Following the Equator | EF's Educational Travel Blog

EF Photo Contest: Submit A Photo – Win An iPad

Do you have a great, eye-catching photo? Submit it to the EF Tours photo contest! The winner will receive a new iPad, and the winning photo will become the new banner for Following the Equator.

1. Enter
Submit your photo by using our Facebook application now. The contest is open to all U.S. residents.

2. Vote
View entries and vote for your favorite. Our Facebook fans will determine the winner. You can vote for one photo every day, so tell your family and friends to check it out.

3. Win
The photo with the most votes by September 1 wins a new iPad and will have their photo featured on our blog. The winner will be announced by September 15, 2010.

Good luck!

EF debuts teacher training tour to Beijing

By Eric Beato | EF Director of Communications

First-time EF Group Leaders will be exploring an exciting, historic, unique destination next week on EF's inaugural Free International Training Tour to Beijing, and I'm honored to be able to accompany them in China.

After years of successfully training new group leaders in Paris and Rome on the ins and outs of leading students on international educational tours, EF is expanding its training tours to Beijing for the first time.

Group leaders will enjoy a full-day of sightseeing around the historic city (including Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace) plus a visit to a Chinese school, an evening kung fu performance, a morning tai chi lesson at the Temple of Heaven Park and, of course, an excursion to the Great Wall of China.

I am planning to post updates of the weeklong training tour on Twitter, so follow along on our first Free International Training Tour to Beijing by following @EFtours on Twitter.

Teacher Convention Tour to Iceland

It's a land of amazing natural beauty, of glaciers and geysers, and even of the active Eyjafjallajökull volcano. And qualified EF Group Leaders can experience the best of it firsthand this Thanksgiving on a Teacher Convention Tour to Iceland.

EF Group Leaders will hike the Stakkholtsgja Fissure, snowmobile the Langjökull glacier and visit the Blue Lagoon (above) during a once-in-a-lifetime tour of this natural paradise. They'll also explore Reykjavik and enjoy a drink at the famous Ice Bar.

In recognition of this unique convention destination, we asked EF Tour Director extraordinaire Paul Mattesini—one of the primary proponents of EF's first Iceland convention in 2007—to provide a light-hearted look at the tiny island nation.

Having visited the country a few times, I feel honor bound to share some of the plus points of one of Europe’s truly beautiful countries. So, in no particular order, here are five great things about Iceland:

EF offers options for groups affected by volcanic ash

The volcanic eruption in Iceland this week and the subsequent volcanic ash spreading across the United Kingdom and Northern Europe has created Europe’s largest aviation shutdown since World War II. Because of the complications of this unexpected natural disaster, EF Educational Tours is making several enhancements to its industry-leading Peace of Mind Program.

EF Educational Tours has been working with every impacted group and is communicating directly with each group leader to discuss alternative travel options. For participants whose scheduled flights are delayed or canceled, EF is offering several additional options for groups and individual travelers:

Group options

Any group whose flights are delayed or canceled due to volcanic ash may choose one of three options:

• Travel on the same tour later during the week if space on flights becomes available. The group would return later than its original return date or complete a shortened tour.
• Travel on the same tour anytime between now and April 30, 2011, with no additional charges (subject to availability).
• Travel on a different tour (or to a different destination) anytime between now and April 30, 2011 (subject to availability, and participants are responsible for additional costs if the new tour has a higher Program Fee than the original tour).

Individual options

Any participant whose groups’ flights are delayed or canceled due to volcanic ash and who cancels their tour may choose one of two additional options:

• Receive a fully transferable Future Travel Voucher for all money paid minus the $95 Enrollment Fee and any nonrefundable expenses (such as All-Inclusive Insurance, late fees, etc.) valid through September 30, 2011.
• Receive a cash-back refund minus a $450 cancellation fee, the $95 Enrollment Fee and any nonrefundable expenses (such as All-Inclusive Insurance, late fees, etc.).

Again, EF is working individually with every group affected by this situation and communicating directly with each group leader. For participants planning to travel this weekend, your group leader will have have the most up-to-date information regarding your group.

If student travelers or parents have additional questions, they can call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-665-5364.

