Youths are the most demanding of all age groups and organizing a successful trip for them to the USA can be a daunting task. It becomes even a little more challenging since you have to ensure they stay safe, learn something from the trip, and while at it generally have a good time. You will have to combine wit and good travel logistics to be able to meet their high expectations.
Before embarking on the trip, two things will be crucial. Your means of movement while in the USA and your accommodation. The most ideal means of transportation is by car. There are many companies offering car rental services in the USA, and getting a rental car won’t be a difficult task. Visit Rental24h.com to compare prices and settle on the cheapest rental company for young drivers under the age of 25. Regarding accommodation, as a group, you can decide together on the ones you will find suitable. Hostels or camping sites will be a great choice for a youth group. After dealing with your means of transportation and accommodation below are a few other tips to ensure your trip becomes a success.
Identify the reason for the trip
Trips can be for different reasons. It can be an exchange program, a church mission, or just a retreat. Understanding why the trip is taking place and the objectives it hopes to achieve should be the first step. This will then make it easy to bring parents, volunteers, the youths, and all stakeholders on board.
Set participation rules
After knowing the reasons for the trip, you now have a better understanding of the people that will be suited to come for the trip and those not suited. Setting participation rules including the ages of those who will travel will solve a lot of issues that may arise later.
Recruit volunteers
Youths require a lot of supervision and an addition of a few volunteers to the trip will be a great idea. Ideal volunteers would be people who love working with youths and can make good role models for them. These may include parents.
Delegate responsibilities
As the team leader, you cannot do everything. You can delegate responsibilities to the volunteers. These may include logistics, supervision, baggage handling, navigation, or wake-up calls.
Create a communications plan
When you take a group of youths for a trip, they are not the only people you are supposed to keep happy. There is equally a group of parents and guardians you will leave behind that need updates on how the trip is going. You will need an effective way of communication to keep them updated periodically and in the case of an emergency. Social media has made it easy and you can create a group where you communicate with them. You don’t want parents finding out issues like when your rental car breaks down from third parties.
Engage on social media
Since this group of young travelers will be constantly on the phone, you can make the trip even more interesting by interacting and engaging on social media. You can create fun hashtags and share pictures and videos during the trip.
Adjust your expectations
As adults in the group, you will have to adjust your expectations. Youths have huge amounts of energy that they don’t seem to exhaust. They can be active throughout the day and continue late into the night. You may have to compromise on your leisurely time and sleeping hours. To keep a good attitude on the trip you will have to adjust your expectations.
Be food smart
Get to know those in your group that may have food allergies or restrictions in diet to make better plans on meals. They may also prefer junk or high-sugar and high-fat foods, but ensure they have a balanced and nutritious diet at least during the main meals.
Conclusion
Traveling with a group of youths to the USA can be challenging. This is due to the high demands and expectations that they require met, that may seem unreasonable to other age groups. It is, however, very possible to have a successful trip with them by applying tips, some of which have been discussed here. And since this is a youth trip, before renting a car make sure you understand the rental under 25 car rental policies. This is because the policies for car rental for young drivers vary from one rental company to the other.
