In group travel, there are moments in the day when everyone gathers to chat and talk. To review the things that have been done, and to discuss the days ahead. Often, dinner is the glorious opportunity to do this. A chance to put the phones away, take a break from social media, and socialize. To focus on flavors and discuss the day that just passed and the day ahead. To look at friends rather than the phone. To reflect on the moments that were special in the day. The places that you are most looking forward to seeing on the next few days. The funny things that happened. The stories that slowly will be created about the trip. Many of which will last a lifetime.

Life is not all about a quick photo or a selfie. Taking time to breathe in the history in the places you walk by and savoring the memories requires only a moment of escape. Those moments will last through anecdotes and funny stories for a lifetime

Whenever I go to London, I always go to the Theatre. I love the Theatre and not just the big plays in London‘s West End, but also strolling over to the old Vic, the Almeida and the National Theatre.

One of the wonderful secrets – if you like Theatre- is keeping an eye out for something called National Theatre live. All of the shows that are staged at the National Theatre appear on a circuit in the USA at Arts cinemas across the country. The other evening, we were lucky enough to see Inter Alia with Rosamond Pike at a delightful arts cinema in Natick, Massachusetts. National Theatre also has a program called National Theatre at home. You pay a subscription and have access to a number of plays again that you may not have seen.

I’ve seen several plays in Massachusetts that have been screened in various arts cinemas like Coolidge Corner in Brookline, Amherst, Cinema in Amherst, and of course, now my newfound gem in Natick. Theatre stretches back across the ages. In our tiny town in Ashfield, we have a most delightful theatre called Double Edge. Every year its summer spectacle sells out. We walk from set to set through a garden of flowers, trees, delightful streams and watch a fantasy come alive. Theatre!

Recently at the Globe in London which was recreated on the banks of the Thames in the style of the original Globe , I had the chance to see 12th Night. If you have the time inside a busy week, I would suggest you go look at National Theatre Live and see if something that appeals to you is playing nearby. During these most strange days, it feels a tiny bit subversive to go and look at Theatre in an art cinema off the grid and somehow beam onto a stage in London, join the audience at the National Theatre and enjoy a wonderful production that otherwise you would not get to see.

The only thing, apart from the play, is the ice cream at the intermission! So if you love the Theatre, as I do, go out and look at the schedule for National Theatre Live. There is always a play performing somewhere in an art cinema near you, and frankly giving support to our art cinemas is vital in these days of mainstream wonder heroes and such. It’s rather nice to sit down and for two hours or so, have a slice of London in a cinema not far from where you live. Enjoy.

When I think of the current state of America, I am reminded of the Joni Mitchell song, California, where she says, “Sitting in a park in Paris , France reading the news and it sure looks bad…” That was in 1971!

So here we are – 2025. More than 50 years on, and the world is a mess. Wars escalating. The current administration has turned inwards, education, colleges and programs are being defunded on the grounds of being too liberal, antisemitic, and so on.

Education is being offered as a reward for compliant behaviour. At ACIS Educational Tours we encourage high school students to travel outside the USA. Travel – so our mantra goes-changes lives. It brings the world together. It helps students grow with a better understanding of the world we live in. Knowing our neighbors better, makes for better neighborhoods. We inhabit this vast world on a leasehold basis. Our job during our limited time here is to make the neighborhood better. Keep the streets clean and make sure we are driven by the general good rules of government.

The governments job is to protect us, provide for our children, provide education and provide healthcare for everyone….We worry about climate. But 44% of our 8.2 billion people live in poverty. There’s work to be done. Defunding education is simply bad. Programs that help the 44% are being discontinued. The USA is looking inwards. We have to look outwards. Keep pushing for change and keep pushing for students to experience our world. To act as pioneers. To innovate and make America a great place to visit and the world a great place to share.

STOLEN LUGGAGE? No, never!

Firstly, I want to say, I am an experienced traveler but who would have thought that my luggage would be gone in the blink of an eye.

So let me tell you how it happened. I prefer to take the underground in London to the airport. This day, I arrived early morning at Dean street in SoHo, London. It’s a straight shot on the Elizabeth line. However, the station was closed. Someone told me that the Tottenham Court Road station down the street was open. “OK.. it was early,” I wasn’t thinking. I’ll give it a try. I had a rollaway bag, a backpack stuck on it and thankfully a wraparound bag on me, where I carry my passport and wallet. I went down to the other subway on the escalator. The place was empty. I chatted with a worker at the station and it became clear that there was no easy way to get to the airport because I was in a hurry.

I took my hands off my bag to muse and think of what I should do for maybe 10 seconds…and then the bag was gone! Gone!

Wheeled away into some other place, some other space. My clothes, my bag… pretty much everything gone – except of course – the bag I kept close to me which had my wallet, my passport and my iPad.

