SUGGESTIONS FOR TRAVELING OVERSEAS WITH BOY SCOUTS

BRUCE MCCREA

SCOUTMASTER and INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE

CHIEF OKEMOS COUNCIL, LANSING, MICHIGAN

September, 2002, Revision 

(http://www.msu.edu/user/rasche/scout/trp180/travel.htm)

While many of these suggestions will be useful for any group of Scouts traveling overseas, they are directed towards travel to Europe.  Europe is an excellent destination.  Air fares from the U.S. to Europe are cheaper than to other parts of the world, health and sanitation standards in Europe are similar to those in the U.S., even in non-English speaking countries in Europe it is usually not difficult to find someone who speaks English, and, unlike South America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, summers in Europe are the same months as summers in the U.S. and therefore their national camps and jamborees occur during U.S. summer school vacations.

 

1.   Begin planning your trip early.  Two years before your proposed trip is not too early to start.  Involve your Scouts in the planning as much as possible.

 

2.   Work through the International Division of the Boy Scouts of America.  They will give you useful advice, help keep you on track, and inform you of the proper procedure for obtaining approval of your council for an international trip and requesting an official invitation to an international Scouting event.  If your council has an International Representative, that person can also help.

 

3.   Work with a reputable travel agent.  They will help with much of your planning.

 

4.   Decide early in your planning how large your group will be.  A patrol sized group of six to ten Scouts usually works best.  This makes it easy to keep track of everyone while you are touring, doesn't overwhelm a host troop with the size of your group, and means that you will be able to eat as a group in most restaurants.

 

5.   Set minimum age and rank requirements for your trip.  The world jamboree requirement that a Scout be at least 13 and First Class by January 1 of the year of your trip is a good example to follow.

 

6.   Make sure you screen your potential participants carefully.  For exampleBesides observing these Scouts at troop meetings and on campouts, you should find out how extensively they have traveled before, any dietary restrictions they have, what medications they are on, and any possible side effects of those medicationsif they exhibit any behavioral problems.  If a Scout takes regular medication, you must be confident that he will remember to take this medicine while on the trip without relying on others to remind him.  If you have problems with a Scout overseas, you can't just call his parents and have them come and get him.

 

7.   Secure adequate adult leadership.  Two adults over 21 is an absolute minimum.  A third adult leader, either over 21 or between 18 and 21, can be a big help.  Make sure you select adult leaders who are qualified, understand and accept the responsibilities they will have on the trip, and will be positive role models for the Scouts.

 

8.      8.   Decide how long you plan to spend on your trip and the approximate dates.  The maximum length of your trip will be determined by the time that your adult leaders are willing and able to commit.  You should plan for an absolute minimum of 16 to 17 days (two weeks plus a weekend).  Three weeks plus a weekend or longer would be much better.  Our Troop 180 trips to Europe in 1994 and 1999 were each over five weeks long.  Compared to the cost of airfare to and from Europe, the additional cost of adding extra days to our trip was not great.  For many Scouts and leaders, a trip to Europe is a once in a lifetime experience.  That experience should last as long as your schedules allow.

9.      Begin by deciding Decide where you want to go and how long you plan to spend.  One factor in determining your destination will be the dates and locations of national jamborees and national camps that will be held in different countries the summer you plan to travel.  The World Scout Bureau's list of Upcoming International Events can be found at http://www.scout.org/wse/index.html and is updated every six months.  There are usually many large camps in different parts of Europe each summer with few Americans participating in any of them.

 

109.  Plan to mMake arrangements with the Scout association that is hosting the camp you will attend for a home stay with one of their troops.  They will usually be glad to do this.  This The opportunity to live with Scouts of another country has been a highlight of the trip for our Scouts every time we have traveled.  If possible, try to arrange to camp at the national camp as part of the same host troop.  This will cement many friendships.  If hosting arrangements are made early enough, your Scouts will be able to correspond with their host Scouts before the trip.  (We have many Scouts sending email messages to each other who would never have written letters.)  Request that your host troop provide you, each of your Scouts, and each host family, with a list showing each of your Scouts and leaders and the name, address, and phone number of the family they will be staying with.  Get this list when you are met by the host troop if not before.  This is essential in case of emergency.

 

110.  Begin your planning by making Make an overall outline of your schedule.  Perhaps you will be participating in a national camp that begins on a Tuesday and ends on the Thursday of the following week.  A possible outline for a trip lasting three weeks plus a weekend ismight be:

      Day 1 - Saturday - Depart for Europe

      Day 2 - Sunday - Arrive in Europe.  Begin sightseeing.

      Day 7 - Friday - Arrive in the afternoon at the home town of your host troop.  Begin home stays.

      Day 11 - Tuesday - Travel with your host troop to the National Camp

      Day 20 - Thursday - Return to homes of host Scouts for rest and laundry

      Day 21 - Friday - Sightseeing or home stays

      Day 22 or 23 - Saturday or Sunday - Return flight home

 

121.  At this point, you should talk with your travel agent about what airport(s) in Europe you are able to fly to and what airport(s) you are able to fly home from.  Some times you can make arrangements to fly to one city in Europe and fly home from a different city.  This expands your sightseeing options.

