Customized Travel Programs for Schools & Private Groups

Common Questions

About Custom

Our Custom programs are one-of-a-kind adventures we run year-round for schools, universities, and private groups looking for immersive and educational travel experiences. While our Summer and Gap programs are open to any teenagers interested in enrolling, our Custom Programs are designed and facilitated specifically for individual groups. We work with each individual Custom partner to design and deliver a unique adventure fully customized to group  goals, interests, curriculum, size, travel dates, and budget. 

Most often we partner with the following groups for our Custom programs:

  • K-12 schools (U.S. domestic or international)
  • Colleges and universities 
  • Summer camps 
  • Homeschool networks 
  • Clubs and organizations
  • Youth groups 
  • Families


However, we are open to working with any other groups interested in customized group travel!

There are a few aspects to our approach to planning and facilitating programs that makes our ARCC Custom programs unique compared to other group travel programs. Firstly, when it comes to the planning process, as a Custom partner you will work with one dedicated point person (our Custom Director) throughout the entire program process, from the initial inquiry and proposal phase all the way through post program debrief and assessment. Unlike many other travel providers where you might work with several different staff members, we have you work with one person to build a strong and trusting partnership and so that you always know who to contact. This also allows us to really get to know each and every Custom partner, which helps us customize our programs and itineraries to your needs, interests, curriculum, etc. Since we’re a small company, we personalize each program (our programs are never cookie-cutter copies of one another) and you can always reach our office and your dedicated point person on the phone whenever you need us. We know our Custom partners are often busy teachers and school administrators, so unlike some other providers, if desired, we will organize all logistics for a program (including flights and visas). 

In addition to our system of planning and support, our programs are unique within the student travel industry for our approach to student learning. We have an established learning framework, designing our programs to foster global citizenship in students by targeting four areas of learning: social-emotional, leadership, global competence, and travel and outdoor knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values. We develop this learning on program through carefully selected program components and experiential activities, supporting students to “learn by doing” through a facilitated cycle of experience, reflection, and application. We deepen this on program learning through carefully curated pre and post program curriculum (reading lists, activities, lesson plans, etc.), individualized to each Custom partner and program.

Another unique element of our programming is our commitment to facilitating an intentional group experience on each and every program. Our programs aren’t just about where students are going and what activities they are doing there, but also heavily about the group they are traveling with. We believe strongly in the importance of peer-to-peer bonding and student developing of social emotional skills such as conflict resolution, collaboration, and group living. This is why “Group Bonding and Community” is one of our ARCC core program components and why we use intentional team-building activities and our tried and true ARCC traditions to facilitate an intimate experience with a strong group connection, bonding each ARCC group for life!

See a few student quotes below that speak to this:

  • “I connected with so many people I didn’t expect to.”
  • “The traditions may seem cringe, but they shape your experience to be the best one ever.”
  • “The best part of the program was having no phones for a week and how many new friends I am coming back to school with.”
  • “ARCC Programs are amazing, bonding, and will truly change you.”
  • “I learned that life is 10x better disconnected…I really bonded with the group and got along well with everyone.”
  • “I met people and got along with people I would never have thought of.”
  • “I will remember this group and experience forever.”

Absolutely. We are happy to give you contact information for schools or other groups who have done an ARCC Custom program in the past. Please contact our Custom team (415) 332-5075 ext. 300 and we can provide you with references.

ARCC has connections in over twenty countries, regularly leading programs throughout the western U.S. (including Hawai’i), Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. We have experience creating programs that specialize in everything from backpacking to marine conservation and will work with you to connect hands-on program experiences to your curriculum. The general Custom process is as follows:

  • Step #1: Collaborative Program Design
    After an initial proposal inquiry and call, ARCC creates a proposal customized to your specific program goals, needs, and budget. We collaborate to refine the perfect itinerary for you and your participants!

