Behavior Expectations

E&E Expeditions Behavioral Expectations Agreement

You are about to embark on an amazing opportunity that, we hope, will allow you to open your mind, enrich your understanding of the world, and leave you with memories to last a lifetime. 

In order to have the best experience possible, we insist on some safety and behavioral expectations from participants.  E&E Expeditions takes this document and the approach known as “Expedition Mentality” extremely seriously . . . and we need you to as well. Please read this document carefully and discuss it with your family before signing your agreement.

Rules to Ensure the Group’s Safety, Health, and Welfare:

Safety is everyone’s responsibility

I. Be inclusive. Make sure you are involving and engaging with all of your fellow travelers, even if you don’t know them very well.  We are traveling as a team, and we always include our team members.  Show kindness and respect, be inclusive, ask others to join you, make other people feel comfortable, be the type of person you’d want others to be for you.  

II. Play by the guides’ and your school’s rules.  Your guides are experts at understanding the culture you’re entering into.  Make sure to listen to and comply with the guides’ advice in terms of culturally sensitive behaviors.  If the culture’s rules are not the same as your school’s rules (for example, about alcohol consumption), follow your school’s rules. 

III. Remain with the group. Students must remain in groups at all times be where guides/chaperones expect them to be.  Never wander off and/or leave another person behind. 

IV. Be safe. Make sure all of your actions reflect safe and smart decisions.  Remember that safety is everyone’s responsibility and showing off or doing risky things is unsafe.  If you have questions about what is safe, ask.  

V. Be prepared. Make sure that you have all supplies needed each day.  Get adequate rest, drink plenty of water, eat healthy, and bring whatever extra equipment your guides advise (towel, flashlight, etc.).  Help others remember their equipment if needed. 

VI. Be alert to potential medical or psychological problems.  If you experience unusual physical or psychological symptoms, or notice these in someone else, tell a chaperone and/or guide immediately.  This includes unusual appetite and/or thirst, because lack of proper hydration and nutrition can quickly become serious. This is essential on Expedition. Pay careful attention, and if you see or feel something is off, please immediately consult an adult.  We need to know!

VII. Be respectful of others and of your surroundings.  Make sure the way you are treating others is respectful.  Harassment of any kind, including bullying or sexual harassment, is absolutely unacceptable.  Make sure you leave places the same or better than when you arrived, including hotel rooms, restaurants, buses, etc.  Clean up after yourself and treat furnishing, etc., with care. 

You are part of a team.  The consequences of any safety, security, or health advice that you ignore will impact you, your guides, your chaperones, your fellow travelers -- your entire team and trip.

Guidelines to Ensure Expedition Mentality

 At E&E Expeditions, we embrace and practice Expedition Mentality – the idea that we work together as a group, embrace new experiences, have a positive attitude, and manage the unexpected. We expect everyone to embrace Expedition Mentality, bringing out the best in yourself and in those around you.

 An E&E Expedition isn’t a vacation. It’s a journey . . .

The trip you are about to go on is not luxury travel, during which you will maintain an outsider’s view of the area.  This trip is about meeting locals, living like locals, eating like locals, understanding locals.  The insight into a place and its people becomes much more vivid when participants step outside and expand their comfort zones. 

 Our travelers aren't tourists. They are explorers . . .

To embrace this Expedition and the Expedition Mentality, our expectations of our travelers are as follows:

I. We expect all participants to embrace the new and different, to embrace challenges, and to make efforts to expand their own comfort zones.

You will experience lots of new things on this Expedition.  Different foods, schedules, accommodations, sounds, languages, humidity, bugs, smells; jet lag, 24-7 close quarters, crazy plants and creatures, new relationships, not rooming with friends, false assumptions; exploring a Philosophy of Sustainable Lifestyle, limited or no internet, very little junk food, walking rather than driving, tuning into the mindsets of very different cultures: these all open a window into a new place. Appreciate differences, work to avoid judgments, be aware of context, and grow as a global citizen.

II. We expect all travelers to play positive roles in the group and help each other to have the best possible experience.

We are going on Expedition, traveling as a team, as a family.  The success of an Expedition depends on how well group members are accepting of and help one another, tuning into the needs of the group. Context is key. Given the fantastic opportunity you have, the amazing benefits of the Expedition should outweigh any little discomforts that may arise.  Staying optimistic, excited, and positive about the Expedition helps keep the group positive, while complaining tends to bring the group down; attitudes are contagious!  We admire those who help us cope, pick us up, and make us laugh if the journey becomes difficult, which may, at some point, be inevitable. Be that person! Staying positive and adapting is a great life lesson! Pitching in and helping someone who is struggling on a hike (or anywhere else!) or who is just a bit off their game that morning is what Expedition Mentality is all about. Bringing out the best in yourself and in those around you: That´s Expedition Mentality!

III. We expect all participants to turn a potential negative (an obstacle) into a positive (an opportunity).  

There may be things that are unfamiliar or that we think we don’t like on Expedition.  But, this is an Expedition; it’s a short visit to a new and different world and new and different things are all part of the experience.  A positive mindset is essential.  Participants need to think hard about how they are living up to Expedition Mentality and how they can best help other group members to do the same.  

IV. We expect students to immediately remove themselves and their classmates from any situation that is – or potentially could be - counter to the group’s purpose and success. 

Being alert to situations that could go wrong is a critical life skill.  Making smart, thoughtful choices about all kinds of things - the foods you eat, how you act towards those you do not know (whether from your school or another country), how to travel, how you live in the framework of global economics and ecology, how you treat your body, and so on - is a major part of your learning experience. Be especially thoughtful about choices that could put you or your classmates’ safety or the success of the trip in jeopardy. Your leaders will point out potential problems, but ask questions about what to do if a problem seems possible. Ask yourself what the safest option would be, take steps to remove yourself from a situation if needed, and get help. Help is always available.  

 V. We expect all participants to be willing and ready.

It is key for students to review, well in advance, all aspects of the Expedition, including accommodations, room arrangements, meals, schedules, cell phone policy, the level of fitness required for each activity, etc., some or all of which may not be subject to choice.  All participants should be aware and willing from the start.

 VI. We expect all travelers to behave like ambassadors from their school, family, and country.

It is important that you understand that you are an ambassador.  This trip is about meeting locals, living like locals, eating like locals, understanding locals. It’s about sharing and connecting with all participants and with the local culture hosting you. Your guides are your first vital connection and bridge toward an amazing experience and a profound understanding of where you are. This connection is further enhanced by all the locals involved in your experience, from waiters and cleaning staff to business owners, local visionaries, and specialists, to community residents. All participants must be ready to get involved, be respectful and responsible toward our hosts, and leave a positive impression. 

Give a part of yourself and get a whole world in return. We believe in responsibility, engagement, ownership, humility, and respect from our travelers when it comes to experiencing a culture. We take pride in our approach, which leaves a lasting positive impact on all involved.

The rules and regulations we have set are for your and the group’s safety, health, and welfare; they add to the quality of the expedition. E&E Expeditions reserves the right to decide about consequences for violators of our expectations, including, but not limited to, sending a participant home at the participant’s expense. Behavior inconsistent with our aims or the safety or integrity of our trip will not be tolerated. 

It is essential that you understand our expectations. Be sure that you are clear about what your responsibility is to yourself, your peers, your teachers/chaperones, the guides, your parents, your school, our hosts, and to the culture of the Expedition itself. 

Please click here to agree to the Behavior Expectations.