If your class travels in 2028, now is when to start (and that is not a sales line)

These weeks we are waving classes off. October, November and December are the months when study trips depart, and the groups travelling now started organising at the end of 2024.

That is the short answer to the question in the title: if your class travels in 2028, the work starts this summer. Not because we say so, but because that is how the calendar works.

Why two years and not six months

A study trip is nothing like booking a holiday. Three things need time, and none of them can be rushed with money:

The instalment. This is the most important and the simplest. The same programme split into 24 instalments or into 10 gives two very different numbers, and that number decides whether the whole class travels or some classmates are left behind. Starting earlier does not make the trip cheaper: it makes it reachable.

The hotel. The places that work well with school groups have limited capacity and commit well in advance. In October 2026, availability for 2027 is being closed off. Whatever is still free at the last minute is free for a reason.

Trust. A class deciding two years out can ask for references, talk to other schools, read the contract calmly and genuinely compare three operators. One deciding against the clock signs with whoever was available.

"In May you can still choose; you can still negotiate. Anyone who waits until August or September does not choose: they take what is left, and usually pay more." — Marcelo Rollandi, founder of Vivencias Travel

How the process works, no small print

Four steps, and none of them commits you to anything until the third:

1. Free quote. Tell us how many travellers, the destination you are considering and the dates. Within 24 hours we send a proposal with the price itemised.

2. Online presentation. A video call with the school, the parents and the students, where we walk through the full programme, the prices and the payment plan. Free and with no commitment. If you come out of that meeting with more questions than answers, that is useful information too: keep looking.

3. Booking. Confirmed with 10%, with the balance in monthly instalments up to 45 days before departure. This is the first actual commitment, and it is set out in a contract.

4. The trip. That part is on us.

What to ask in step 2

Make the most of that meeting. These are the questions that separate a serious proposal from a pretty brochure, and they apply to any operator:

- How many coordinators travel with the group, and are they in-house or hired for that trip? - What exactly does the insurance cover, up to what limit, and how is it activated at the destination? - Do you have your own team at the destination, or is the operation subcontracted? - Is there a written emergency protocol? Ask to see it. - What happens if a student withdraws part-way through?

If any answer is vague, that is an answer too.

Where Chilean classes travel today

So the conversation starts with something concrete, these are the destinations we operate and the starting prices:

- Bariloche overland, from CLP 669,000 - La Serena by air, from CLP 995,000 - Pucón by air, from CLP 1,190,000 - Camboriú, from CLP 1,672,000 - Cancún, from CLP 2,689,000

There are programmes from 4 to 8 days, overland and by air, inside and outside Chile. The price difference is not only the destination: it is also the number of days, the type of transport and the hotel category.

The first step is a meeting

You do not have to pick a destination today, or start raising money yet. The only thing worth doing now is sitting down with real numbers, because that is what determines the instalment each family will pay over the next two years.

If your class leaves in 2028, get in touch and we will set up the presentation.

The prices shown are those published by Vivencias Travel on the date of this article and are the "from" price per student.

Vivencias Travel is a tour operator founded in Bariloche with a presence in Chile, Brazil and Mexico, specialising in group and individual travel experiences. In Chile it has offices in Santiago, La Serena and Temuco.