How to travel with teens (and not lose your mind!)

When I tell people that I travel with high school students to remote places at all ends of the earth, the reaction I receive most often is, "Are you crazy?!". The answer - well, probably. However I can not emphasize enough how much I truly believe that I was meant to be in this role. I fell into the teaching career and it turns out that I am exactly where I need to be. I can't imagine doing anything else. I also fell into travelling with students - and I can't imagine not doing this either.

I have traveled with students to South Africa (2017), Fiji (2018) and Ecuador (2019). All of these expeditions are focused on conservation research. Students help scientists perform research, which helps with conservation efforts in the country. The process of travelling with a purpose is rewarding. It is rewarding for the students - their global competence grows exponentially. They are expose to a wide variety of people and learn cross-cultural communication skills. It is rewarding for the environment - the students help with conservation efforts in these underdeveloped countries and come back as environmental stewards for our own city. It is also rewarding for me as a teacher. My global lens expands each time and I learn content to bring back to my classroom. I also get to know my students so well. I learn about their lives back at home - their stresses, their triumphs and even sometimes the high school drama. Learning about the ins and outs of their lives has helped me when I go back to the classroom. Maybe I won't give that assignment because it is homecoming weekend. Maybe I'll reschedule this test because there are three AP tests happening that same week as well. From what I have learned - the struggle is real in high school these days. More so than when I roamed the halls of D.C. Everest High School back in 2004.

To give you a glimpse into what I experience as a travelling teacher, here are some highlights of of our various adventures.

Pre-travel

In order to get to our destination, a lot of preparation is needed. Thankfully I travel with an amazing group, Operation Wallacea, who takes care of most of the leg work. However, gathering medical forms and copies of passports, checking expiration dates on passports, meetings, kit list presentations, fundraising, ensuring students make their vaccination appointments, medical clearance for diving etc. etc, can prove challenging as there are a lot of moving parts. Some of my students are very well traveled and know what to expect. Other students have never left the country. I always try to make no assumptions about whether they are aware of rules, so I do my best to prepare them. Preparation starts about 13 months in advance and lasts until the morning of departure.

Travel-day

Oh, the airport recommends two hours in advance? Make sure you plan for THREE hours. Between kids running late, forgotten passports, errors in ticketing, goodbyes from parents and the perfect group photo it takes way longer to get through the check-in process than normal. This is the point in time where everyone's energy level is through the roof and are so excited to get started. Students wave goodbye, parents snap picture after picture and we are off to security!

Security - Somehow, I always forget something while I go through security. I am so focused on making sure the kids get through, I forget about myself. So far, it hasn't been anything too major (usually just my shoes are still on!). I prep the kids by telling them to stay calm and collected and just do whatever the TSA asks of them and we haven't had any major problems thus far.

Layovers

The layover was LONG on our recent expedition to Ecuador. Which is actually best. The longer, the layover, the better! Again - everything takes so much longer when you are corralling students. With long layovers, students can settle in a bit, grab a bite to eat, explore and prepare for the next flight. However, this isn't always the case...

Our first layover EVER was a connection in Dallas en route to South Africa. Our flight coming in from Minneapolis was delayed and we only had a 45 minute layover. The entire 3 hour flight to Dallas I was non-stop worrying. What if... can we... how about... I was running through all of the scenarios of what would happen if we missed our flight to London. Students had to travel with me because I had all of their under-18 paper work (needed to enter South Africa) and I thought it was unlikely that they had room in another flight for 19 people to get to South Africa... so I was just the most stressed I had ever been in my life and prepped the best I could. I spoke with the flight attendants. They gave me a layout of the airport... which gate we needed to get to and how to get there etc. As soon as we landed, students hopped off the plane as quickly as possible. I don't think I had ever been so excited when I saw an airport worker looking for us and ready to escort us to our gate! THANK YOU DALLAS AIRPORT!!!! With that being said we still had to basically run. Some students didn't quite understand the severity of the situation and it was more like a pleasant jaunt for them. BUT we made it - barely. Once at the gate, students shuffled on... I was literally the last person on the A380, the largest possible passenger airplane of approximately 868 passengers. As I boarded, I realized I had no clue as to where all of the kids were and we had forgotten to count to 17 while they boarded. Regardless, my colleague and I breathed a huge sigh of relief that we were even on the plane and just held faith that all 17 students made it on board ahead of me. After take off, I did manage to navigate the gigantic aircraft and account for all 17 of them. Whew.