I only tell the story because I’m embarrassed enough to want to share it and remind people that no matter how confident or how comfortable you are, these things can happen.  My bag was a ticket to some other place for somebody. I wished I had a really crappy bag with creaky wheels. Come to think of it, someone in my office has one. It barely moves when you try to wheel it. It’s a struggle. If i had a case like that, I would’ve heard it being wheeled away. Surely! My bag had the greatest wheels in the world and someone stole it. This person picked up a wonderful bag, pretty nice jacket, great pants, some fabulous T-shirts and a backpack that frankly I had grown to love.

I don’t feel bad. I just feel stupid. I hope this guy is a size 46 and quite tall and if I saw him walking down the street with a backpack that said, “Pietro Place… See you out there somewhere …” I might even approach him and say, “Hello.” Nice backpack!” 

But yes, the bag’s gone. Would’ve, could’ve , should’ve already processed. I am never taking my eyes off my bag again. Travel made me a story. Man… They even got my brand-new Italian socks. I loved my brand-new Italian socks. Oh well.

Travel changes lives…clearly.

It’s been overwhelming. The last few weeks have seen a barrage of funding stops and bizarre eccentric and scary behavior from our government. Hang on. This is America. It sure doesn’t feel that way. I remember coming to the USA in 1975. The land of open arms and opportunity. It was the beginning of student travel. American high school and college students were testing the waters of international travel. Experiencing the welcome mat laid out by our European friends. And in turn, a new wave of immigrants was arriving on the shores of America. That would be me!  America was our sanctuary. A place of strong government and a land of opportunity. Where did that moment go? Last time I checked,  government was about creating a strong environment so that we feel safe not just from the enemy without but the enemy within. Tax those who can afford to pay for those who cannot. Simple. Healthcare, education, and security.

Internalism goes nowhere. It promotes intolerance and stifles knowledge.

And what about respect? Where did it all go? I think of the crew at the local Dunkin Donuts. They all speak four languages. The car park attendant from Nigeria who is trying to get his son to a college here, works two jobs. Will his work visa be renewed? I don’t know.

I love travel. It’s my business. I think of all the things that will be affected. Tariffs on our neighbors. As if a car or a cell phone was ever fully built in one place.  The marketplace is International. The firing of thousands of federal employees makes our ability to service our clients worse. It means obtaining visas will be more complicated, passports will take longer, and before we know it, “DO NOT VISIT” will start to appear in potential travelers’ minds. TSA employee cuts mean more lines, and passenger jams at airports. All for what? So, billionaires can prosper. Seriously. Life is not just a marketplace of deals and dollars. At least I hope not. It’s about kindness, compassion, and dignity too.

Hospitality employs 10% of our workforce. Travel and tourism contribute $2.4 trillion to GDP. That’s over 9%. Travel flows with the economy.  It helps shape our view of the world. In our business, we introduce students to a world of different languages, diverse cultures, and new ways of looking at the world in general. We help create Global citizens, a venture that feels increasingly important to our future.

The USA is a powerful and wonderful country. It’s a treasure of endless possibilities that should not be abused. That’s the place I came to and that’s the place I love. 

Teaching is an art form. Vital for our “tomorrow’s world” people. Given the complexity we face… Climate change, the environment, sustainability, in addition to just being ourselves. Learning a language, developing an international way of looking at life. Being kind. Gifts we have can choose and gifts that are free!  In Barcelona recently, I was lucky to be in a crowd of incredible influencers and educators. A room of people who have dedicated their lives to helping students through the rocky unpredictable road of adolescence. Preparing students for college. Ensuring that everyone knows what it is like to get wet when it rains.

In these days of social media and AI, finding the fit and leading with dignity and grace is challenging and part of the MO of a teacher. Opening doors when traveling, pushing students to take chances and teaching tolerance and cultural understanding. Early mornings through winters cold, preparing assignments and driving home as darkness sets in to mark homework and set lesson plans is all part of a teacher’s day. How lucky we all are. Everyone has a teacher they remember from High School . Someone who made an impact on their lives. Someone who took the time to make a difficult day better. Thanks to teachers everywhere.  You make the difference every day and help create a better world.

The journey to the border from Samarkand took about 45 minutes. From Samarkand you can see the glacier cap mountains due east. Our journey was to take us closer across and up those mountains. Tajikistan is mountainous. With glacial lakes and narrow winding roads through the mountains scattered villages. There seemed to be traffic jams of goat herds blocking the way along with mules laden with firewood.  It had an altogether different feel to Samarkand. It is a mineral rich country, and the people who live in the mountains adapt well to the rugged landscape, but it is a rugged landscape, and one can only imagine the winters here. Poplar trees were grown everywhere. They are fast to grow, and provide windbreak for the winter wind and firewood to keep the water hot. Streams and rivers are abundant because of the glacier drainage and provide a constant background of noise and fresh clear running water for the villages. Endangered species, such as the snow leopard, live up there in the mountains.