  • Step #2: Recruit Travelers
    ARCC hosts an information night and creates customized flyers, colorful itineraries, and other promotional materials to help you recruit participants

  • Step #3: Pre-Program Preparation
    ARCC creates packing lists, travel tips, and pre-program curriculum (lesson plans, reading lists, etc.) and hosts a webinar to ensure travelers are fully prepared for their adventure

  • Step #4: Transformative Program Experience
    Learn and grow alongside your participants on the experience of a lifetime while ARCC handles all the details!

  • Step #5: Debrief & Assessment
    Debrief your experience with ARCC and track participant learning through ARCC’s assessment data and post-program report     work with individual Custom partners to customize each and every program to needs


Contact our Custom team to share your program wants and needs and we’ll create a customized program just for you!

We offer a wide range of program locations and are one of the few travel providers that is equally skilled at running domestic wilderness and international cultural immersion programs. Although we are open to working with Custom partners to travel to destinations new to us, we currently run programs in the following locations: 

  • United States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawai’i, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

  • Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, Panama

  • South America: Chile (Patagonia), Ecuador (mainland & The Galáapagos), Perú

  • Europe: Portugal, Spain

  • Africa: Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda

  • Asia Pacific: Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia (Bali & Sumatra), Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam

No. Any and all students are welcome. We are happy to customize a program that fits the needs of any group.

We run both single group and multiple group (whole grade) programs and have accommodated groups of 100+ participants. When we run programs with larger numbers, we break the group into multiple smaller groups in order to facilitate group bonding and maintain an intimate group experience, not overwhelm our local partners with large numbers of participants all at once, and ensure all students have ample opportunities to engage in hands-on projects and activities (which can be challenging with larger numbers of students). For these smaller groups, on domestic programs we cap participants at 13 (students and chaperones) since we travel by 15 passenger vans. For international programs, we have more flexibility but prefer to cap groups at 18 students (chaperones additional).

Every ARCC group program is led by one of our highly trained leaders. Our leaders incorporate ARCC traditions into the program and provide a detailed understanding of the daily activities. Each of our leaders has been through at least 18-days of training, which includes ARCC’s 8-day Staff Training and a 10-day certified Wilderness First Responder Medical course. ARCC leaders have significant travel experience and an extensive background working with youth. Our leaders are not simply tour guides, they are outdoor education professionals who will not only manage the on-the ground program logistics, but will expertly facilitate student learning and group bonding. We hear from Custom partners time and time again about how impressive our leaders are, especially in their ability to connect with and mentor students. Overall our leaders are passionate about working with students and can’t wait to lead your group! Upon arriving at your destination, each group is met by your group’s leaders and for international programs, our in-country partners and guides. These local experts help take care of program logistics, act as translators, and introduce us to the countries they call home.

As a chaperone on a Custom program, you get to define and customize your role. We organize a call between chaperones, leaders, and ARCC office staff prior to each program, where chaperones can articulate their preference for the role they will take as a chaperone. Some chaperones are very comfortable in the field with years of experience supporting student travel programs and therefore enjoy taking a more active role, whereas others may be new and/or less comfortable on a travel program, preferring to take on a less prominent role. Our leaders will support you as a chaperone no matter what your comfort level is. At a minimum, we expect all chaperones to support our leaders and in-country partners/guides as needed/requested and for all leaders and chaperones to act as one leadership team, collaborating to make decisions affecting the group together, without a leader or chaperones going “rogue” and making decisions solo without consulting the other adults. 

We support our Custom partners throughout the pre and post program process in any way that we can. We often host two information nights, one to help promote the program and recruit participants and one around 6 weeks prior to a program’s departure to answer questions and review final logistics. We host these sessions virtually, but also do our best to travel to schools in-person whenever possible. We also create customized flyers, colorful itineraries, and other promotional materials to help you recruit participants, as well as packing lists, travel tips, and pre and post program curriculum (lesson plans, reading lists, etc.) to support travelers throughout the entire program process. 

