Middle School: Explore London & Paris
Nine days. Two cities. A group of students who will come home different.
Over nine unforgettable days, our travelers will explore two of Europe's most iconic cities, stand where history happened, experience different cultures, strengthen friendships, and create connections that last a lifetime.
This page is your companion throughout that journey - group updates, helpful reminders, and direct links to the official EF Educational Tours resources for enrollment and traveler information.
- Requested travel dates
- June 8-16, 2027
9 days, 8 nights - Cities
- London, Paris
and Versailles - Added highlight
- A full day at Disneyland Paris
- Who it's for
- Middle school travelers
and their families
Dates to be confirmed three weeks prior to departure. EF locks the core travel window and itinerary 70 days out, drafts flight itineraries 60 to 85 days out, and sends final flight information to your EF Tours online account 21 days before we leave.
Official information comes from EF. Guidance and community come from me.
Enrollment, traveler accounts, payments, travel protection, passports, and official tour documents are maintained by EF Educational Tours and are always the official source. My role is to organize those resources, answer group-specific questions, and keep our traveling community connected from our first meeting until long after we return home.
Everything you need to get started, organized in one place.
EF Educational Tours is always the official source for enrollment, payments, traveler accounts, insurance, passports, and travel policies. Rather than duplicating that information here, I point you straight to it. Start with the EF tour page below, then watch the two short films to see where we're going.
Your official EF tour page
Everything official lives here: enrollment, the day-by-day itinerary, pricing and payment plans, travel protection, passport requirements, and traveler support.
Enroll with EFSee London
A first look at the city where our journey begins.
See Paris
Where the second half of the trip takes us, Disneyland Paris included.
Three nights in London and four in Paris, with Versailles and a full day at Disneyland Paris.
EF's route map for our tour. The Disneyland Paris extension adds our fourth night in Paris and doesn't appear on the map above. The complete day-by-day itinerary lives on the official EF tour page.
Whenever official information changes, EF updates it directly on their site - so you always have the most current details, and this page stays focused on supporting our traveling community.
Your preparation roadmap
International travel involves a few more moving pieces than packing a suitcase. For many families this may be a first passport, a first international flight, or a first trip overseas - and you won't be navigating any of it alone. The good news is that we have plenty of time to work through it together.
Think of this as a bird's-eye view of the journey between enrollment and departure. It doesn't replace the dates or instructions in your EF traveler account - for anything involving official deadlines, documentation, payments, or traveler requirements, EF remains the source of truth.
Get comfortable with your EF traveler account
Review your enrollment information and payment plan, look through the travel protection options, begin thinking about passport needs for every traveler, and get familiar with our itinerary.
Make sure the biggest pieces are moving
Passport applications or renewals, staying current with EF payments and traveler-account requirements, learning more about London and Paris, and watching for group meeting announcements. Official passport requirements and deadlines are always confirmed through EF.
Preparation starts to feel tangible
Confirm travel documents are in order, keep monitoring your EF account, start talking as a family about international travel expectations, attend group meetings, and begin thinking about luggage, clothing, and spending money. There's no need to do everything at once - the goal is to stay one step ahead.
From planning to final preparation
Final travel documentation, group expectations, packing guidance, airport and departure information, any remaining EF requirements, and final traveler meetings. Specific instructions always come from the official source once available.
This is the exciting part
Double-check the essentials. Know where your passport is. Review final EF communications. Finish packing. Ask the questions you still have. And then get ready to experience London and Paris together.
A note on this roadmap
It is intentionally general. Official deadlines, payment information, passport requirements, travel protection terms, itinerary details, and traveler policies may change and should always be verified through EF Educational Tours.
Your EF traveler accountQuestions along the way?
If your question is about your EF account, payments, documentation, or official travel requirements, EF should be your first stop. If it's about our Canfield group, parent meetings, or student expectations, please reach out to me.
Contact Stephanie RuarkEveryone has an important role
Canfield Local Schools has partnered with EF Educational Tours for many years, and that partnership divides the work cleanly - so our group can focus on the experience itself.
Group communication and parent meetings
Preparation guidance and student support
Leadership throughout the experience
Answers to group-specific questions
Official enrollment and payment processing
Travel protection options
Transportation logistics, hotels, and guided experiences
Official traveler support
Always refer to EF Educational Tours for account-specific questions, policies, payments, and official travel requirements.
Some lessons simply can't be taught inside four classroom walls.
Standing where history happened. Experiencing another culture for the first time. Trying unfamiliar foods. Navigating a new city. Hearing a different language. Discovering that the world is both much bigger and much more connected than they ever imagined.
