This is
How We Travel
Cultural Immersion Trips
Travelling with a Special Twist.
UNIQUE SMALL-SIZED GROUP TRIPS
# HIGHLIGHTS & OFF THE BEATEN PATH. We like to take you to the places that your friends have never heard of and where you can be one of the few foreign tourists to get an up close and authentic peek at what life is like as a local. While we also include some of the not-to-be missed, iconic sights, we like to focus on the more unique, meaningful and memorable.
# EXPERIENCE FOCUSED. We consider the overall experience of any stop on our trip. We believe art and culture are more accessible when the entire setting is an ingredient in the mix. We try to avoid the hoards, visit museums that are human-sized and approachable, engage in activities that contribute to understanding the culture by engaging with people, and we look for the true, the beautiful, and the meaningful in all of our choices.
# SMALL GROUPS. Our groups consist of 6-12 travelers, allowing you the opportunity for up close and personal travel. We find that many of our travelers are introverts and appreciate traveling with a small group. Small groups also allow us the opportunity to engage more easily with locals and have those unique experiences that we aim for.
# FRIENDS & FAMILY STLE. All of our Cultural Immersion Trips are done in “friends & family” style. You may not know everyone to begin with, but by the end, we will have all become good friends. As friends & family (having a small group helps), we are invited to engage with locals and sometimes even invited into homes or special events. We also have the flexibility to accommodate all of the travelers in our “family,” adapting to special interests or needs along the way. We travel by car, not by bus, allowing us to enter the small and special spaces and not stand out as a large tourist group. And, we like to keep things casual and comfortable!
# FLEXIBLE ITINERARY. We design days that we believe are full of magic and important experiences, but we also know that some of the best surprises while traveling are the unexpected opportunities that pop up. Someone invites the group into their workshop, a friend invites the group to join at the celebration of their new child, or you discover a local band is playing in the park. We value that these unique opportunities may be more important than what we happened to have planned, so we adjust. We don’t miss the magic in an attempt to rigidly stick to our plan. And we love travelers who love this logic! We also love surprises and we aim to delight you and surprise you along the way. You won’t always know what to expect in advance, but we’ll always make sure that you are prepared with information in order to be properly prepared.
# ETHICAL TRAVEL. We aim to utilize private and locally owned businesses as often as possible. Our goal is to stay at charming, locally owned inns, farms, cabins, hotels or houses. We like to dine where we can meet the family who owns the restaurant and prepares the food. We want to use small businesses rather than large corporate entities. We want to connect with kind, knowledgeable, and interesting local guides and we seek to find the way to support the local community with our travel dollars whenever possible.
Come and be delighted! Come and experience something different! Come to understand and deeply know a new country! Come, travel with us and enjoy the unique, meaningful and memorable!
Family Learning Journeys
Immerse. Learn. And Understand.
MID-SIZED GROUP TRIPS
# LEARNING. BlueStoneBlueOcean values educational and unique experiences. Our educational learning journeys offer an overview of important historical sites and events as well as some special off the beaten path encounters. We love to connect with locals and learn about the culture of each place whenever possible. Travel learning is a hands-on discovery of what students have read about and studied. It is experiential, rich and deeply meaningful.
# FAMILY TRIP. These trips may be set up for a particular group such as a school, homeschool group, group of friends, or community, but what sets them apart from other school trips is that our trips are for families. We adapt the trip for a range of ages and find that parents love learning too! Research has shown that students have a significant positive outcome when their parents are highly involved in their education, and what more enjoyable way to be involved than to travel and learn together?
# FULL DAYS. Our trips are packed and fast-paced. We cover a lot of ground and try to fully take advantage of our time. However, every trip also has some free time to explore the city and see what interests you that isn’t on the itinerary, go shopping, or just relax and rest. You’ll do a lot of walking, so these restful afternoons are sometimes very necessary!
# STRUCTURED. You will receive a highly organized and detailed trip itinerary that tells you exactly where we’ll be and when. This allows us to stay on track, but also offers you the chance to choose what you may want to skip and then reunite with the group at the next activity. We try to stick to the plan as closely as possible!
# FUN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES. We aim to make the trips educational and fun! We include silly awards, scavenger hunts, and educational review sessions and debriefs of the day before. Reading lists, movie lists, and ideas to prepare for the trip are provided to help you get the most out of the trip as possible!