Enrollment

Generally enrollment for programs is run through schools/the individual Custom partner; however, we also have the capability to manage enrollment through our ARCC online platform. ARCC supports Custom groups in promoting programs in multiple ways. We host a promotional information session to help launch the program and recruit travelers, doing our best to travel in-person for these sessions whenever possible. We also create customized flyers, colorful itineraries, and other promotional materials to help recruitment efforts. 

Enrollment deadlines and the ability to add additional participants shortly before a program launches depends on the specific program. We share information on any enrollment deadlines during the proposal process and in the Custom program agreement, signed by both ARCC and each individual Custom partner. Many times we are able to add additional participants shortly before a program launches and do our best to make these requests whenever possible. 

 If you would like to begin customizing a program for your group, we generally recommend contacting us six months to one year prior to your desired travel date, and we’ll get the ball rolling from there.

We design our programs so that anyone can join and succeed, so no, participants don’t need any special skills (e.g., language, wilderness, etc.) to join a Custom program.

ARCC has Essential Eligibility Criteria (EEC) which is applicable to all ARCC students. You can read ARCC’s EEC here.

While the minimum number for each program varies on pricing and location, we recommend having a group of at least ten students. A smaller group is possible, but would make for a more expensive program. A group of ten is also the minimum requirement for booking a group airline ticket which helps keep prices affordable for all participants.

While unfortunate, occasionally Custom groups don’t get enough participants to run the program. During the proposal process, we identify a minimum number of participants required to guarantee the agreed upon tuition cost (usually ten). If that minimum number isn’t met, we can either continue to run the program at an increased tuition cost, or cancel the program. When formalizing our agreement to run a program, we let schools and other Custom partners know when we need to know final enrollment by and up to what date a program can be canceled while still receiving a full refund.

We want to limit the financial risk for you as much as possible. Upon enrolling in a program, group members are required to put down a deposit to hold their spot. This is helpful in ensuring that only those who are ready to commit are reserving spots. Up until a certain date, this deposit is fully refunded. Once final payment has been made, usually about two months prior to the start of the program, refunds will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on what we are able to get back from finalized reservations. All of these payment details will be included in our pre-program conversations and paperwork.

Safety

It should be no surprise that the safety of our students is the primary concern of our office staff, our field staff, and our partners around the world. As a result, ARCC has an unparalleled safety record and we are proud to be able to state that since our inception nearly 45 years ago, no ARCC student has ever had a serious injury. In fact, no student has ever suffered an injury even requiring an overnight hospital stay. We attribute this to the maturity and training of our leaders, our program supervision, and the safety protocols that ARCC puts in place on all our programs. If there are any other specific safety concerns that you have, please don’t hesitate to call our office with questions.

ARCC takes seriously its commitment to risk management and safety on all of our programs. While ARCC recognizes the inherent risks associated with global travel and the activities and projects we participate in, our goal is to mitigate those risks to safeguard our students, staff, and local communities to the best of our ability. We manage risk on our programs by thoroughly vetting all locations, partners, and local outfitters to ensure that everyone we work with to deliver our programs meets our safety standards. Throughout our nearly 45 years of operation in the student travel industry, we have developed comprehensive risk management and emergency response guidelines and policies to prioritize the safety of our students, staff, and partners. 

Furthermore, we partner with two risk management and emergency response companies—Cornerstone Safety Group and International SOS (ISOS). Cornerstone Safety Group is a leader in the industry of safety and risk management within student travel, partnering with numerous travel companies. Cornerstone periodically reviews and offers expert advice and suggestions to ensure our risk management policies and procedures reflect industry standards and best practice. They also train and facilitate potential real-world scenarios for our leaders and office staff in various topics related to safety including crisis response, risk management, sexual harassment, and mental health. Through our partnership with Cornerstone, we also have access to on-call doctors, psychologists/mental health advisors, and risk management and emergency response experts. Through our partnership with International SOS, we have access to 24/7 worldwide emergency response support (ISOS has 27 assistance centers across the globe), as well as continuous alerts and information on noteworthy events and situations that might impact our groups, no matter where in the world they’re located. 

