At Hart Travel Partners, we're excited to share our adventures and expertise with you. We highlight travel programs, faculty members' stories and other travel information in this section. Please check back regularly to discover the latest news from HTP!
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The Benefits of a Short-Term Faculty-Led Program
No matter what subject you teach, you can turn the world into your classroom.
Short-term faculty-led travel programs complement the traditional longer-term notion of “study abroad.” Semester-long study abroad programs continue to have a number of advantages for students, but we also have seen firsthand that there are many benefits to short-term study abroad programs as well.
One of the greatest benefits of short-term faculty-led study abroad programs is you, as the educator, have the opportunity to travel with your students. This means that the travel experience becomes an integral part of your teaching. This means that you can teach to the trip, bringing a laser focus to the subject areas most important to you and your students.
Because of the unique immersive experience of traveling with your students, short-term faculty-led travel programs become not only travel experiences but also experiential learning opportunities. As your students navigate a foreign city’s public transportation system, order dinner in another language or engage with experts in your academic subject areas in a unique setting, you are right there with them, guiding their understanding and providing teachable moments at every turn. This leads to an experience that your students will not easily forget.
There are pragmatic reasons for students to choose a short-term faculty-led travel program. Many students may not have the financial means — or the necessary time — to study abroad for a full semester; some students may be the first in their families to attend college or to travel abroad and are therefore hesitant to commit to a longtime overseas. A short-term program allows them the opportunity see the world while staying focused on the coursework involved. This also is true for students who may have work or family commitments precluding them for leaving for a long period of time.
We have seen, however, that short-term study abroad programs often act as inspiration for students to pursue other travel adventures, including longer study abroad opportunities.
Ultimately, when we design short-term travel programs with faculty, you gain the flexibility to create a course completely tailored to your academic goals and interests, no matter what you teach. Engineering students can benefit just as much as history students on a study abroad journey if the daily activities, visits and enrichment opportunities are geared toward their academic needs.
At Hart Travel Partners (HTP), we provide complete customization for every one of our groups, so faculty and educators are in control when it comes to providing the content for each travel course. We will provide recommendations based on our local expertise, of course — that is part of the “partnership” that we undertake with each travel leader.
With our dedicated focus on your academic needs, we ensure that you get a worthwhile program in as short as one or two weeks. And with our experienced team handling all the logistics, from trip customization to billing to partnering with your study abroad office, we ensure that your time as an educator can be used doing what you do best — teaching!
At Hart Travel Partners, we believe the gift of travel is something that every student should have access to. With our short-term faculty-led travel programs, you can give your students the world. If experience is any indicator, once you expose them to travel once, they will choose to return to it again and again. If, like us, you believe that travel is the key to lifelong learning, you can be proud knowing you set your students on that path!
We would love to speak to you about how we can benefit your teaching and your students through travel. Please contact us to learn more today!
Our guarantee: Local fare that meets your budget
I believe where and what you eat when you’re traveling is important.
Especially on a faculty-led travel program, you want to immerse yourself completely in the local culture, and that definitely includes the local food. It’s important to be able to eat like a local and enjoy food that is typical to your destination. After an active day of learning, it’s important not only to enjoy a nourishing and satisfying meal but also to sample delicious dishes from your destination — whether it’s tapas in Spain, a curry in England or Peking duck in China.
That’s why we always serve meals with local fare that meet your budget.
Our guarantee: Central hotels that meet your budget
I believe where you stay when you’re traveling is important.
Especially on a faculty-led travel program, it matters that your hotel is in a good location so you can maximize your time, immerse yourself in the culture and get the most out of your travels. It matters that your hotel is comfortable and provides a good night’s rest after an active day of learning. And it matters that you are able to stay connected online.
That’s why as founder of Hart Travel Partners, I guarantee that we always find centrally located hotels that meet your budget. Plus, I guarantee that all of our hotels offer free WiFi.
Our founder, Steve Hart, currently is touring China and has been sharing photos of his travels along the way. He's already visited the Great Wall of China ("one of the most magnificent sites I have ever seen”) and the "fascinating" Terracotta Warriors and enjoyed the delicious food in Xi'an, home of Chinese noodles.
