Travel For Teens: Canada

I would say: do your best to maintain a positive attitude. There are so many bumps along the road, but if you look at the bright side and fun of the adventure, it'll be the best trip of your life. You just need to go with the flow and enjoy each opportunity that comes your way. That will ensure the best trip possible. Attitude is everything!

Every day looks very different, but usually you get up around 8am or earlier, have breakfast and drive to your destination. We did different activities every day, usually one to three activities, depending on how long they would take. After that, we'd have dinner and then explore the area. It's long days, but extremely rewarding and fun!

My biggest fear was not doing a good job as a CIT. But I made sure to ask my co-counselors what they needed of me and how I could be of help. This gave me guidelines and ensured that I'd be fulfilling all of my responsibilities. My views changed once I got to the third league of the trip. I was a lot more comfortable with my co-counselors and I knew how to handle more situations.

Traveling abroad is so important because you gain a cultural perspective, you have hands on learning, it's amazing to see something greater than yourself, and there is so much growth and development that happens while you're away. You will see a happier you on the other side and make friends around the world!

The best story I've ever heard from a returning student is that, after traveling on our Hawaii Sea Turtle Service program, he had started an environmental awareness club at his school--and he was the president! It was really special to me that this student had felt so strongly about what he learned about recycling and sustainability in Hawaii that he wanted to share it with others.

To me, that is what Travel For Teens is all about: exposing today's youth to the world and all of its different cultures, beauty, needs, and teaching them to respect these cultures, maintain this beauty, and help our world's needs.

I would go on the Hawaii program over and over again because I feel passionate about our planet and sharing my love for sustainability with them. You have the opportunity not only to work with an endangered species while on the beautiful island of Maui but you see a beach on the North Shore that is infamous for collecting hundreds of thousands of tons of micro pieces of plastics that have traveled from the beautiful beaches of Hawaii from California and Asia. It really paints a picture of where the plastic fork you leave on the beach in LA ends up.

We are unique because we allow our students to feel like a local instead of a member of a tour group. We don't travel in huge groups of 30 to chain restaurants and ride massive tour buses. We take local transportation and make food a part of our itinerary. It's important to us that our students feel like they've learned how to be a traveler at the end of their trip.

I was especially proud to be a part of this team when I was off in a small group visiting a museum a group of kids had wanted to see while a different group was at a market with a different leader. We ran into a different company who were all wearing matching backpacks following a leader with a giant pink sign in a straight line. They stuck out like a sore thumb and myself and my small group looked like a traveling family which, by that point, we were.

I think being honest and passionate about what you are selling makes all the difference in a successful company. The people that run TFT truly love what they do and believe in the product they are endorsing. This is enhanced by the natural honest the comes with truly believing in what you are giving and that leads to happy customers.