All ARCC leaders come to us with rich experience in everything from teaching to outdoor education. In addition, every ARCC program leader must go through at least 18 days of wilderness first aid and leadership training before leading for ARCC. The quality of ARCC’s leader training is well known in our field and the minimum training standards we set for our program leaders are among the highest in the industry. At a minimum, EVERY leader must complete a rigorous ten-day Wilderness First Responder (WFR) training course, which is an 80-hour backcountry medical certification. All leaders are also required to attend ARCC’s intensive eight-day Staff Training which focuses on safety, group dynamics, logistics, communications, protocols and emergency procedures.

ARCC has protocols in place to deal with almost any medical situation or emergency. ARCC has pediatricians, orthopedic surgeons, and infectious disease specialists on standby to assist families should the need arise. Any medical condition requiring a visit to a clinic or hospital will prompt Leader/Instructor communication with both the ARCC office, the school/Custom partner, and the participant’s family back home. Most often this is simply to notify the family that their child doesn’t feel well and is going to the clinic. Parents can get as involved as they wish in the care of the student. Sometimes parents want to speak with doctors about the situation. At other times, parents will leave the situation to be handled in country by the program leaders and chaperones. ARCC’s communication protocol in all medical or emergency situations is also comprehensive and thorough. Even a clinic visit for something as basic as “traveler’s stomach” will result in multiple phone calls between the leader/chaperone, the office, the school/Custom partner, and the student’s family. ARCC’s philosophy on something of this nature is “you can never communicate too much”.

ARCC does not currently require any vaccinations other than those mandated by host countries or partners. ARCC students and instructors will be required to be fully vaccinated to participate in an ARCC program for which the host country or partner has a specific mandate. Additional details will be provided by your program director as to the specifics of any required vaccination. Unfortunately, no medical exemption will be given in these instances for the health and safety of our partners and communities with which we interact.

ARCC does strongly recommend that all participants receive routine and travel-specific vaccinations, including the COVID-19 vaccine, according to current CDC recommendations. Please visit the CDC website for more information.

Before You Leave

After enrolling in the program, participants will receive a Welcome Packet which includes a detailed packing list. We make these packing lists specific to each individual program, considering location, number of days, activities, time of year, etc. We also spend time at the Pre-Program Presentation (usually about 6 weeks prior to program departure) to review and answer any questions on the packing list. 

Yes, there are forms that need to be filled out prior to departure (the specific number of forms depends on the program location and itinerary). Forms along with detailed instructions for how to fill them out, are included in the Welcome Packet and reviewed during the Pre-Program Presentation (usually about 6 weeks prior to program departure).

Every ARCC destination has different recommendations for inoculations. These recommendations generally match those of the Centers for Disease Control. Some countries require specific vaccinations for entry. In these situations, you will need to show proof of vaccination.

Upon enrollment, you will receive more complete information on pertinent travel vaccinations and immunizations. We recommend that you speak with your doctor (or local travel clinic) to decide what medications to take. The Traveler Health section of the Centers for Disease Control website provides up-to-date health information.

During Your Program

Food is a critical component of every ARCC program. As a result, we spend a great deal of time on food selection and preparation to ensure a delicious and well-balanced menu. The food varies from program to program, but on all programs, students will have delicious, healthy, and filling meals along with a variety of snacks between meals.

Depending on program location, groups have the option to make their own meals, eat in restaurants, small hotels/guesthouses, or in local communities. On camping-based programs, students are heavily involved in the cooking process. This means students are divided into cook groups which are then responsible for the selection, preparation, and cleanup of the group’s meals. The food we provide is selected with an emphasis on freshness and variety. We always make sure to have extra food to ensure that no one is hungry. Vegetarian and other diets can generally be accommodated.

Yes! We can accommodate most special diets or restrictions if we are notified in advance. Please keep in mind, however, that the selection for vegans may be limited in some places. We are also able to make accommodations for most food allergies. Please contact us to discuss details.

