Donna's Travel Story

“When I was a teenager I always wanted to travel, but I had to work so I could save money for university. After school, I got married, we had children and we were paying off loans… even though travel was something I always wanted to do it seemed out of reach. When I began teaching, I started a travel club and within 2 weeks we had 36 kids registered. I was as green as green can be—I just took kids traveling, and learned a lot along the way!

Once I started, it was like I’d been living in a cocoon and became a butterfly. We find that with many, many students; when they join the club they’re insecure, they’re not leaders, they fade into the group. By the end of the trip they’ve blossomed, they’ve grown, they’ve learned skills they couldn’t learn anywhere else and have become more accepting people—which helps them in school and in becoming better adults.

People certainly know about our travel club. It’s a community club, and families here have developed a real culture of travel. It’s a conversation that’s had around the dinner table—it’s not ‘what hockey team are you joining?’ It’s ‘did you know your kids could travel?'

When you take the security of mom and dad away, the kids develop more confidence. Parents feel secure knowing their children are traveling with me and with EF. If you don’t want to live in a bubble you have to choose the best there is, and we work with the best there is.”