! I can't believe I won," said Kayla, who is pictured on the far left with the blue EF backpack. "I'm so excited. This is awesome!"

Photo contest winner: Reflection

This extraordinary photo of the Eiffel Tower's reflection has long been a favorite. Now, it's official: It's the winner of EF's student photo contest.

Donnie Morrow, a high school junior from Sarasota, Florida, took this photo on his EF tour to Paris last spring. As one of two grand-prize winners, Donnie will receive an iPod Touch. Donnie won the destination photo competition; the friends photo contest winner will be featured here tomorrow.

Donnie, who is at the top of his junior class and planning on majoring in engineering and/or applied or pure mathematics, says photography is neither a hobby nor a passion. He said it's "just something that I tend to be effective at, and I like to catalog the places I go."

On his EF tour in 2008 to London, Dover and Paris, Donnie captured a uniquely wonderful image of the world's most photographed landmark.

Life on Tour voting details

There's still plenty of time for high school students to apply for EF's reality travel series, Life on Tour—and there's plenty of time to get out the vote.

EF Educational Tours already has extended the casting deadline to Friday, May 22. For details on how to enter, you can check out EF's Casting Call on Facebook or read our latest blog post.

Four of the six cast members will be selected by EF and the series producers based on their audition videos and subsequent interviews. Two cast members will be selected by a popular vote on Facebook.

Casting extended for Life on Tour

There's now more time to apply for EF's reality travel series, Life on Tour.

Due to popular demand, EF Educational Tours has extended the casting deadline to Friday, May 22 for high school students to submit their audition videos to star in the second season of Life on Tour.

Students who are interested in traveling to Europe for free this summer and starring in an online reality series just need to submit a two-minute video introducing themselves and explaining why they want to travel abroad.

All video submissions should be uploaded to EF's Casting Call on Facebook by the end of the day on May 22. On Facebook, you also can vote for your favorites. EF will announce more specific details about the voting this week.

For more about Life on Tour, check out:

• Life on Tour's entire first season
• EF's Casting Call on Facebook
• Life on Tour posts on Following the Equator
  

The Best of April

We enjoyed an awesome April with lots of destination information, fundraising tips, group leader interviews, fascinating photos, fun facts and even a couple of videos.

We also generated a lot of interest with our post about travel folks worth following on Twitter. If you're on Twitter, be sure to follow us @EFtours.

Thanks for reading our educational travel blog. As always, I encourage you to comment on any post, share posts on Facebook or any social-media site and subscribe to our RSS feed.