On most ARCC programs, you spend the majority of your nights sleeping in small hotels, village lodges, hostels or in bungalows. During some service learning project segments, you might be in sleeping bags “slumber party style” on the floor of a guesthouse or the village community center. Some of our programs have “homestays” where groups of 2-3 students stay with local families for one to three nights. Several ARCC programs (mainly domestic locations) spend their nights sleeping in tents in established campgrounds with bathrooms (or in the backcountry during backpacking sections). The quality of the lodging varies by program, location, and activity, but it will always be clean and safe.

Depending on the program, you will be able to shower either daily or every few days. On most programs, you will likely have an opportunity to periodically swim as well.

For most Custom programs, it is not possible to do laundry while on the program. However for longer 14+ day programs, we do our best to build in an opportunity for students to do laundry if they so choose.

A day’s itinerary varies greatly depending on the program’s location, themes, and activities. For instance, a typical day in the backcountry on a domestic wilderness program will look very different from a typical day engaged in a service learning project on an international program. Having said that, there are daily commonalities across all our programs. Typically days start out with the group coming together over breakfast and preparing for the day, led by that day’s student Leader of the Day. Then it’s usually off to the group’s activities of the day, and whatever those activities are, we leave room for group choice whenever possible. Perhaps a group’s itinerary is to go hiking, but the Leader of the Day (representing the larger group) will choose the specific hike. Most days also include needed downtime, usually in the late afternoons when students can gather at camp or their lodging to play games and relax with one another. Groups will come together for dinner (including through one of our ARCC traditions “Chow Circle”), followed by evening circle, a time for the whole group to circle up to reflect on the day, connect with one another through games and activities, provide feedback to the Leader of the Day before passing the torch to the next day’s leader, and preparing for the next day’s adventures. 

We feel strongly that disconnection from devices is a vital element to student presence, learning, and connection on our programs. Therefore, we prefer to severely limit student access to phones and electronics on our programs. Having said that, we know that each Custom partner is unique and so we work with individual schools/groups to establish a cell phone and electronics policy that works for all parties.

Our standard cell phone and electronics policy is as follows: 

  • Cell Phones: It is ARCC’s policy that students not have constant use of cell phones during the course of their ARCC program. Students are welcome to travel with cell phones to use on their travel days (to and from the program). However, once the group arrives at their destination, student cell phones will be collected and held onto throughout the duration of the program. For longer programs (usually 2 weeks or longer), we sometimes have a “Call Home” day where students are given their phones back for a brief window to call their families.

     

  • Electronics: You may bring an iPod/MP3 player along on the program to be listened to only on plane rides, during other transport, or at the discretion of your leaders. Laptops, tablets, iPads, iPod Touches or other WiFi enabled devices are not allowed on the program. Handheld game devices (Nintendo DS, Playstation Portable, etc.) are also not allowed.

     

  • Cameras: Cameras are a welcome addition to your ARCC program and you are encouraged to bring one. Please note that because all cell phones will be collected, you will not have access to your cell phone to be used as a camera. ARCC leaders will be taking photos throughout the program that will be made available to everyone after the program.

ARCC itineraries are carefully selected so that an absolute minimum of time is spent traveling. That said, many programs travel to multiple locations and transportation to/from each destination is part of the experience. We travel by bus, van, trains, planes, ferries and occasionally a smaller vehicle or boat to get to a more remote location.

Our preference is to limit communications home to help students invest in their experience; however, we are happy to work with you based on your school communication policies.

However you choose to handle communication, we are happy to keep families up-to-date on all the fun being had via a group blog, complete with pictures of the group and stories of their adventures. This blog can even be incorporated into your curriculum and is a nice way to show the school board and families the impact of travel programs.

We believe that real connections happen in the absence of electronics. Call us old fashioned, but we’d rather see students talk and laugh while the campfire lights up their eyes, than see their eyes light up by a phone screen. Our many years of running programs for teens has also taught us that students are less prone to homesickness if their communication with home is less frequent.

