How to Plan a Trip

ACIS makes planning easy and takes care of the logistics and details so you can stay focused on getting your participants prepared for a wonderful adventure.

Step 1: Meet Your ACIS International Program Manager or Consultant
Our International Program Team are experts in the art of travel and trip planning. Talk to them about your interests, goals and concerns, and they’ll help you identify the factors that will make your trip a success—number of cities, length of tour, time of year—and even suggest options you may not have considered. Call us at 800-888-ACIS or email info@acis.com and we’ll assign you a tour consultant.

Step 2: Choose & Customize an Itinerary
Choose or create the ideal trip to support your educational goals. Check out our Explore-a-Tourium to search for itineraries.

Step 3: Let the School Board Know
The ACIS reputation makes it easy to win school board approval. Call 800-888-ACIS or email info@acis.com to request your School Board Packet. This invaluable resource contains extensive materials to help explain the program to school boards and other administrators and obtain necessary approval.

Step 4: Hold Your First After School Meeting
The after-school meeting for interested participants marks the beginning of the formal registration process. Describe the trip, distribute itineraries, announce the first parent-student evening meeting, circulate an attendance list and send students home with an invitation for parents. Read a sample invitation letter (PDF) to help you get started.

Step 5: Hold Your First Evening Meeting for Parents
Explain the value of educational travel and address questions or concerns. Have ACIS Registration Booklets on hand (find them at the Download Center) so parents and students can register right away!

Step 6: Register Your Group
First, register online or send in a completed Group Leader Registration Form available at the Download Center. Then allow your participants to begin registering online or by completing the Participant Registration Form, also available at the Download Center.

Step 7: Grow Your Group
The key here is to generate excitement! Get your school buzzing about your upcoming tour and you’ll recruit more and more. Plus, it’s more likely your participants will not decide to cancel.

• Talk it up: Not only will your excitement be infectious, it will prepare students for what’s to come.
• Send a letter or email home to parents: We love our ACIS students, but we’ve learned over the years that sometimes they forget things.
• Hold monthly “open house” information sessions: Encourage parents and students to come, ask questions and learn more. Always better to be in the loop.
• Make it affordable: Fundraise like mad and encourage your students to enter the Travel is Education Scholarship contest for a chance to win up to $1,000 off their program fee. 
• Hold additional meetings: Students are a busy bunch, and there’s a good chance that sports, clubs, part-time jobs or other extra-curricular activities prevented some from attending your first after school meeting. Same goes for the evening parent meeting.  Pick a different day and time to maximize the chance that all interested parties will be able to go. For added impact, invite a couple of enthusiastic students who’ve already registered to help act as your tour cheerleaders.
  

Step 8: Pack Your Bags & Go
Bon Voyage! Your ACIS Tour Manager will greet you at the airport.

If you'd like more information, request or download a Group Leader Workbook at our Download Center. The workbook includes success tips and all the forms necessary to get you on your way.