 

132. Once you have determined the location of the camp you will be participating in, the approximate number of days you have available for sightseeing, and your options for the locations of your arrival and departure in Europe, you should start selecting the places you will visit during your sightseeing time.  We have found that it works better to spend at least a couple of days in each place we visit than to do an "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" kind of tour.  For a first trip overseas for your troop, I would suggest just visiting one or two countries.  There will still be plenty of things to see and you won't have to work with many different currencies and different languages.  .  The maximum length of your trip will be determined by the time that your adult leaders are willing and able to commit.  A good length trip is three weeks plus a weekend or more if your adults are able to commit that much vacation time. (Generally, because it is expensive and rare for people to make many trips abroad,  once the decision has been made to go to Europe, then you should lean towards extending the trip to spend more time there rather than cutting the trip short.)  Be sure to read the U.S. State Department’s Travel Warnings and Consular Information Sheets at http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html for each country you are considering visiting.  As you decide which attractions you will visit in different cities, consult a guidebook to find the days and hours each is open and the admission charge.  Many major museums in Europe are closed on Mondays, so you will need to plan accordingly.

 

143.  Mass transit is Europe is excellent.  I strongly recommend that you plan to use trains for your long distance travel and buses, trams, and subways for local transportation.  If you plan to do this, you should obtain a THOMAS COOK EUROPEAN TIMETABLE at this point in your planning.  You can probably borrow one from your travel agent or at the local library.  This book will tell you the approximate amount of time it takes to travel from city to city that you plan to visit and what times the trains run.  You should try to avoid an itinerary that requires you to spend most of a day on the train.  Scouts become bored and it wastes sightseeing time.  Either select destinations that are closer together or select destinations that are far enough apart that you can use an overnight train.  Scouts do not get a normal amount of sleep on an overnight train, but a trip to Europe is probably the only opportunity they will have to sleep in a couchette (a sleeping car with compartments that have six bunks, three on each side) in a train.  It is an experience they will enjoy talking about later.

 

154.  Once you have outlined your itinerary and have an idea of where you would like to spend each night, you should start looking for overnight accommodations.  Possibilities include:

(a) Home Stays with Scouts - This is ideal but will probably only be possible to arrange with your host troop.  As you participate in a national camp and make friends with Scout leaders from other countries, be sure to get their names and addresses for your files.  If you plan to visit their home city some time in the future, they will probably be glad to arrange home stays for you.

(b) Scout Houses - In many countries in Europe, Scout groups own the buildings they meet in and those buildings have kitchen and toilet facilities.  Visiting groups can often make arrangements to spread their sleeping bags out on the floor and use one of these buildings for an overnight stays at a nominal charge.  If you plan to visit a city in the country where you will be attending a national camp, the host Scout association might help you find one of these Scout houses.

(c) A Scout Camp - http://www.scout.org/europe/wtsie/index.html is the source for information on camps in the European Scout Centre Network.  Many of these camps have bunkhouse type facilities.  We stayed at Pfadfinderdorf Zellhof outside of Salzburg, Austria,, Germany (?)  and had a great experience there.

(d) Youth Hostels - There is an excellent system of Youth Hostels in Europe.  As a Boy Scout troop, your group qualifies for a free group membership in American Youth Hostels/Hostelling International.  Guidebooks like LET'S GO: THE BUDGET GUIDE TO EUROPE and EUROPE ON $50 A DAY will suggest hostels to contact.  Make your reservations and confirm them as soon as possible, as some hostels fill early for the summer months.  If you have reservations at a hostel, make sure you carry your group's AYH/HI membership card with you.  The hostel staff is likely to ask for it.

 

165.  As you secure your overnight accommodations, have each place you will stay supply you with at least one name and phone number where parents can call in an emergency and leave a message with someone who speaks English for their son to call home.

 

17.  As soon as you have finalized your itinerary and the makeup of your group, purchase your plane and train tickets and make deposits on your overnight accommodations.  It is sometimes worthwhile to check different air travel options online yourselves.  For our 2002 trip to Trinidad, one of our troop adults found roundtrips on one US airline between Detroit and Puerto Rico and on a second US airline between Puerto Rico and Trinidad that had a total cost of over $300 per person less than the Detroit to Trinidad roundtrip found by our travel agent.  For train transportation, I strongly recommend purchasing one second class group train ticket for your entire trip from your travel agent.  This is carried by the leader and shows the route that you will travel.  It does not require that you take any specific train.  For us, this has always been much cheaper than buying rail passes.  On European trains, a ticket does not guarantee you a seat.  For that, you need a seat reservation.  Seat reservations are not available for short trips.  Some times it is useful to have the flexibility to opt for an earlier or later train than you originally planned on, but in most cases you will select from THE THOMAS COOK EUROPEAN TIMETABLE the train that you definitely want to be on.  You should purchase seat reservations for as many of these train trips as you can from your travel agent when you purchase your group train ticket.  Make sure you specify “no smoking” cars.  You also need to purchase from your travel agent reservations for couchettes for overnight trips.  U.S. travel agents make ticket purchases and seat reservations through either the French or German National Railroad.  In some situations, since they are working through just one of those two systems, they will be unable to purchase all the tickets and seat and couchette reservations that you need.  In those situations, you should purchase the additional tickets and seat and couchette reservations at a train station as soon as you arrive in Europe.  (You will find that rail ticket and reservation prices are lower in Europe than in the USA, but I believe that the certainty of having the tickets purchased and reservations made before you leave is worth the difference.)  As soon as you receive your tickets from your travel agent, look them over carefully.  If your train ticket between two cities specifies that travel must be via certain other cities or towns, make sure that the route that is specified is the route you plan to take. This is especially important if travel is in more than one country.  If the route you take has more kilometers of travel in any country than the route that is specified on your tickets, the conductors in that country will impose an additional charge.

