School Tours
Keep your pencils with you – you’ll want to sketch this.
Travel is an amazing educational experience; one that gives all of us – young and old – the chance to experience a culture directly. To explore, to search, to question, to wonder…these are timeless experiences. Our school tours are a reflection of this spirit. Our goal is to challenge assumptions and encourage dialogue while supplementing what students have learned in the classroom, and it all starts from a discussion, rather than a pre-selected package of destinations.
The experience students want. The service teachers need. The most revolutionary way to get students to Japan.
How a PacSet School Tour Works
“Discussion” is where every school tour we run begins. All our school tours are built with the teachers and chaperones for the trip, so each tour is unique to your group. We’ll meet with you over the internet or in person to hammer out the details – and we’ll do our best to make sure any paperwork you’ll have to handle with your school district moves as smoothly as the tour itself.
Flexible Payment Options
And we certainly aren’t going to tell you you’re on your own when you’re trying to figure out how to make the journey affordable for your students. All our tours can be paid with a payment plan to split up payments and make them easier to manage for families.
Help Every Step of the Way
Get used to seeing us, because every school tour comes with two complimentary sessions with our staff and guides. Whether you’re in New York or Nebraska, we’ll travel to your school to hold an info session to introduce students and parents on the tour. Once all participants are confirmed, we’ll stop by to hold a pre-departure orientation that covers cultural tips, exchanging money, dietary restrictions, medications, packing for the tip, staying connected away from home, and much, much more.
Bring the Family Along…Kinda.
On tour, we set up communication tools that allow families back home to follow along, get updates from Japan, and see pics of what we’re up to. We know how important it is for families to feel connected, but we think it’s just as important for them to see the fun their support helped create.
Prepared For Your Peace of Mind
We review emergency protocol, trip preparation, and tour policies with students, parents, and chaperones thoroughly before and on the trip to ensure that we are prepared to respond in any given situation. Your trust will never be taken for granted.
It All Starts With a Call or E-mail.
We know a trip like this is a huge investment – so if you’re ready to make it a reality, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Before you know it, you’ll be on the plane!
Take a look at what is possible!
Here at PacSet personal touches matter, so we create the itineraries with you. Here are some samples of what a school tour with us might look like:
School Tour Planning Timeline
Want to design a tour with us? Here is the optimal time frame for us to create the best tour for your school!
~15 months
We can begin the process of crafting your trip at any time. We’ll ask what kind of tour your students would like, what would best fit with your curriculum, when you would like to travel, and for a list of what your school or district would need to make the tour a reality.
13 months
We’ll have a pretty solid itinerary set for your group by this time, as well as a rough idea of the price. We will organize an online chat with you to discuss how and when to present the tour to students and parents.
12 months
The tour is announced! We will create a personalized web portal for your tour, as well as customer support to field any parent or student questions.
11 months
We’ll finalize the price of the trip with the airlines and hotels to ensure that the tour price doesn’t change. Parents will also have the option of paying for the trip through monthly payments to make the journey more affordable.
9 months
We will travel to your school, at no cost to you, to hold an information meeting about the tour, take signups, and field questions from students, parents, and administrators. We’ll also meet with teachers, chaperones, and administrators to go over the tour schedule in advance.
6 months
As signups progress, we will meet with teachers and chaperones online as requested to address any questions or potential issues. We’ll also help provide any documentation your school and school district might require from us or our hosts in Japan.
3 months
Tour signups close! At this point, we’ll take a survey of all participants to double check that all allergies and dietary restrictions are accounted for, as well as help provide students with any questions or requests for their trip.
2 months
We will travel to your school again to give a Pre-Departure Orientation for the trip covering what students and parents can do to get the most out of their Japan trip.
1 month
Our final check of all allergies, documentation, and other needs for your group!