Haliburton Highlands Secondary School teacher Darla Searle is planning to take up to 42 students on a “once in a lifetime” trip to Europe over the Easter break in 2025.
This will mark the second school excursion Searle has led following a successful trip to Costa Rica in April.
She said students will enjoy 10 days traveling across England, France, Switzerland, and Germany, checking out historical sites such as Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Dachau concentration camp.
An information session providing more details, including a full itinerary of events and a breakdown of the cost, is being held at the high school Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m.
“This is a truly incredible opportunity for anyone interested in travel, learning about different cultures, and seeing some of the most iconic sites in Europe,” Searle said. “Traveling broadens the mind, and just having that exposure to different parts of the world does wonders for your perspective.
“This is a great chance to experience so many bucket list things on a single trip, and to do so with friends, and fellow classmates… it’ll be something these kids will remember and hold close for the rest of their lives,” Searle added.
The trip is being planned through EF Educational Tours. Students will miss four days of school, Searle said, and will fly from Toronto into one of the world’s busiest airports – Heathrow in London. Students will spend a couple of days in the UK capital, taking in a Shakespearean walking tour and visiting popular sites such as Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus.
They will then travel to Paris via rail, passing through the underwater Channel Tunnel. While in France, students will embark on a guided tour of the nation’s capital, where they will see the Eiffel Tower and visit the Louvre, before embarking on an in-depth expedition of Versailles – the principal residence of French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI.
From there, it’ll be on to Switzerland and a walking tour of Lucerne, featuring a cable car ride down Mount Pilatus. The fourth stop is the German capital, Munich, where students will visit the Olympic Stadium, Neuschwanstein Castle, and the Dachau concentration camp.
Anyone who will be a student at HHSS for the 2024/25 school year is eligible for the trip, meaning Grade 8 students from J.D. Hodgson, Archie Stouffer, and Wilberforce Elementary are invited to attend next week’s information session.
Searle said she’s invited a student that participated in the Costa Rica trip to attend the session and share her experiences.
“She’s going to talk about what the trip meant to her and how life changing it was to see different cultures and how people live in other parts of the world,” Searle said. “It’s trips like this that make you realize how young Canada. We’ll be going to places that were established hundreds, even thousands of years ago. The history in Europe is fascinating.”
To secure a spot, students will need to lay down a $200 deposit and commit to monthly payments. Searle wouldn’t commit to a full price, saying that will be provided at the meeting.
There will be fundraising opportunities in the months leading up to help cover some of the cost, she said, with a dinner theatre organized in December.
“We want to ensure people who might not be able to afford the full cost still have an opportunity to go,” Searle said.
To register for the information session, visit rsvp.eftours.ca/et2mr5m.