 

18.  Have each Scout and leader complete a personal information sheet and send copies of these sheets to each Scout group you will be staying with either by airmail or as email attachments.  The forms that we have used are:

 

BOY SCOUT EUROPE TRIP

LEADER INFORMATION SHEET

 

NAME __________________________

 

ADDRESS _______________________                          PLEASE

 

________________________________                                ATTACH

 

________________________________                                RECENT

 

TELEPHONE ____________________                                PHOTO

 

EMAIL _________________________                                  HERE.

 

DATE OF BIRTH _________________

 

THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT SCOUTING __________________________________

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

YOUR OCCUPATION  _______________________________________

 

OTHER THINGS YOU LIKE TO DO SUCH AS SPORTS, MUSIC, AND HOBBIES

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

RELIGIOUS PREFERENCE ______________________________________________

 

LANGUAGES YOU SPEAK ______________________________________________

 

ARE THERE FOODS YOU CANNOT EAT FOR MEDICAL OR RELIGIOUS

 

REASONS? ____________________________________________________________

 

DO YOU HAVE ALLERGIES TO PETS, ETC.? _______________________________

 

WHAT THINGS DO YOU WANT TO SEE AND DO ON YOUR TRIP? ___________

 

_______________________________________________________________________

 

_______________________________________________________________________
BOY SCOUT EUROPE TRIP

SCOUT INFORMATION SHEET

 

NAME __________________________

 

ADDRESS _______________________                          PLEASE

 

________________________________                                ATTACH

 

________________________________                                RECENT

 

TELEPHONE ____________________                                PHOTO

 

EMAIL __________________________                                HERE.

 

DATE OF BIRTH _________________

 

THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT SCOUTING __________________________________

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

SCHOOL SUBJECTS YOU ENJOY _______________________________________

 

OTHER THINGS YOU LIKE TO DO SUCH AS SPORTS, MUSIC, AND HOBBIES

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

RELIGIOUS PREFERENCE ______________________________________________

 

LANGUAGES YOU SPEAK ______________________________________________

 

ARE THERE FOODS YOU CANNOT EAT FOR MEDICAL OR RELIGIOUS

 

REASONS? ____________________________________________________________

 

DO YOU HAVE ALLERGIES TO PETS, ETC.? _______________________________

 

IS THERE ANOTHER MEMBER OF YOUR GROUP YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE

 

WITH DURING A HOME STAY? __________________________________________

 

WOULD YOU MIND BEING WITH A HOST FAMILY BY YOURSELF? _________

 

WHAT THINGS DO YOU WANT TO SEE AND DO ON YOUR TRIP? ___________

 

_______________________________________________________________________

 

_______________________________________________________________________

19. As you do your planning, you should begin with a preliminary budget and then fill in the actual

      numbers as you learn them.  Our budgets have had the following components:

      AIRFARE - Consult your travel agent

      DEPARTURE TAXES – Some countries have separate departure taxes of $15 to $20 per person.  Consult your travel agent to determine whether there is a tax and if it is included in the ticket price

      TRAIN TICKET, RESERVATIONS AND COUCHETTES - Consult your travel agent

      LOCAL TRANSPORTATION - bus, subway, tram, etc.

      LODGING

      ADMISSIONS - Decide where you want to go and consult a guidebook. 

      FOOD for the days you are not in camp or home stays - Estimate how much you expect to spend per person each day and multiply by the number of days.

      CAMP FEE for the national camp or jamboree you will attend

      IDENTITY ITEMS (Nameplates are essential.  You might also consider having contingent patches, neckerchieves, or T shirts made up)

      GIFTS for host troops and their Scouts

      MISCELLANEOUS (postage, phone calls, guidebooks, etc.)

      CONTINGENCY FUND

 

20.  Some cities like Copenhagen have cards you can purchase that provide for free admission to most of the tourist sites and unlimited use of mass transit in the city and the surrounding countryside for a specific number of days.  These are worthwhile, even if they don't save you money, just for the time they will save in buying tickets.

 

21.  Estimate your budget items on the high side.  It is much better to have money left over than to run out of money.  Money left over at the end of the trip can be refunded, donated to the World Friendship Fund, or placed in a troop hosting fund to be used when the troops that host you in Europe pay return visits to your troop in the United States.

