What The Eiffel Tower and ACIS Academic Travel Advisors Have In Common

This guest blog post was written by Academic Travel Advisor, Nicolette Miller

Riding up the glass elevators of the Eiffel Tower with the world of Paris at your feet is an exhilarating and powerful experience. It is somewhat scary as you glide upward, but you know that you are held up by one of the architectural wonders of the world. Gustave Eiffel designed the Eiffel Tower to be supported by four bases, ingeniously curved inward, making an amazingly strong structure with the ability to support thousands of enthralled visitors.

Traveling with students for the first time can also be a scary, but exhilarating and powerful experience. Much like the Eiffel Tower, a successful educational trip abroad is only possible with a strong base of support. As a French teacher who led tours abroad with my students, I remember that mix of fear and excitement clearly, as well as the relief I felt in knowing I had the support of ACIS.

Not only does ACIS offer guidance through the entire pre-trip planning process, they also connect teachers with experienced group leaders, dubbed Academic Travel Advisors, to mentor them through the process. I’ve progressed from a teacher who is a novice traveler, to experienced ACIS group leader, and now to an Academic Travel Advisor with ACIS. I love to help make ACIS trips a life-changing experience for you and your students.

The 15 trips to France and other European countries I led with students have been the highlight of my teaching career. My students all tell me that the trip was their pinnacle moment of high school where French class and AP European History classes merged in a Venn diagram and came to life. Learning does not get more meaningful than the treasure chest of knowledge obtained through travel.

The Academic Travel Advisor is a unique and personal service provided by ACIS to the traveling teacher at no additional cost. I am a local representative who can meet with you face to face, attend your meetings, answer your questions and bid you “Bon Voyage” with a hug at the airport!

Like those four supporting pillars of the Eiffel Tower, I can offer you personal assistance and support for your trip in any or all of the following four different areas:

1. Promotion of Your Trip: the organizational meeting and how to get the word out to your students

2. Planning and Organizing of Trip: how to prepare and educate your students in the months before the trip

3. Knowledge of Destination: planning of free time on the trip and knowledge of local language and sights to see and places to visit in addition to what is already planned

4. Actual travel: knowledge of the process of travel and responsibilities; how to plan ahead with details that make for a smooth trip

The beauty of this support is that is done on the local level, working together, often in person, to create the best possible trip for you and your students. This is all in addition to the myriad of support from all the talented experts at the main office of ACIS in Boston and its many offices abroad.

Traveling, especially traveling with your students, is a life-changing experience. It’s clear why “Travel Changes Lives” is ACIS’ motto! You can expect an exhilarating and powerful trip, knowing that you have those bases of support helping you make it an unforgettable journey.