EF Explore America

Great exploration

Had a great experience! Saw great things and my students learned so much!!! Great food, hotels and leadership

DC & NYC Trip

EF takes care of everything before and during your trip. It’s an excellent company. This particular tour included DC, Gettysburg, and Mew York City. It also included the Holocaust Museum. It’s important for the next generation to see and understand the sacrifice of war and what our freedom costs. It’s also important to remember what we do and say matters. And the energy of New York is undeniable. What a wonderful way to bring the classroom to life.

A once in a lifetime experience for your kids!

This was a once in a lifetime trip for my kids and they absolutely loved it! It was so welled organized and provided so much amazing history and information for the kids while also making it fun and one of the best experiences they have had. I cannot say enough about the trip and am definitely having my younger daughter do it when she is old enough.

Students learn different regions and culture

Students get to learn about new regions and culture. In addition, students learn the travel obstacles from itinerary change to handling dirty hotel rooms.

The itinerary was great but the choice…

The itinerary was great but the choice of hotel accommodations and location need to be improved.

Well planned program

Program was well planned. Students had a great time. One organizational issue was quickly resolved by EF.

Easy and felt safe trusting my kids to…

Easy and felt safe trusting my kids to go alone.

Easy payment process

Very thankful for the way that they handled everything from start to finish. My daughter had an amazing time and she will forever. Remember this trip.

Horrible EF Experience!

Overall, we consistently had to push to provide the kids bathroom breaks, the organization for the trip was extremely lacking, the leadership was short with children and kept them from various experiences. The educational aspect of this trip was not a large focus on this trip. The activities we participated in could have been far more educational, if we are going to call this a STEM trip. The most concerning aspect was the lack of concern for the children's safety. The tour director and teacher in charge should have these kids' safety at the top of their priority list. Their rooms at all hotels should have been together, with security that actually monitored the halls. The kids also shouldn't have been wandering an outdoor mall in a lightning storm. The tour director was not qualified to run this tour as he had not visited most of the locations we went and was not prepared with accurate information for many activities. The adult travelers were told that we were not required to watch the kids, as this was just as much our trip as theirs because we paid for the trip, but he did not; but the teacher was not as attentive to the kids as he should have been in public situations where he was responsible for 12 year olds. On multiple occasions, several children were chastised for behavior and then group leaders and the tour director proceeded to do the same action (i.e walking while looking at a phone, not looking both directions before crossing the road, not talking while other adults are presenting). We spent 42.3% of the trip driving. The weather was not taken into consideration before going to activities and no alternative plans were put in place if the weather looked questionable. The other children traveling with our group from other states were all going into high school. Any time kids were allowed to wander (i.e. malls, target, beaches) our group leader would not stay with kids unless forced by the adult travelers to take a group. He spent his time wandering with his parents (who were the other chaperones). He told the children he would play music and allow them to guess the song during the long bus rides, but he only played it once and then told the kids when he was asked later in the trip that he would not play songs and they could learn to sit in silence on the long bus rides; most of the bus rides were at least 1 hour long, if not more. The leader of our group had to be reminded on multiple occasions throughout the tour by his parents and the tour director that he needed to do a head count for our group before leaving places. My daughter stated she did have some fun, made a couple new friends, but would have enjoyed learning more things since that was the trip was all about. She stated she constantly felt rushed. During specific times the children did not get a chance to fully eat their lunches, and my daughter experienced almost not getting lunch before being ushered back to the bus. It wasn't until I demanded that her lunch order be remade since the place had "lost" her order, but then was required to eat her lunch on bus on the way to the next location. This caused her to have a lot of anxiety and stress which should not be experienced if things were planned out better.

Leila and Bernard are TOP NOTCH!!!

Leila and Bernard were incredibly kind and insightful! Everyone stayed engaged and learned about other cultures in a fun-filled manner. We (my daughter and I) are already looking into another EF tour to do! Having the peace of mind to just show up and enjoy such a special experience is priceless ❤️

Great trip for all!

We had an amazing time! Everything was nice and easy and after a few hiccups on the first day due to weather, it was a smooth trip! Montreal and Quebec were amazing places for the kids to see and they loved every moment of it! This was my first international trip and it was amazing. I was a little hesitant about Canada because I had never been but the kids and I loved it!

My daughter seemed to love it

My daughter seemed to love it. She had fun it was a nice experience for her. The only reason I didnt do 5 stars was I didnt like how my teenager had to share a bed with another girl. I could understand 2 to a room with a bed a piece but I feel like that's a major violation of personal boundaries and that could have made the experience a little better to have their own bed. The other reason I didnt give 5 stars is because the only pictures I received from the trip was from my daughter and from other parents that did attend but it was of their children and not of mine. I would love to see more pictures of the whole group but other than that it was a great experience for both of us. Mr wickel and his parents were amazing and the tour guide seemed to keep everyone hydrated and on track. I would definitely do it again.

The whole trip was great

The whole trip was great! Our tour director Jim Wood was absolutely fabulous! You could tell he LOVED his job. His knowledge on the whole trip was amazing, from knowing the city to all the history behind it! One thing I think should change is Till cards for adults, if you don’t use the money for lunch it should be sent back to you automatically. Other then that we had a great time in DC/NY

He loved the tour!

Great organization and communication.

Joseph RodriguezUnited States · 2 reviews · Verified · Experienced 2026-06-18 · Posted 2026-06-26

Very well planed

Very well planed, our tour guide was amazing!!

EF Explore is Amazing- Highly Reccomend

All our EF tour staff were amazing. Karen was our guide- and I would recommend her to anyone- I hope that if I get the opportunity I can take another tour from her!

Bus bathroom

In the beginning of our tour the bus driver and the tour director told us that the bus bathroom was closed and can be used in the case of an emergency. On the day we left for New York my daughter had to use the bathroom and she was told no that she needed to hold it. By the time we got to the parking lot of Citi Field we were told to go use the port a potty. On the way towards it, it started to rain. After the game on the way to the hotel she had to use the bathroom again. I texted her asking if she had gone at the stadium and she said yes. She held it as long as she could. She texted me that she really had to go and she was about to pee herself. I told the teacher chaperone that my daughter had to pee. She told the group leader and he replied for her to hold it that we were almost there and I even heard the bus driver say no she can hold it. I had to show the chaperone the text messages of my daughter telling me she is crying and she is about to pee herself. At that point the teacher chaperone had to beg the group leader to let her use the bathroom. The bus driver said she can but an adult had to go with her to unlock the bathroom and lock it. I had found out that some students from the other bus also had to use the bathroom and they were allowed to use the bus bathroom. My daughter was very sad that she had to go through that. She was nervous of peeing herself in front of her peers. Another downside of the trip was the amount of money that was given for breakfast. Kids and I had to pay out of pocket for a breakfast sandwich and a drink, cause they only gave us $10. Tour directors need to have a backup plan in case of any type of crowds due to sports and political events. We happened to be in the city during the championship celebration for the Knicks, which really placed the kids in a bad environment, resulting in them being in an emotional state.

I've never experienced a group tour…

I've never experienced a group tour before and didn't know what to expect. Our guide was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the things we saw and we had an experience which couldn't compare to what we would be able to see on our own.

Knowledgeable

Knowledgeable. On time and fun to be around