 

22. Make early plans to travel in full official Boy Scout uniform and make sure all your participants are aware of those plans.  We have walked around the streets of Amsterdam, Bratislava, Budapest, Copenhagen, London, Prague, Salzburg, Stockholm, and many other European cities in full B.S.A. uniforms.  This slowed us down a little because so many American tourists would stop and talk with us, but I feel it was a very positive part of our group identity, it helped us keep track of Scouts, and it assisted us in getting group rates at places we visited.

 

23.  Make sure that your Scouts realize that the idea that "Everyone in Europe speaks English" is a myth.  They should try to learn at least a few phrases in the language of the country they are visiting including "Do you speak English?" and "Thank you" and expect that Scouts and leaders in their host troop will often talk with each other in their native language.  In Denmark, where we have been hosted, Scouts begin English in school in the fifth grade (the same age as our sixth grade).  This means that older Scouts were much better at English than younger ones.

 

24.  Be sure you allow plenty of time for camping with your host troop, either at a large camp or at their summer camp site, and for home hospitality.  Some groups are so eager to do as much sightseeing as possible that they shortchange those parts of the trip.  This is a real mistake.  After returning home from a trip like this, Scouts will invariably say that home hospitality and camping with Scouts from another country were the highlights of their trip.

 

25.  Don't overschedule your sightseeing.  Make sure that you allow plenty of time for activities like changing money, buying stamps, mailing postcards, meals and shopping. Try to vary your sightseeing from day to day.  Scouts will get tired of castles and cathedrals day after day. Each evening of the trip, have your Scouts review the plan for the next day and the timing of the activities.

 

26.  Plan on about one restaurant meal a day.  We would usually purchase breakfast and lunch supplies and eat the evening meal in a restaurant.  There were days, however, when it worked out better to eat both lunch and dinner in a restaurant.  Carry copies with you of the sections of LET'S GO: THE BUDGET GUIDE TO EUROPE and EUROPE ON $50 A DAY for the cities you plan to visit.  This will help you select interesting, low cost restaurants.  If you have contacts with local Scouts, ask them to suggest restaurants you might want to try.  Be sure that potential participants understand that food in other countries will be different than typical American food and they will have to adjust.

 

27.  When allowing time for shopping, specify that Scouts must stay in at least buddy pairs and must return to a certain location at a specific time.  This has worked well for us.

 

28.  Include all camp fees, meals, transportation, lodging, and admissions in your group budget.  Collect this money from the Scouts before you leave and have one of your adults act as your group treasurer and pay all those expenses.  When in restaurants, look over the menu then specify the maximum amount Scouts are able to spend.  Have your group treasurer pay the entire bill at once.

 

29.  There are five options for making purchases in Europe.

(a)  Credit Cards - MasterCard and Visa are widely accepted in Europe.  Credit card purchases have the advantages that you don’t have to handle the local money and you receive the best exchange rate.  (In early 1999, some U.S. banks added 1% or 2% surcharges to credit card purchases that are made in other countries, while other banks with “no annual fee” credit cards did not.  You should select a credit card that does not impose this surcharge.)  We have used credit cards for group purchases of train tickets and seat and couchette reservations and of some restaurant meals.  (Many budget restaurants in Europe do not accept credit cards.)  Parents of Scouts in your group might consider giving their sons credit cards with low credit limits to use in buying souvenirs and gifts

(b)  Local Money Obtained from an Automatic Teller Machine (an ATM) - For a small charge (e.g. $1), you can use your ATM card from your bank or credit union in the U.S. to obtain cash in local currency in many European countries.  This is convenient, lessens the need to carry cash and traveler's checks, and gives you a very good exchange rate.  We found the Cirrus system was the most-widely used in the countries we visited.. These machines are not commonly called ATMs in Europe.  However, if you describe what you are looking for, someone will usually be able to direct you to one, and you will often spot them on your own.  In many European countries, they are as common as ATMs in the USA.America  In a few countries, like Switzerland, the ATMs are not connected to international systems and therefore not usable by Americans.

(c)  Local Money Obtained from a Cash Advance on your Credit Card - This requires you to pay interest.

(d)  Local Currency Obtained from Traveler's Checks - This is safe but there is often a commission to change U.S. dollar traveler's checks into another country’s moneyin addition to the 1% original fee for the ch (sometimes very hef10% or more when you are changing small amounts), the exchange rate is not as good as with credit cards and ATMs, and it takes time for a group of Scouts to change their traveler’s checks.

(e)  Local Currency Obtained by Changing U.S. Dollars in Cash - Carrying large amounts of cash carries with it the possibility of loss or theft.  A few $20 bills, however, might be a good idea.  There is often no commission when you change currency.  When changing small amounts, this can make a significantbig difference but it can be time consuming to shop for the best rates and more than compensate for a slightly lower exchange rate for currency.

For group expenses, we carried plenty of traveler's checks, but we utilized credit cards and ATMs as much as possible to avoid commissions, get a better exchange rate, and save time.  .  We cashed in the leftover traveler's checks when we got home.