All activities, lodging, and meals are included in your tuition. You will have the chance to buy souvenirs, post cards, and gifts for friends and family at various times during the program. You may also need money for unexpected expenses like a clinic visit or lost equipment. In your Welcome Packet, we give money suggestions (amount and tips for how to bring/access money) specific to each individual program. However in general, we usually suggest bringing around $75-$100 for an 8-10 day program. Hopefully most of that comes home at the end of the program, but that will depend on student spending habits.

Tuition & Travel

Airfare to and from the program location is an additional expense and not included in the program tuition. We can either get a specific quote or provide an estimate of flight costs during the program proposal process to give a full idea of program costs (tuition plus airfare). 

It is up to each individual Custom partner whether you want to include chaperone flight costs into the program tuition or not. Some schools/groups choose to build this cost into the tuition that is then paid for by families, while others elect to keep these costs separate from tuition (in this case, chaperone flights are usually paid for by the school). 

Some schools/groups choose to book their own flights to and from the program location, while others prefer us to book flights. If you prefer ARCC to book your flights, we work with a trusted travel agent to secure the best price and itinerary for each group, which can vary greatly depending on the program starting location and destination. Our travel agent will usually find a few different options, and then we will work with you to choose the flight option that works best for your group. ARCC will organize any on-program flights, such as inter-country flights in an international region. We book on reputable, name-brand airlines to ensure the safety of our groups.

Tuition is inclusive of all program costs except for round-trip airfare to/from the program’s location.ARCC programs are designed to be “all-inclusive,” meaning all food, lodging, transportation, and activities are paid for with your program costs. Unlike other programs, ARCC will never say “for another $100, you can zipline.” Everything you read about in your itinerary will be included in your program. You will only need to bring spending money for incidentals such as souvenirs, unexpected emergencies, etc.

We can organize tuition payments a couple different ways, depending on the school/Custom partner preference. Our standard approach is to invoice the school/Custom partner directly for the full amount of the program, factoring in student tuition, and if applicable, flight costs and additional chaperone charges (2 chaperones are included free of charge for each group). In this case, schools collect payment from families and then pass that payment onto us through our invoices. We break these invoices down into a deposit invoice (20% of the program cost usually collected around 6 months prior to the program) and a final invoice for the remaining program cost collected around 6 weeks prior to program departure. While this is our preferred method of managing tuition payments, we can also organize enrollment and payment through our online portal, meaning we at ARCC invoice each family directly. We’re happy to work with each individual school/Custom partner to set up a tuition payment method that works best for their needs. 

After Your Program

Shortly after a Custom program finishes, we will send a Google photo album of photos and videos from the program along with a scanned copy of the group journal (completed by students throughout the program). We also have several post-program resources we share (activities, lesson plans, reading/viewing lists) in order to support post-program curriculum efforts.

ARCC has robust assessment and evaluation practices as we see this as integral to tracking student learning and improving the effectiveness of our programs. Our assessment and evaluation practices include the following:

  • We have all participants (students and chaperones) complete feedback forms at the end of each program. These are designed to gather feedback on program activities/itinerary, curriculum/leadership roles, accommodations, logistics, food, and packing lists, as well as program leaders. 

  • Within a week or so after a program’s conclusion, we send out a post-program assessment survey to all students in order to assess student learning and growth. 

  • We first debrief the program with our leaders, and then will organize a time at your convenience to debrief with the chaperones/program organizer to hear your perspective on how the program went and feedback you have on how we can improve our programming and operations.

  • Once assessment data is gathered and we have debriefed the program with all parties, we combine all of that information into a post-program report which is then shared with the school/Custom partner. This post-program report includes a program summary and itinerary, graphs and data of student learning, best-of program photos, an overall evaluation of the program summarizing participant feedback and debrief notes and articulating suggested changes if the program were to be run again, along with student, chaperone, and leader testimonials.