The stares - during a layover, we often get stares from fellow passengers. I am usually oblivious to this because I am concentrating on counting to 24 for the 100th time while counting the students and trying not to forget a number. I have been lucky with extremely well behaved students in airports. But a large crowd of teens is bound to draw some attention. I also have them wear the shirts students designed for the expedition. For multiple reasons - it creates excitement for the students, it fosters team spirit for the expedition, it shows pride in where we are from and where we are going, but most of all - it helps me not lose them. Yes, the blue and green sea of tie-dye may be obnoxious as we work our way through the terminal, but it helps me keep track of the kids that belong to me.

The Flight(s)

Depending on where we are jetting off to in the world, the flights can be extremely long, or relatively manageable. Travelling to Ecuador - completely manageable. Students easily passed the time watching movies, chatting, making friendship bracelets and sleeping. The longer flights were much trickier. To South Africa we had TWO long flights. The first one (Dallas-London) went relatively quickly. Students did their thing and we made it there no problem. The second flight (London-Johannesburg) was 11 hours and this is where students (and myself!) were starting to lose it. There were a few of us who just COULD NOT sleep. I think we planned our sleeping incorrectly. So there we were in the dark airplane in the middle of the night laughing away because we didn't know what else to do with ourselves. Some students asked the flight attendants to play cards and there they were sitting on the floor by the restrooms with some Air France Flight attendance. I would normally have given this a no-no, but I figured the flight attendants know best! Lesson learned - figure out a way to sleep on the long flights!

The bus rides

It's inevitable to have long bus rides while travelling with students. In general bus rides are way nicer than the flights. Students have a bit more room, relaxed and are just excited to get to our destination. To start the trip, there's usually one student who is "auxing" (Teenage lingo for being the DJ) and a chorus of Miley Cyrus' Party in the USA erupts (that song - every time). New song after song, students continue singing along. Gradually students start dozing off one by one until all students mellow out. This is the quiet portion of the bus ride. All of their energy got out singing and now they want to sleep or just chill at this point. As we get closer to our destination, the energy level starts rising again... excitement starts building.... - and more Miley Cyrus songs start playing. There's always ebbs and flows of energy the entire ride. All in all though, bus rides are a blast.

The most recent expedition to Ecuador came with some surprises. Everything from 5 girls getting their period at once with no tampons available because they are packed away below the bus, forcing us to find the closest drug store to motion sickness. Motion sickness is a real thing. Since our normal route to the Amazon was closed, we basically had to see the entire country of Ecuador and go through the Andes to get there. This came with lots of ups and downs, twists and turns... and vomit. Lots of vomit. Immediately we started putting kids in the front row to help with the motion sickness. When the first row was filled, we filled the second and into the third. From here, they were known for the rest of the trip as the "v-squad". I learned my lesson and from there always had plastic bags readily available - ya know, just in case. Also some wet wipes.

Bus rides can come with surprises- good and bad. In Ecuador we saw the absolutely stunning Cotopaxi volcano and have lunch at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the jungle - both completely unplanned. In South Africa, we got lost. Badly. For hours. Trying to find the entrance of Kruger Park (which is the size of Vermont....). Always an adventure.

In Camp

Camp is where things really get real and students settle in. We overcame all of the bumps in the road and made it to our destination. You can always see the sense of relief in all of the students faces (and mine especially!) when we can settle into our new home away from home. Travelling is hard work, but the destination is always extremely worth it. Once in camp, I get to participate in the lectures and surveys right along with the students. It's fun to see them open up more and more as time goes on. Eventually I am playing cards and laughing right along side the students. Late nights and early mornings - not much sleep, but it is an absolute treasure to experience this life. Life away from cell phones, external pressures etc. Life in camp isn't always smooth sailing. I do have to deal with the occasional issues that arise. I've had to stop students from trying to eat bugs or other unknown things, minor injuries, help with homesickness, tummy issues, unclog toilets and clean up student messes. All worth it - every time. And just part of the job.

This is what makes it worth it: seeing the looks on students faces when they see an elephant in the wild for the first time. Witnessing the discovery of a new species while students help in the process. Seeing friendships form between students and people across the globe that otherwise may have never formed. Exposing students to environmental issues through the lens of people who live in that country. Seeing what students go on to accomplish after they complete an expedition.

In the end - I am so lucky that I have fallen into this place of where I am meant to be - on the road with students showing them the world.