 

30. Look at your guidebook to find the best place to change money in each country.  In some countries it is the American Express office, in other countries, the post office or banks.  It is never small money change bureaus.  Institutions that exchange money will usually display a buy price, a sell price, and a commission.  If you look next to the symbol for the U.S. dollar, the buy price will tell you the amount of local money they will pay you for each U.S. dollar and the sell price will tell you the amount of local money they will charge for each U.S. dollar.  The buy price is lower than the sell price.  Often, there is also a commission for each transaction.  Some change bureaus will only display the sell price.  Before you change money, you should ask for both the buy price and the commission.  While it saves money when you find the best exchange rates, searching for the best rates can be time consuming, and it is sometimes better simply to change money at the most convenient location.

 

31.  Try not to change more money than you will need in a country.  The bank makes money when they change dollars into local money and again when they change back to dollars, so you don't get back as much as you started with.  Before you leave a country, spend any coins that you don't want to save as souvenirs.  Coins seldom cannot rarely be changed in other countries.  In eastern Europe, make sure you keep the receipts for the money you change and convert any money you have left back to hard currencies before you leave the country.  In 1994, in Czech, Hungary, and Slovakia, we had to show the receipts for the dollars we changed into local currency to be able to convert back to dollars.  That is probably true of other countries in Eastern Europe as well.  While exchange offices in most major European train stations keep long hours, exchange offices in Caribbean airports keep short hours and were often closed at the time of our departure flights on our 2002 trip.  Exchange offices are scarce in American airports.  The only one we found in the San Juan, Puerto Rico, airport in the summer of 2002 had a sign that said it would be “opening soon.”

 

32.  Use a web site like the Cheat Sheet for Travelers at http://www.oanda.com/convert/cheatsheet to print currency conversion charts for your Scouts and leaders for all the countries you will be visiting.

 

33. Make sure that your Scouts and leaders apply for passports as early as possible.  See http://travel.state.gov/passport_services.html for information on obtaining a U.S. passport.  Most countries do not require U.S. citizens to obtain visas.  See .  The maximum length of your trip will be determined by the time that your adult leaders are willing and able to commit.  A good length trip is three weeks plus a weekend or more if your adults are able to commit that much vacation time. (Generally, because it is expensive and rare for people to make many trips abroad,  once the decision has been made to go to Europe, then you should lean towards extending the trip to spend more time there rather than cutting the trip shorhttp://travel.state.gov/foreignentryreqs.html to learn if any of the countries you plan to visit require visas and/or immunizations of U.S. citizens.  Each participant should make three photocopies of the page of the passport that includes the passport number, expiration date, and photo, along with photocopies of any visas.  One copy should be turned in to the trip leaders before the departure date, one copy should be left with the participant’s family, and one copy should be carried on the trip by the participant.  One leader should carry all passports in a locked briefcase.  When going through passport control and customs, one adult should go through first and another adult should go through last.  The adult going through last should hand the passports to the participants as they go through and the adult going through first should collect the passports as participants complete the processing. 

 

34. You should carry with you a parental permission form for each Scout, signed by his parent(s), giving their permission for him to accompany you out of the country and listing the countries you will be visiting.  If one parent is traveling with you as an adult leader, the form should be signed by the other parent.  For travel to some countries such as Mexico, this form must be notarized.  The US State Department’s web page on travel to Mexico at http://travel.state.gov/mexico.html states, “Parents of minor children (under 18 years old) should document carefully legal custody prior to traveling to Mexico. If a minor child is traveling with only one parent, the absent parent should provide notarized consent. If only one parent has legal custody, that parent should be prepared to provide such evidence to airlines and Mexican authorities. In cases in which a minor child is traveling to Mexico alone or in someone else's company, then both parents (or the sole, documented custodial parent) should provide notarized consent. If a child traveling to Mexico has a different last name from the mother and/or father, the parents should be prepared to provide evidence to airlines and Mexican authorities, such as a birth certificate or adoption decree, that they are indeed the parents.”  While notarized permission forms are not required for travel to most other countries, it doesn’t hurt to have them.

 

35. Make sure that you have a completed BSA Health Form for each participant in your trip with the emergency treatment authorization section filled in and signed.  Have an adult leader carry a set of copies of completed health forms for all the participants and also have the participants carry copies of their own health forms.  If you are participating in a jamboree or national camp that asks you to turn in health forms for participants, bring an additional set of completed forms for that purpose.