Once we had crossed the border, we took off in 4 x 4, and at some point, began the ascent on a seven-lake journey. The road at times seemed so narrow. It was impossible to imagine we could make the turn, especially when faced with an incoming vehicle, but we survived, just about, and the drivers were good. The roads were scary, and I would hate to have to drive that drive at night. We had one breakdown. We towed the car until the tow rope broke and then we left the car in a village to be retrieved another day. We had lunch in the village.

The hospitality was great. The food was fine and there is nothing I have quite experienced as primitive and as wonderful and welcoming as the people in that village. We made it to the seven lakes, took off our shoes and walked in the freezing water.  We went for a long, long hike and eventually made it back at dark. We joined the queue of people in the custom hall, come shack, waiting for a stamp on their passports to cross the border and head back into Uzbekistan. Tajikistan is visa free if you’re American or European. Crossing the border and presenting my American passport the guy looked up, smiled as if trying to imagine this place that I come from and stamped my passport.  I had just been to a country I did not know existed two weeks ago. Wow. 

We are off again on a high-speed train jaunt. This time to Samarkand. The train station in Tashkent was organized and well kempt and the train was on time.  The Spanish have supplied Uzbekistan with their Ave trains.  High speed with more luggage room than the TGV in France.  More speed and efficiency than the sluggish English trains and delightful services onboard.

Our arrival in Samarkand coming from Bukhara gave a sense of a much bigger city but much less modern than Tashkent.

We had arranged for a visit and sightseeing the following day but we still got to peak at some of the wonders that would great us as we entered ancient Samarkand. In many ways, everything here centers around Registan square. It’s three incredible mosques provide a picture postcard scene.

When we were there and it was Samarkand day, schoolchildren were dancing and singing in the square and we even hooked on to a few marriage ceremonies as we wandered around.  Entering the square, and then the ancient cloisters, the marketplaces revealed themselves.

The marketplace was within easy distance of Registan Square, an old covered market, selling fruits and dried vegetables and souvenirs.  And just like everywhere else in Uzbekistan, no pressure, a couple of girls came up to me in the square and asked me where I was from and asked me if I would wish their brother happy birthday as he was far away.

People wanted to talk, wanted to exchange ideas.  People wanted to be connected and you definitely got the feeling this country was desperate to open up and be part of our world.  This place is simply amazing. We got to see the observatory of Ulugh with its medieval beginnings.  At the end of the day, as the sun was setting the observatory seemed to be the right place to be.

Tomorrow we will rise early to visit Tajikistan.

The train station in Tashkent was quite modern. We had assigned seats, and the boarding was pretty smooth. The journey was to be around four hours. It was quite exciting to be boarding an Afrosiyob built with Spanish Talgo technology and capable of speeds of 155 mph. Imagine, I thought, if the UK had such possibilities!

The landscape through the windows was flat and I half expected to see caravan of camels crossing the steppes as if I had been time warped onto the ancient silk Road track. We were heading back through the centuries as it was. Bakhara was according to the guidebook, one of the great ancient beautiful cities of the world. We arrived, jumped onto the bus for a short transfer that left us just outside the old marketplace. It reminded me of the entrance to the Turkish bazaar in Istanbul, but from there, everything fell away. People were relaxed, not pushing, and we wandered with our suitcases through the ancient market enroute to one of the more delightful hotels I had ever stayed at. Nothing fancy, very open and the rooms surrounding a beautiful courtyard. I climbed to the top of the hotel terrace, you could see the mosques, and minarets that dotted the city. We had organized a guide to pick us up at the hotel. She was delightful and so our journey back in time began. We had lunch in a place she recommended, and the food was fantastic. And we walked and we walked, and we walked. We walked through ancient mosques and mausoleums, not so colorful more terra-cotta but as the sun dropped down, the sunlight bounced off the main square and it became a kaleidoscope of shades of soft evening light.

Bukhara is a city of small streets, ancient bazaars, beautiful mosques, and a city that is so perfectly contained within its borders that you feel you could spend two or three days there.  Yes, there were carpet traders because Uzbeky carpets made of silk are the most famous and treasured in the world. Here’s what amazed me. Nobody really tried to persuade us to buy. There was a magical moment in the bazaar when a shopkeeper picked up a typical Uzbeky musical instrument from his store and started to play it … just to play it, not to sell it. In my mind it was the jewel of Uzbekistan. More stunning because of its simple brick and terra-cotta and tiled buildings. There is a beautiful ornamental lake that sits in the center surrounded by tea houses. Figurines of camels surround the lake as a reminder that this was one of the great stopovers on the silk road. Today, it was my stopover, my oasis and I felt privileged to spend time here.

