At The Learning Adventure, our people are what make our tours truly special. Many of our team are passionate travelers who know firsthand how transformative early travel experiences can be for students. Our Adventure Leaders are dedicated to sparking students’ enthusiasm for travel, sharing their own experiences and passion to inspire the next generation of explorers.
Today, we’re shining a light on Francesca – one of our amazing Adventure Leaders, committed to creating unforgettable journeys for students around the world.
How long have you been Adventure Leading with The Learning Adventure?
2 years and counting! Altogether, I’ve been a tour leader for 6.
What ignited your passion for travel?
As a child, I was super fascinated by languages. Whenever I heard someone speak one I didn’t understand, I thought to myself: I want to be able to communicate with them one day! And more than that, I wished to learn about the interesting way they did things, a way which seemed so different from the one I knew.
What is your favourite thing about inspiring young people to travel?
I love to be able to share my own experience of how travel really can change your life and shape it in ways that I find as valuable as the education one can get in school.
What is the most memorable experience you’ve had while guiding a tour?
The best ones are, hands down, the ones when I’ve taken students somewhere they’ve had fun together, like a summer dance night in Florence, Italy, or a beautiful swim in the lake in Zurich, Switzerland. These are the memories that will really stay with them, I think, just being with their friends in a simple way, away from home for the first time.
Can you share a story about a student who had a transformative experience during a trip?
Time and time again I’ve seen the ‘shy one’, perhaps the student that seemed to be really cut off from the rest of the group at the start of the trip, open up and make so many new friends before the end.
What is a skill or lesson you hope every student takes away from their Learning Adventure journey?
To do it again! And again! And again! Also, to have an open mind.
What do you hope students remember most about their time traveling with you?
I hope they can have a memory of me as a friendly local who introduced them to a new country and culture – indeed, a new friend on the other side of the world.
What’s the most rewarding part of seeing students connect with the destination during their trip?
To see how lost they can get in the little details of a new culture – a special food, a cool building, a taste of that atmosphere that’s so specific to Paris, Rome, or Munich… And to share those moments with them, again and again, sharing that wonder for what seems ‘other’ and ‘new’, while really finding our own selves in it along the way.
What’s the best thing about a Learning Adventure tour?
When in Italy, where I mostly tour… The food! Also, the attention to detail and at the same time the flexibility of the bookings team when they put together fantastic itineraries that really hit the spot.
What is your favourite hidden gem that only locals know about?
Come on one of my tours and I’ll tell you. Spoiler alert, it’s got something to do with gelato.
If you’d like to learn more about our Learning Adventures to Italy, you can view a selection of our standard itineraries here. Alternatively, you can reach out to our team by form, phone, or email.
