Arrival Day
Start your trip off on the right foot by following these important tips and guidelines for arrival day.
Meeting Your Tour Manager | Hotel Check-In | Jet Lag | Arrival Briefing | Working With Other Groups | Success Tips
Meeting Your Tour Manager
From the moment you land in your destination city to the moment you depart for the States, you will have an ACIS Tour Manager with you 24 hours a day to help you lead the way. Our tour managers are meticulously trained and highly qualified ACIS representatives responsible for all operational needs, such as airport transfers and hotel check-ins, as well as educational road commentary.
In most cases, your ACIS tour manager will be waiting for you outside of customs. Sometimes, he or she may be busy transferring other members of your bus group; in this case, a temporary transit tour manager may escort you into the city.
In the very unlikely event you are unable to locate your ACIS representative at the airport, call the ACIS emergency number.
Hotel Check-In
Check-out time is typically 11 A.M. or noon, so you cannot usually check into hotels until mid-afternoon. If you arrive in the morning before rooms are ready, you will be able to store your bags at the hotel and enjoy time to look around the city before obtaining your room keys.
Jet Lag
Your group should eat lightly the first day and get to bed at a reasonable time. We highly recommend against allowing your group to nap in the afternoon. Most participants adjust to the new time zone easily within a day or two.
Arrival Briefing
Your tour manager will usually schedule an arrival briefing on the first evening of the tour. This is an important meeting that can set the tone for the whole group, allowing for the separate groups to bond with one another into a complete bus group.
- The arrival briefing is a time for the tour manager to provide practical pointers for traveling in a foreign city and outline the following day’s schedule.
- The tour manager will stress the importance of the daily bulletin he or she will post. It is the responsibility of each participant to consult the bulletin for any changes in daily scheduling that may occur.
- Depending on the time available, we strongly recommend a Preliminary Group Leader Meeting. At this meeting, the tour manager and group leaders can review the Student Behavior Guidelines to ensure everyone in authority has the same understanding regarding curfew, alcohol, punctuality and other supervisory issues.
Working With Other Groups
As mentioned above, it is possible that your group will be traveling with another group from the U.S., particularly if your group is small. It is important that you meet with the other group leaders and the tour manager on the day you arrive.
- We strongly recommend that group leaders hold a Preliminary Group Leader Meeting prior to the group arrival briefing. The purpose of the Preliminary Group Leader Meeting is for group leaders to get to know each other and ensure everyone has a common understanding of the rules and means of enforcement.
- Spare yourself future tensions by working out bus etiquette with other group leaders in advance. Consider rotating seats, rather than having group leaders take the front seats every day.
- Some groups may contain a mixture of high school students, middle school students and adults. To create the most positive chemistry within the overall bus group, it is crucial that groups representing different ages and backgrounds respect each other. It is important to develop this understanding at the very start of the trip.