 

36. It is important to make sure that every Scout and leader is covered by health insurance while they are outside the United States and that your trip leaders have the information on how to use that insurance.  The US State Department’s web page on "Medical Information for Americans Traveling Abroad" at http://travel.state.gov/medical.html states, "Before going abroad, learn what medical services your health insurance will cover overseas. If your health insurance policy provides coverage outside the United States, REMEMBER to carry both your insurance policy identity card as proof of such insurance and a claim form. Although many health insurance companies will pay "customary and reasonable" hospital costs abroad, very few will pay for your medical evacuation back to the United States. Medical evacuation can easily cost $10,000 and up, depending on your location and medical condition."  Parents of trip participants should be made aware of this information.  For our overseas trips, we ask each Scout who is covered by his parents’ family plan to give us a photocopy of his parents’ insurance card and to carry another photocopy of that card with him.  For those insured by Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, the web page at http://www.bcbs.com/healthtravel/worldwide.html has a list of procedures to use to make claims overseas, a list of participating providers, and a link to printable International Claim Forms.  We print and carry with us their recommended procedures, the list of participating providers in countries we will be visiting, and several claim forms.  We ask each Scout and adult in a non-Blue Cross Blue Shield plan to provide us with similar information and forms.  If your unit is covered by insurance, you should carry information about that insurance and claim forms with you as well.  If you will be participating in a jamboree or national camp, make sure that you understand the arrangements for treatment of illness and injury at the camp and the insurance coverage there.

 

37. If your group is planning to participate in swimming and/or boating while on your trip, make sure that the swimming ability level of your Scouts and leaders has been checked and you have a list of those ability levels signed by a qualified individual.  Also make sure that you will satisfy all requirements of Safe Swim Defense and Safely Afloat.

 

38. While on the trip, have the group leader carry a small lockable briefcase containing all passports, train and airline tickets, parental permission forms, health forms, health insurance information, swimming ability group designations, and phone numbers where each Scout's parents can be reached in case of emergency each day of your trip.  Have your second adult carry photocopies of all that material.

 

39. Consult http://www.cdc.gov/travel/ for the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control about immunizations and health concerns for the areas you plan to visit.

 

40. Check the budget travel guidebooks to see if there are any problems with drinking water in areas you plan to visit.  If there are problems, make sure your Scouts use bottled or purified water for activities like brushing teeth as well as for drinking.  In such situations, you should bring a small hand pump water filter with you.

 

41. Try to arrange to borrow or rent tents and cooking equipment for the camp you will participate in.  Their weight and size make them difficult to carry with you.

 

42. Be aware that many Scout groups in Europe have boys and girls camping together and that beer is often available, even in Scout camps, to anyone over a specified age.  Smoking and drinking ages are typically much lower in Europe than in the U.S.  In Germany, for example, the smoking age is 14 and the drinking age is 16.  Your Scouts might encounter smoking and drinking in their host families and host troops at ages at which such behavior would be unacceptable in the U.S.  Make sure you establish rules of conduct for those situations and give some thought to the action you might take if one of those rules is violated by one or more of your Scouts.  For our overseas trips, we ask each Scout to turn in with his initial deposit an application form signed by the Scout and his parents on which a list of our key behavioral expectations is followed by the statement, “I agree to abide by all the rules of behavior established for this trip.  I understand that a serious violation of these rules might result in the decision to send me home and that, in such a situation, it would be the responsibility of my family to pay the additional expense of that trip home and to arrange for adult supervision during that trip.”

 

43. Before you leave, give each Scout two copies of your itinerary including all train departure times and all emergency phone numbers.  They should carry one copy with them and leave one with their family.

 

44. Make sure that Scouts and their parents have written copies of what each Scout needs to bring.  The list that we give to each Scout participating in one of our trips follows.

     

PAPERWORK YOU MUST BRING WITH YOU TO THE AIRPORT

 

PASSPORT – Bring your passport plus a photocopy of the page of the passport that includes the passport number, expiration date, and photo, along with photocopies of any visas.

 

MEDICAL FORM – Bring your copy of your medical form with up-to-date information on your medical condition and signatures authorizing emergency treatment.

 

MEDICAL INSURANCE INFORMATION – Bring the original or a photocopy of your health insurance card, an international claim form, and information on the procedures that should be followed if you need to use the insurance in Europe

 

COPIES OF THE PRESCRIPTIONS FOR ANY MEDICATIONS YOU NEED

 

A LIST OF PHONE NUMBERS WE SHOULD CALL IN CASE OF EMERGENCY (If your parents will be traveling, include the dates they will be at each number.)

 

YOUR COPY OF THE TRIP ITINERARY

 

WHEN WE MEET AT THE AIRPORT, YOU SHOULD:

 

BE WEARING A FULL OFFICIAL BOY SCOUT UNIFORM. (A T shirt under your Scout uniform shirt is recommended.  That way, you can take off your uniform shirt while on the plane.  We will follow the same procedure on trains.)

 

HAVE EVERYTHING ON THE EQUIPMENT LIST THAT YOU ARE NOT WEARING PACKED INTO A CARRY-ON BACKPACK AND A DUFFEL BAG.  Your carry-on backpack should contain everything you want on the plane plus enough to survive on for a day or two.  Your duffel bag will be checked as luggage.  You must leave enough room in it to carry a U.S. flag or other group items.

 

PERSONAL EQUIPMENT LIST FOR SCOUT TRIP TO EUROPE

 

SCOUT UNIFORMS

 

3 OFFICIAL BSA SHORT SLEEVE SCOUT SHIRTS WITH CORRECT BADGES SEWN IN THE

     PROPER PLACES.  TWO SHIRTS SHOULD HAVE THE NATIONAL CAMP BADGE SEWN

     ABOVE THE RIGHT POCKET.