Thank you to all of our faculty, group leaders and travelers for making 2018 such a special year for Hart Travel Partners. It's such a privilege for us to work with educators around the country to bring their students around the world. Check out our annual year-end slideshow video with some of the amazing destinations our groups enjoyed this year.
We're looking forward to even more travel adventures in the new year!
My first job out of college was as a Travel Director, leading groups of U.S. students around Spain and Portugal. It was an amazing experience.
I got my start as a Travel Director while studying at the University of Bristol in England many years ago, working mostly over holiday breaks. After I graduated, it became my “full-time” job, and I loved it. Although I initially specialized in Spain and Portugal, I gradually expanded my expertise to other countries throughout Europe.
That first job led to a career in educational travel. While moving into other roles, I always relished the opportunity to return to travel directing, and I’ve been fortunate to lead groups on countless tours across Europe and even Cuba.
Spotlight on Morocco: Eight activities not to miss
I recently returned from Morocco, where centuries of African and European influences have transformed ancient civilizations into one of the world’s most unique and diverse regions. From modern metropolises to the Sahara Desert, Morocco provides an opportunity to explore distinctly different settings while absorbing lessons of the past and glimpses to the future.
With our local team there, I had the pleasure of traveling around Morocco to several cities and desert towns, and I was reminded how truly magical this country is. Morocco sometimes can be an overlooked destination, but it offers so many one-of-a-kind opportunities to explore cities, the mountains and the desert. For starters, it’s easy to get to from the United States; in fact, it is no longer than flying to many European destinations — and you get to spend time in an important and exotic country in Africa!
The FIFA World Cup — the biggest sporting event in the world — kicks off today in Russia. I love the World Cup, not only because I share a love of soccer with my family, but also because it brings players and fans together from all over the world.
Every time I travel to Rome, I am captured by the charm and wonders of this incredibly historical city.
On a recent trip, I flew in to Fiumicino Airport and took a taxi to my hotel in central Rome, as I’ve done countless times. But on that routine 30-minute taxi ride, I realized that we were witnessing 2,000 years of history right from my back seat.
No matter how many times I’ve visited Paris, I always experience something new and exciting. My most recent trip was no different.
Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting up with a group of students and faculty from Arizona State University, which was spending two weeks on a photography course in Paris. I can’t imagine a better backdrop than the City of Light for photography students. This is a regular study abroad program that Hart Travel Partners produces for ASU; you can even see some of the previous students’ photos on the HTP website.
To me, Madrid means home. The spiritual roots of Hart Travel Partners trace back to Madrid, where my mother is from, where I still have many friends and family and where I first started to work as a guide almost 30 years ago.
One of the reasons I founded HTP was to provide unique opportunities for educators and students to experience cities such as Madrid that I have known and loved for decades. Beginning this month, we will be highlighting several popular destinations to which HTP operates faculty-led study abroad programs.
For me, there’s no better place to start than Madrid, a city that remains very close to my heart and always has been one of my favorite places in the world.
It’s been an amazing and rewarding travel season so far in 2018 at Hart Travel Partners. I am very proud of the life-changing travel experiences we have created — together with faculty — for students from many parts of the country.
Earlier this year, for example, while studying religion and sustainability in India, HTP students and faculty visited Navdanya Biodiversity Farm, where they met the incomparable Dr. Vandana Shiva, an influential and outspoken environmental activist. They also witnessed the inspiring Hindu Ceremony of Light, or Arti, along the banks of the Ganges River in Haridwar.
The conference will be held March 21-23 at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in the heart of Boston's Back Bay. This year's theme is "Building on Strong Foundations: Best Practices for an Evolving Field."
I rang in the New Year this year in the wonderful city of London. I am fortunate to be able to to visit London frequently as I have family there, and Hart Travel Partners welcomes groups there many times a year.
2017 was an amazing year...thanks to you! Please enjoy a slideshow of Hart Travel Partners groups around the world this year. We can't wait to see you out there somewhere in 2018!
“Ever since childhood, when I lived within earshot of the Boston and Maine, I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it. Those whistles sing bewitchment: railways are irresistible bazaars… Anything is possible on a train…” – Paul Theroux