We'll certainly visit incredible places throughout London and Paris, but what I hope students bring home is much more than photographs - greater confidence, new friendships, broader perspectives, and a deeper curiosity about the world around them.
Learn through experience
History, literature, art, architecture, and culture come alive when students experience them firsthand rather than simply reading about them.
Build confidence
Students become more independent and adaptable as they successfully navigate new experiences in a supportive environment.
Strengthen friendships
Travel has a remarkable way of bringing people together. Many of these friendships continue long after students return home.
Create lifelong memories
Standing beneath Big Ben. Walking the streets of Paris. Fireworks over Disneyland Paris. Those are the moments that stay with us.
The greatest souvenir students bring home isn't something they packed in a suitcase.
For many students this will be their first international experience. My hope is that it becomes the beginning of a lifelong love of learning, curiosity, and meaningful travel.
We're not just joining a tour. We're traveling as a community.
We'll travel alongside classmates, friends, familiar families, and trusted educators as one community. By the time we return home, I hope you won't just remember the places we visited - you'll remember the people you experienced them with.
A familiar face traveling with you
For nearly two decades I've worked with students and families as a school counselor. Leading this experience is an extension of that work. From our first meeting until we arrive safely back home, I'll be traveling right alongside our group - and we're keeping it to one motor coach on purpose, small enough that no student is anonymous.
An expert Tour Director, gate to gate
This isn't teachers navigating Europe with a guidebook. EF assigns our group a professionally trained Tour Director who meets us at the airport and stays with us the entire way - transportation, hotels, meals, timing, and anything unexpected.
In each city we're joined by licensed local guides who live there and know the history firsthand. Westminster, the Louvre, Versailles: our students hear about them from an expert, not a recording.
Safety infrastructure we could never build alone
EF has organized international travel since 1965 and has run student educational tours for four decades. That experience shows up as vetted hotels, vetted transportation, on-the-ground staff in the cities we visit, and a 24/7 emergency support line answered by real people while we're abroad.
If a flight shifts or a plan has to change mid-trip, that whole system moves before most families would even hear about it.
Value a family can't buy on its own
Traveling as a group is what puts flights, hotels, coaches, entries, a full-time Tour Director, and licensed local guides into one price. It's a combination that is difficult to assemble on your own.
Years from now the itinerary will blur, but they'll still tell you who they sat with on the coach and the night the fireworks went up over Disneyland Paris.
Welcome to our traveling community.
Your family is officially part of our London and Paris educational travel experience. Between now and departure there will be plenty of opportunities to prepare, ask questions, and celebrate the excitement of what's ahead.
If it's specific to your traveler account, payments, or official requirements, begin with EF. If it's specific to our group, I'm here to help.
Your official EF traveler account
Your first stop for enrollment details, payment schedules, travel requirements, insurance information, and important traveler communications. Checking it regularly is the best way to stay informed as departure approaches.
Visit your EF accountYour preparation roadmap
Preparing for an international tour is a process, not a single event. The roadmap above gives a simple overview of what to expect so your family can prepare with confidence and stay one step ahead.
Back to the roadmap ↑Staying connected
This page stays our group's central companion throughout planning. When group-specific information is available - parent meetings, reminders, announcements - you'll find it here, without searching through old emails.
Questions? I'm here to help.
Not every question belongs with EF. For anything about our group, parent meetings, student expectations, or our shared experience, I'm always happy to help or point you in the right direction.
Contact Stephanie RuarkOne of my favorite parts of this page hasn't happened yet.
After we return home, this page becomes Connections That Last - a place where our group can look back on the places we explored, the friendships we strengthened, and the memories we created along the way.
Because while every journey eventually ends, the connections we make often last a lifetime.
I believe families deserve complete transparency.
Like the other adult chaperones traveling with our group, my travel arrangements are covered through EF Educational Tours' established chaperone structure. I don't receive commissions, stipends, or any additional compensation for leading these experiences - I volunteer because educational travel builds confidence, inspires curiosity, and creates memories students carry long after they return home.
This educational travel experience is hosted by Stephanie Ruark in partnership with EF Educational Tours. Official enrollment, payments, travel policies, travel protection, transportation logistics, traveler services, and tour operations are administered directly by EF Educational Tours. Unless specifically stated, this tour is not an official Canfield Local School District program or district-sponsored communication. This page serves as a companion resource for our travel community by providing group-specific guidance, preparation support, and curated access to official resources. Stephanie Ruark serves as the educational travel host for this experience and does not receive commissions, stipends, or other compensation related to participant enrollment or for leading the tour. Student educational tours like this one are not run through Giving Magic Travel agency and are separate from Custom Travel Planning and Pre-Planned Trips as planned by Giving Magic With Steph.