 

2   PAIRS OFFICIAL BSA SCOUT SHORTS          1 PAIR OFFICIAL BSA LONG PANTS

 

1   OFFICIAL BSA SCOUT BELT                     1 OFFICIAL BSA BASEBALL STYLE CAP

 

5 PAIRS OFFICIAL BSA SOCKS, KHAKI WITH RED TOPS

 

YOUR TROOP NECKERCHIEF               NECKERCHIEF SLIDE
                                                           

OTHER CLOTHING

 

NON SCOUT SHIRTS AND SHORTS FOR TIME WITH HOST FAMILIES AND IN CAMP

 

AT LEAST 4 T SHIRTS - Ones that represent the BSA, Scout camps, your city or state, or local universities are recommended.  T shirts are often traded at jamborees, so you might being ones you would like to trade.  T shirts that show cigarette or beer ads, foul language, or non-Scoutlike activities are prohibited.

 

2 PAIRS COMFORTABLE WALKING SHOES      AT LEAST 4 PAIRS OF UNDERPANTS

 

A RED JACKET          POSSIBLY A PAIR OF THONGS OR MOCCASINS                  

 

A SWEATSHIRT (See T shirt rules above.)             RAIN COAT/RAIN SUIT/PONCHO

 

(You should use a laundry market to place your name on all your clothing.)

 

PERSONAL ITEMS

 

SOAP, WASHCLOTH, AND FACE TOWEL      TOOTHPASTE AND TOOTHBRUSH

 

SHAMPOO (SMALL SIZE)               DEODORANT                 COMB

 

PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION IN CORRECTLY LABELED CONTAINER

 

SWIM SUIT       BEACH TOWEL       SUNGLASSES           SUNSCREEN

 

SLEEPING BAG SLEEPING PAD       GROUNDCLOTH       PAJAMAS/SLEEPWEAR

 

PEN/PENCIL/NOTEBOOK   KNIFE, FORK, SPOON, PLATE, BOWL, CUP

 

PERSONAL FIRST AID KIT       SEWING KIT              SCOUT KNIFE

 

WATCH       CANTEEN OR WATER BOTTLE       CAMERA WITH EXTRA FILM

 

TOILET PAPER      DIRTY/WET CLOTHES BAGS       DUFFEL BAG LOCK

 

FLASHLIGHT WITH EXTRA BATTERIES    GIFTS FOR HOST FAMILIES

 

FANNY PACK              SMALL CALCULATOR TO CONVERT PRICES TO U.S. DOLLARS

 

BADGES, NECKERCHIEVES, SLIDES, T SHIRTS, ETC. FOR TRADING

 

AN EXTRA PAIR OF GLASSES IF YOU WEAR GLASSES

 

NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF PEOPLE YOU WANT TO WRITE, PERHAPS ON MAILING LABELS

 

45. Carry gifts with you for your host troops.  We have presented host troops with American flags that we purchased through our U.S. Representative’s office.  That way we could present each troop with a certificate stating that the flag was flown over the U.S. Capitol especially for their troop.  These flags should be ordered at least 3 months in advance of your trip.  To accompany the flag and for presentation to other groups that were helpful to us, we used the CSP plaque (#S17535) from the BSA catalog.  This allows you to add your council strip and have the plaque engraved "THANKS FROM TROOP ___.”  The plaques are small and light enough that it is no problem to carry them with you.

 

46. Check with the airline for maximum sizes for the duffel bags and carry-on bags.  Our Scouts have found duffel bags with wheels very useful (some would say a necessity!) when walking back and forth between train stations and our overnight accommodations.  Wheels are not indestructible, so these bags should be carried up and down stairs in train stations.  Large Sschool backpacks or similar bags can be used as carry-ons.

 

47. Work with your Scouts and leaders in filling out immigration and customs forms on airplanes.  Each country’s form is different, so make sure that one of your leaders reads each form carefully and advises the rest of the group how to fill it out.  If an arrival and departure are “in transit,” make sure all your Scouts and leaders check that box and have the ticket for the next flight ready if it is requested.  On our return to the U.S. in 2002, our flight from Curacao arrived in Trinidad at 11:00 PM and departed for Puerto Rico at 7:00 AM the next morning.  That was considered “in transit” and, as a result, we did not have to pay the approximately $17 per person Trinidad & Tobago departure tax.

 

48. Be prepared for possible flight delays and cancellations.  We have had overseas flights to Europe delayed so long that we missed connecting flights.  We had confirmed reservations and seat assignments on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Port of Spain, Trinidad, and, at the last minute, were told that because of “weight restriction” about ¼ of the confirmed seats on the flight including half of our 12 seats could not be filled.  In such situations, if at all possible, keep your group together.  Be emphatic with the airline representative about the need to do this.  In Puerto Rico, they ended up sending all 12 of us to Barbados that evening and on to Trinidad the next morning.  If the airline representative tells you that your group absolutely must be split up to get to your destination, make sure there is at least one adult with each subgroup.  Carry with you contact phone numbers for the groups that will be meeting you and/or the places where you will be staying for each stop on your trip so you can notify them about any delay as soon as it occurs.

