Trips outside Hong Kong

Please read this page before you sign up for a trip outside of Hong Kong.
By signing up for a trip outside Hong Kong and paying the first deposit, you are acknowledging these requirements.

Visa and passport requirements

It is the responsibility of the family to check passport validity and apply for a visa if required.  Some cases will require an e-visa or a full visa. The requirements may vary depending on the nationality of the passport holder.

Some cases will require 3 months or 6 months validity on the passport from the day of departure.

Please check this very carefully with enough time to apply for a replacement passport or to go through the process of applying for a visa.  If passport validity or visa requirements are not met, your child will be refused boarding by the airline at the airport. At that point we will be unable to help and unable to refund costs.

Behaviour expectations

Students travelling outside of Hong Kong are expected to follow normal school rules and behaviour expectations. The stakes are higher when thousands of miles from home and transgressions that place the safety of other students at risk cannot be tolerated. Failure to follow instructions, leaving the group, causing harm to others, breaking curfew, purchase/consumption of prohibited items or other serious issues could result in your child being sent home at your expense. 

Experiences

Challenge Week trips are not holidays. While safety is our prime concern, the trips should be challenging and move students outside their comfort zones . We do not stay in 4 or 5 star hotels and we will practice cultural immersion by sampling local cuisine and staying in local conditions. As an example, the Nepal Village Life trip involves homestays with local village families. The lodgings and bathrooms are safe and clean, but they lack modern amenities. Students will be without wireless access for parts of the stay. We ask you to prepare yourselves and your child for this. Our staff are available to care for students and ensure their safety at all times. If there is a serious issue you will hear from us. Otherwise, no news is good news.

Devices

There is no requirement to bring a mobile device and there will be many situations where the staff in charge will ask students to turn them off and put them away if they have them. With experiential learning, we wish to promote teamwork and social interaction, talking together and being in the moment. Students may wish to bring a digital camera, but staff will take and share photographs throughout the trip. If device use interferes with the goals of an activity, compromises safety or disturbs the sleep/rest of students, our staff may temporarily collect and hold the device(s). 

Cost

We ask for a deposit and two payment instalments to spread the cost. The deposit is non-refundable and non-transferrable and is used to hold flights and hold places with our providers on the ground. Withdrawal from the trip will mean we cannot refund the deposit and depending on the date of withdrawal, we may not be able to refund other costs paid. We will do our best to seek refunds.

The cost listed for each trip is our best guess at this stage. We cannot know the exact costs until we know how many students will be travelling and make our booking with the airline. From that point we are still subject to changes in the tax/fuel surcharges, currency fluctuations and other costs that may arise.  Each trip is fully self-funded.  No money goes to the school or ESF and any leftover funds in excess of $100 are refunded to parents following Challenge Week. While not compromising on safety, we do our best to provide value for families by keeping costs as low as we can.

For safety, we must travel as a group, so the flight costs are not the same as those you see on Google or the ones shown for individual travellers that often state "buy now, only 2 seats left". These are not an option when booking for a group of 30+.

Our trips include the cost for KGV staff to supervise and care for the students and for guidance by professionals on the ground who know the area well and provide a deep experience. In many cases, they provide access to activities not available to the public.

We take out comprehensive travel insurance (see below) and pay for coverage and support from ISOS (see below).

Supervision

Students are supervised at a ratio of 1:12  by KGV staff. In addition,  on most trips we have professionals from an adventure travel company who know the local situation and have prepared the itinerary. Any higher-risk activities like caving, kayaking etc are supervised at suitable ratios for safety.

Medical & Dietary needs

Please make sure your any medical conditions are clearly identified in the Lionel medical information for your child. If they require medication on the trip, this must be carried by staff members. We cannot have students handling drugs and self-medicating.

We want to support dietary requirements so our trips are available to all students. Please help us with this by being clear about what they cannot eat, and providing suggestions or lists of what they can eat. We will share these with our ground providers in advance so they can cater for all. 

Insurance

We take out travel insurance from Zurich for every student and staff member. You can see the benefits table here.  You do not need to add your own travel insurance.

ISOS

International SOS is a safety and support company that oversees every trip we do outside of Hong Kong. They help us put together risk assessments in the early stages of planning and provide guidance for any issues at the locations we visit. During Challenge Week, they have doctors and security experts available 24 hours a day. We have used them extensively in the past to obtain medical advice and support. They can liaise with medical experts in the local vicinity, give us advice on where to go and what to do if we have any issues, and, if necessary, they will coordinate the evacuation of individuals or teams.  ISOS provide a level of monitoring, support and assistance that makes us comfortable to undertake travel with our students.