Spain student trip in the works for 2024

Posted Nov. 1, 2022

By Benjamin Larkin

Cub Reporter

A 10 day trip to Spain will be hosted by social sciences teachers Shannon Bushman and Joe Cornett in the school year of 2024.

Several cities will be visited: Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid all of the major tourist spots will be visited in each city such as the Sagrada familia cathedral in Barcelona, the beaches of Valencia, and the bull fights of Madrid.

The trip is not an official program hosted by the school, it is a teacher-led private trip organized through Explorica. With other groups of teachers and students across the nation also participating in the trip. This means that there are few restrictions on who can participate with unrelated teachers and student’s parents having participated in previous trips. There is no grade requirement for the trip, the only requirement is to have paid the fee, which will cover plane tickets and hotels, the buses, the entrance fees, as well as breakfast and dinner. Students will be able to register through explorica.com using the group code provided by Shannon Bushman and Joe Cornett.

The trip will be from the 24th of June to the 4th of July, with registration available from now until the spring of 2024, the current payment for registration is 4,000 dollars but will rise next year, so registering during this school year will lower expenses. Meals will be provided for during the trip with the exception of lunch which will be up to the individual.

Travel from the United States to Spain will be done through air travel the airline will be decided on in the future. In Spain travel will be done through high speed rail or bus. The buses involved will be travel buses with air conditioning and other amenities, with the same bus and driver across the entire trip. During the bus trips between cities the students will have a chance to see famous sites and landmarks through the countryside such as famous towns and castles.

Shannon Bushman is an avid traveler who has traveled across Europe and Latin America independently as well as with their family. with their son going to study abroad in Europe during his college education, and their husband participating in the 2024 trip as a chaperone. They have hosted previous trips to other European countries such as England, Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, and the Netherlands.

The 2024 trip to Spain will be the last trip Shannon Bushman will host before her retirement from David Douglas High School in the next few years, and so will be the last trip that students at David Douglas High School will be able to take through Explorica. While discussing the reasons students would want to make use of the opportunity to travel, Shannon Bushman said “it's a lifelong awarding adventure” and that she hopes students will take the opportunity to experience international travel and feel firsthand what it is like to experience new sights and cultures.