 

49. Be aware that some other Scout Associations do not have the same safety standards as BSA in areas such as swimming, boating, use of helmets when bicycling and climbing, and methods of transporting Scouts.  If host troops will be planning activities for your group and transporting your Scouts, make sure that they understand before they begin their planning that your group must follow BSA safely rules while on your trip.  Refer them to the sections of the BSA GUIDE TO SAFE SCOUTING on Aquatics Safety at http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/gss02.html, Sports and Activities at http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/gss09.html, and Transportation at http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/gss12.html for information on those rules.

 

50. Hold one or more adult-leader-only meetings before your trip and define the responsibilities each adult leader will have at those meetings. It is strongly recommended that the adult in charge and the group treasurer be different people.

 

51. Make sure that adult leaders understand that BSA rules regarding alcohol and tobacco use at http://www.bsa.scouting.org/pubs/gss/gss04.html apply on BSA trips to other countries as well as in the US.  Because your entire trip is a BSA activity, and having adult leaders who smoke find “smoking areas located away from all participants” every time they want a cigarette is unrealistic, the best solution is probably to establish a no smoking rule for all participants, adults as well as youth, while on the trip.  Adults should understand that they will be in uniform more than the Scouts while on the trip and should make sure that the other clothes they take are appropriate for a Scouting trip.

 

52. Suggest that Scouts bring along badges for swopping and as friendship gifts, but tell them not to expect European badges to be as large or (nor as elaborate) as American ones.  One badge that is very popular with European Scouts is the American flag badge worn on our Scout uniform (#S00103).  Neckerchief slides (woggles), even the metal BSA ones, and patches from past council events that are often discounted at Scout shops are good trading items.  European Scouts wear neckerchiefs a lot.  If you have troop neckerchiefs, take some along as gifts or to exchange. 

 

53. Group identity items like trip patches or T shirts make you visible and are great for trading or gifts.

 

54. Be sure to take your troop flag and a U.S. flag with you to display in your campsite.  Your state flag and historical American flags can make your campsite more attractive.

 

55. Especially if you are participating in a national camp, take display items about your city, state, and region.  The National Geographic Society sells plastic coated maps of the U.S. and of different regions of the U.S. at very reasonable prices.  These maps make good campsite display items.  Your state travel bureau will probably help with other items.

 

56. Travel brochures with lots of pictures are good items for Scouts to take to their host families.  Each Scout and leader should also take a small thank you gift for each host family,. perhaps representative of the area you come from.  To avoid a situation in which Scouts who are staying with the same host family brought the same gift, each Scout should take different host family gifts.

 

57. Public restrooms are much more common in large European cities than they are in the U.S.  Public water fountains, however, are very rare.  In somemany places you have to pay to use the public restrooms and some were not as clean as we would have liked.  While doing walking tours of large cities, we would sometimes stop for a soft drink at a McDonalds or other American fast food restaurant and then use the free restrooms there.  (In some countries there is a charge to use the restrooms even at McDonalds.)  Toilet paper should probably be carried in your day packs.

 

58. Emphasize to your Scouts that they must use the buddy system at all times, even when they are just going to a public restroom, and that they must check with an adult leader and make sure that it is OK that they leave the group and the leader knows where they are going before they leave the group.

 

59. Establish a policy before you depart on the use of items like CD players and electronic games.  You might decide to prohibit them entirely or to allow their use only on planes, trains, and buses, and in Scout houses.  If you will be camping jointly with a troop from another country, make sure that your policy concerning these items is consistent with the policy that your host troop has established for their Scouts. 

 

60. Be sure that Scouts and their parents are aware of the time difference between Europe and your home state so that phone calls can be placed at appropriate times.  If Scouts plan to phone home frequently, they should investigate the possibility of purchasing prepaid phone cards that work in the countries you will be visiting.  Major U.S. long distance companies have access numbers that can be used in some countries in combination with a credit card to save money on long distance phone calls.

 

61. Make sure that all Scouts and leaders planning to participate in the trip understand that this is a low cost trip with the opportunity to experience much more than a normal tourist because of Scouting contacts, but that accommodations will, at times, be primitive and that local host trips might not have the kind of organization or detailed advance schedule that some members of your group would like.

 

62. Make sure that Scouts and their parents understand that if a Scout has to return home early because of an accident, illness, or emergency at home, a plan must be developed for his trip home that takes into account the needs of the Scout and his family, the needs of the rest of the touring group, and BSA Youth Protection Guidelines.

 

63. Arrange before your trip for one of your adults to have an email account that is accessible through the Internet.  Then, while on your trip, have that person send email reports on your trip to one designated individual back home and have that person forward those reports to families of participants, families of other troop members, and your council office.

 

64. Be sure to keep your local newspaper informed about your trip.

 

65. Make sure that your National Tour Permit application is filled out correctly and turned in with plenty of time to spare.