I’m lucky. I get to travel all over the world. It’s my business. Taking high school teachers and students on magical journeys across some of the 196 countries that comprise our great world. And sometimes after all of the travel you take a break. You get to spend time With your grandkids or your kids or your loved ones and you stay put and you get the chance to read and relax and take a time out from airplanes, trains, passports and jet lag – it’s rather lovely.

These are magical moments that we all treasure in our own way.  I just spent a week with all four of my grandkids  And it was exhausting..interesting.. exhausting..amazing.. exhausting..fun..exhausting…and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Which is kind of what I did for that glorious week. Doing everything through the eyes of a child. I ate more ice cream than I ever could have imagined. Forgot how wonderful a milk shake can be on a counter with my tot team. Have to say. Loved everything except… the car seats.

Who made those things impossible to figure out? And my Spotify contains more Taylor Swift than I am ready to own!! Now, I’m prepared for summer to move on and fade, school to return and Fall to greet us with all its festivals and colors.

It was fun to have our annual conference in Boston at the Seaport Hotel to review our past year and to look ahead to the exciting things that we have planned for 2025/26 and 27 all of this going on while we have an exciting Olympics which has electrified us all for the past two weeks and showcased Paris as an extraordinary city.

One of the things that I reminded myself when we began the conference was the sheer weight of talent we have as a team. We are all travelers. We are all explorers, it’s funny because I was thinking of the early explorers from the Vikings through to Magellan and Elcano and of course to Cook, basic de Gama, and Christopher Columbus.

It’s extraordinary to imagine that in 1519 Magellan set off from Seville with some vague idea that the world was round. He never made it. Killed in the Philippines by anxious natives, Elcano left it to navigate the other half of the voyage and return to Seville in 1522. The return provided evidence as they sailed through what we now call the Magellan Straits that the world was decidedly round. We can look at some of the 196 countries that comprise our great world and expand our horizons. We have many countries to go, many places to visit, and many dreams to fulfill.

This is an exciting time. It’s exciting because teachers are traveling more than ever to places they never would have imagined. Students are investigating important things in our world like sustainability and climate change. They are learning different languages and traveling way beyond the 44 countries of Europe. Students will go on to help change and adapt their world. How important is that? We see the ravages of over tourism. We see the benefits of intelligent tourism.

This is our new world. Much as the explorers took chances. Didn’t fall off the end of the world. So we must take chances with travel. It’s not just an opportunity. It’s the only way to move ahead.

So last Thursday the UK changed government. By Friday a tradition that has been going on for a long long time took place. The prime minister in place went to the Palace to see the King and offer his resignation. Then Keir Starmer from the victorious Labour Party went to the Palace to formally announce to the King that he would like to form a new government.

On Friday the new Prime Minister moved into Number 10 Downing street. The White House of the UK. The other guy who lost moved out. The new cabinet moved in and the old one moved out. By Saturday the oil change and engine removal had been made.   And that is how democracy works. In 24 hours. Without protest or violence. That is how the civilized world works. America take heed.

This is July 2019 at the London Olympic Stadium. We watched Baseball…the Red Sox. With dear friends and family. June 2024 I went the the final game to watch the Celtics win a championship. Now I switch to watch the Euros and the Copa America and soccer takes its place while baseball stays with us throughout the summer until the fall. And then the Olympics in Paris in late July. I always love the poem from Bart Giamatti about baseball and really about sports in general. It’s at Fenway inscribed on the wall there. If you love sports it is dear to you. The highs and lows and the seasons of wonder that make up our year. I love sports. It’s about team. About life. Heartbreak and joy.

I have an affinity for seaside resorts in the UK. I spent many years in my childhood at Margate on Kent’s sandy coast. There was an amusement park there called Dreamland. It was the highlight of my year to go there.

Recently in London I saw the amazing “Hills of California” and it was an incredible play based around a family in Blackpool. The northern equivalent of Margate. Blackpool was the UK s biggest and most famous amusement park and coastal resort. Complete with a tower that resembled the Eiffel Tower and two pioneering piers that were the talk of the world. When the railway station opened in 1846, tourism took off and by 1911 Blackpool was the busiest station in the world! Ironically sea swimming first helped propel Blackpool and Margate onto the map.

Something that never was considered was suddenly the thing to do and so it grew through the 1800 s into a fad. It sadly came to an end as tourism began to explore the sun and warmer climates and warmer seas but it took until the 1970 s for the Brits to invade Spain and bid farewell to glorious Blackpool and Margate. Now they are day trip destinations and entertainment venues but the seaside will never be the same! In 2021 Blackpool celebrated its 125th anniversary.

Dreamland in Margate, once closed reopened and the literati started to head back there to live and work and create. I still remember the jellied eels and cockles as if were yesterday, The stall is still there. Alongside the Turner Museum and the beach is as sandy as ever. It brought back memories of donkey rides along the sand.