For policies and questions pertaining to Canadian participants, please call EF Educational Tours Canada at 1-800-263-2806. Quebec residents should call 1-866-750-2550.

Top 10 tips to get Life on Tour votes

There’s less than a week left to audition (bit.ly/EFcasting) for the third season of EF’s reality travel series, Life on Tour. Jeruska Lugo, the winner of last year’s Life on Tour Facebook vote-off, has some tips on how she was able to win a huge majority of votes. If you’re looking to guarantee a casting interview with producers, check out Jeru's advice:

I remember how stressed out I was when I was auditioning for Life on Tour. Yes, it was such a stress; I needed to get a certain amount of votes in an indicated time. So, I want to help those auditioning for Season 3 and give you guys the top 10 tips to get votes:

1. Post the link to your video on your Facebook status.
2. Tell ALL of your Facebook friends online on the chat to vote, and make sure they vote. (Don’t be shy—stalk their profile and check if they really voted! lol)
3. Tell the friends of your friends to vote.
4. If you really, really want to win, take your laptop to your school and tell people to vote from your computer. That way, you really make sure they voted. ;)
5. Tell people from your mommy and daddy’s work to VOTE FOR YOU.
6. Involve your entire family in this.
7. Don’t limit yourself to Facebook—post it on your Skype, MySpace, Twitter, etc.
8. Add everyone you know on Facebook and make them vote. If you want to win, SPREAD THE WORD!
9. Stay on your computer day and night … literally! lol
10. JUST BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!!

Submit your audition video for Life on Tour casting at bit.ly/EFcasting, and be sure to get the word out about voting. But, remember, EF is considering all submissions, regardless of vote totals.

Apply for EF's Global Citizen Scholarship by March 1

Are you prepared for the demands of the 21^st century?

Do you want to travel on a free educational tour to China with other students from across the globe?

EF’s Global Citizen Scholarship program unites students around the world by breaking down language, cultural and geographical barriers. Our scholarship recipients enjoy the opportunity of a lifetime: a free educational tour to China designed to develop cross-cultural communication and promote cultural exchange.

EF is giving away 10 scholarships to current sophomores and juniors. All you have to do is watch a video on our website and prepare an essay response to the following prompt:

“As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, cross-cultural skills, communication, innovation and critical thinking are becoming more important than ever before. How could spending 14,000 minutes of your life on a  tour to China equip you with these skills or others? By refining these skills, what future opportunities could become available to you?”

Enter by March 1, 2010.

For more information, visit 
eftours.com/GlobalCitizen or call 1.800.665.5364.

Our 10 Best of 2009

Thank you to everyone for reading, sharing and supporting Following the Equator in 2009. We sure enjoyed posting great stories, facts, tips and profiles about educational travel and the group leaders who make it possible.

We're already planning some exciting new things for 2010. Most of all, though, we want to hear from you. What do you want to read and see on this blog—more interviews with teachers, more amazing travel photos, more fundraising and recruiting ideas, more tidbits about the things to see and do on tour? Let us know at equator@ef.com.

As we look ahead to an exciting year of travel in 2010, we thought we'd take a quick look back at a successful 2009 and our 10 favorite blog posts of the year. Feel free to post your own comments below.

So you think you can dance?

Imagine 400 dancers in four countries choreographed to the same song at the same time on the same day. That's what EF Education First accomplished Saturday.

Working with Ambra Succi from Bounce Streetdance Company, a popular Swedish dance company, EF coordinated dancers in Copenhagen, Denmark; Helsinki, Finland; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm, Sweden, to simultaneously break into the same dance routine at precisely 1 p.m. December 19.

So you think you can dance like that? The flashmob performance is promoting the EF Dance Off contest, sponsored by the EF Language Travel division of EF Education First, the world leader in international education. To learn more, visit the official site at www.ef.com/dance.

To see more videos, visit the official EF Dance Off channel on YouTube.

What are you doing next summer?

EF's experienced group leaders will be cruising the Norwegian fjords, swimming in the Dead Sea, experimenting in a Tuscan cooking class and exploring the Great Barrier Reef. And it's not too late to join them.

There is still time for EF Group Leaders* to enroll on EF's Teacher Convention Tours for next summer.

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.

The summer 2010 tours still open for enrollment are:

$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.