Safety

First and foremost, we want to keep you safe on this trip! Just as safe, in fact, or safer than you would have been if you had not left home.

We know you can take care of yourself in your hometown where people are courteous and careful, but to keep you out of harm’s way in a big city, you’ll need to be thinking about a few things.

So, start by thinking about this: there are lots of pedestrian accidents in big cities, where drivers tend to be careless and aggressive. As a result, there are probably more people hit by cars in big cities in a single month than in your hometown in a dozen years.

Pedestrian Safety

High school and middle school kids like you, who are not used to city traffic, are especially vulnerable. So be careful!

• ALWAYS wait for a WALK light and/or a GREEN light;
• NEVER cross a street except in a crosswalk; and
• NEVER, EVER venture into or across a street if other pedestrians are staying behind at the curb.

Hotel Fire Safety

We think about hotel fire safety for the same reason you have fire drills at school.

Once in a long, long while, somewhere around the world, there’s a fire at a school, and every couple years, somewhere around the world, there is a fire in a hotel. Both are pretty rare, but much more dangerous for those who are completely unprepared.

You should get a fire safety briefing from your chaperones, but if you happen to miss it, here are the basic rules to prepare you:

• Learn where the fire stairs and exits are.
• Always use the stairs, not the elevators, in the event of a fire alarm at the hotel.
• If the hotel gets smoky, stay close to the floor.
• Take every fire alarm seriously.

If You Get Lost

We don’t want you to get lost on your trip. So, it is very important that you pay close attention to your guide, when you’re getting off the bus, when your guide is telling you about exactly where and when you’ll be getting back on.

Many students and most teachers now bring cell phones on our trips, so if have a cell phone and your chaperone does too, make sure you have your chaperone’s phone number saved to your phone.

Your teachers will also give you a yellow card with our toll-free LOST-STUDENT-HOTLINE number (800-321-1313) printed on it. You should keep this card in your wallet or purse, and make sure you bring it with you every morning.

If you don’t have a cell phone, and do get separated from your group, this telephone number will be answered by our home office staff during office hours, and by trained operators after business hours.

If you get lost, the operator will ask you who you are and where you are, and then reunite you with your chaperones.

The entire procedure is printed on the card, but in short, if you get separated from your group, you should go to a hotel, a store, an office or information booth, ask to use a telephone and call 800-321-1313.

Then plan to wait, near the telephone, until your chaperone calls you back.

In summary, LISTEN TO YOUR GUIDE, DON’T GET LOST, but if you do get lost, DON’T PANIC. We’ll do our best to get you reunited with your group as quickly as possible.

Revolving Doors

Sorry, this probably sounds like kid stuff, but be very, very careful in revolving doors. Most hotels and public buildings in the cities you’ll visit have them.

We’ve seen lots of kids trying to get them spinning at the speed of sound, and that’s quite dangerous. Kids (sometimes innocent bystanders, and not the kids spinning them) get hurt. You don’t want to be responsible for that.