Teen Tours: Five Essential Steps to Choosing the Best One

Guess what?! It’s February, and that means that it is time to think about summer, because thinking about it in January is just absolutely bizarre. Trips are starting to be planned, and camps are starting to be looked at.

Parents and teens usually try to find something for their kids to do during the summer, whether it lasts a week or 6 weeks. If you’re in high school or have kids in high school, college is probably on your mind. Everyone wants to do something impressive, but a lot of times they don’t know what that is, so many turn to teen tours. At least, I did.

My Experience with Teen Tours

In each of the past two summers, I went on a teen tour: one to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and one to the Dominican Republic. The trip to Mexico was 11 days long, and run by the company Bold Earth, with the supposed purpose of helping endangered sea turtles. The trip to the Dominican Republic was 16 days long, and run by the company Rustic Pathways, with the purpose of learning about the DR’s public health, building latrines, and running a clinic.

I went on the Mexico trip during the summer going into my Freshman year. It was totally for fun; I learned to surf (the main focus), and there was also zip-lining, horseback riding, cliff jumping, shopping (!!), paddle boarding, and snorkeling. I was given 8 hours of community service, but I’m having trouble recalling even doing one. 

Teens carrying surfboards on a teen tour trip to Mexico
Disclaimer: this photo was taken by a counselor

There’s nothing wrong with just doing a teen tour for fun. I didn’t know a single person going into it. That’s an awesome experience to have, to be able to make friends with people who you have never met before. Isn’t that college? Everyone has to learn how to do it. In fact, I made a friend who lives in the Bahamas, and we went to visit her the following April. So it’s also important to know who to become friends with. I avoided the girl from Iowa.

The DR was last summer, and it was not so great. I learned a lot about the culture and the economy, and I definitely earned my 30 hours of community service, but I got very little out of it, besides another experience of getting to know complete strangers. The program stayed mostly true to its description, but it just wasn’t fun. And let me tell you, nothing is worth the money and your time if you don’t enjoy yourself.

An island in the DR visited on our one day of fun

5 Things to Keep in Mind when Looking for a Trip

Here’s a guide to keep in mind when trying to choose first, if a teen tour is right for you, and then narrowing down to which one is the best fit based on reason, purpose, place, age/number, and finally reviews.

1.) Reason

You need to figure out why you are doing a teen tour, or a camp in general. If you’re looking to have fun, meet new people, and try new things, then a teen tour is great for you, but so are cheaper, local camps (I’m not trying to put the kibosh on teen tours, I’m just being honest. They’re a ton of fun, and also a ton of money for enjoyment.)

If you’re looking to learn about a culture, history, economy, a language, etc., then I actually would say a teen tour is a great fit. Teen tours offer a chance to learn up close and immerse yourself in a culture. If you’re thinking about college, and what might look good on your application, teen tours are one way to go, and I stress the one. It’s definitely different, especially based on your purpose, but it is not that unique. This is not the deciding factor of you getting into Harvard; many students go on them.

I said this above, but if you’re looking for a new experience, and to meet new people, teen tours offer a safe supervised way to do this. They are cool experiences, but don’t think that they are the only thing out there or going to do amazing things for your college aspirations.

2.) Purpose

Purpose is a little like reason, but it takes it one step further. If you’re reason is fun, then your purpose is still fun, but take into account activities and such. My Mexico trip was oriented around surfing. I had never learned to surf, but I wanted to, and it sounded like fun. If you love whitewater rafting, or kayaking, focus on programs that have it as the main activity.

Your reason may be strictly to learn, so think of what you want to learn about. If you think a whole trip oriented around the Vietnam war is the best thing in the world, then you have your focus, and something to narrow down your searches. For those thinking about college, then finding your purpose is a little trickier. If you want hours upon hours of community service, that’s great, but just about all of them offer that. You need to go a little deeper.

You should be thinking about what you’re interested in, and what you want colleges to know you’re interested in. For some reason,  I thought I wanted to be a doctor, so I went to the DR on a program focused on public health. I quickly learned that it was not the career path for me.

3.) Domestic or Abroad

Next step: Do you want to play it safe, or take your chances over the border? It really depends on your purpose. From what I’ve seen, the domestic trips tend to be more focused on fun, and some on learning. I bet you could find a community service, or one that would work for your future aspirations, but I say if you’re choosing a teen tour as your “cool thing,” then go big or go home.

4.) Length, Number, and Ages

Now, how long do you want to be gone? You probably want to be home with your friends for part of the summer, and there may be a family trip that you’re going on as well. The really amazing trips tend to be the longer ones, but that’s only based on what I’ve seen. Though, it makes sense that the cool ones have a lot of things to do, and ergot, need more time.

My two trips were two weeks and one and a half weeks. That was based on one, my focus/purpose, and the other things that I was doing over the summer. To be honest, I wouldn’t do a long trip if it wasn’t completely amazing. I spent two weeks in the DR, and it wasn’t great. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. So keep it in mind when looking; you don’t want to be miserable.

Another thing to think about: the ages of kids on your trip, and the amount. If you’re 18, I don’t know how much you’re going to want to be with 13 or 14 year olds, and vise versa. It’s something to keep in mind. However, you are unlikely to find a teen tour that doesn’t offer the program to some range of ages.

And, more importantly, you should keep in mind the number of kids that you want on your trip. It is unlikely that there is a teen tour with a huge amount of kids, because it would be unmanageable, but there definitely are different sizes. For me, I think 10 is a good number. There aren’t so many that there are people you don’t talk to, but it’s large enough that you can stay away from those you “are not for you” (i.e. the people from Iowa).

5.) Reviews

Lastly, you should try to find reviews of the programs you are deciding between and/or the companies offering them. You need to make sure that what you are signing up for lives up to its description, and what you are hoping for. I wish I had found a review of my DR teen tour, because I don’t think I would’ve chosen it if I had. Like I said before, it is going to be a waste of time if you’re miserable, so try to do what you can to prevent it.

I hope this helps; I wish I had someone like me when I was looking at teen tours (I’m just so great). And remember — research, and Afegirls, but mostly Afegirls, are your friend.