Mrs. Daisy is no stranger to traveling, She was born in Japan because her Dad was stationed in Okinawa during the Vietnam War. When she was in high school, she went to Spain and France in 1986 with Brockton High. In college, she spent a semester in Australia.

Mrs. Daisy’s first Global Education EF tour was in 2015, traveling to England, France, Switzerland and Germany. She has also traveled to Spain, Iceland, Costa Rica, and soon Japan through the Global Education EF Tours.

In addition to school trips, Mrs. Daisy has traveled to Canada several times, on a Caribbean Cruise in 2008, Aruba in 2010, and Mexico in 2017. She hopes to learn more about the history of Peru and is “the one who sticks next to the tour guide and asks a million questions.”

Like Mrs. Daisy, Mrs. Casey is well-traveled. She has traveled on three trips with Abington High School: Italy, Spain, and Costa Rica. Without the school she’s traveled to places such as the Bahamas, Bermuda, and Canada. Along with Machu Picchu, Mrs. Casey is looking forward to “living in the surprise of not knowing exactly what to expect on this trip.” She says it would be different if it was her own personal trip, but because this is planned for her, she says “it’s kind of cool to go along with the school like ‘Okay, this is where I’m going.’ ”

She is “absolutely” interested in the history behind each country, and learned this after going on her first international school trip to Spain, because “when you’re in the country, learning about it firsthand, you have a greater appreciation for it,” Mrs. Casey said. “It’s very different reading about it in a history book than it is living it.”

Mr. DiRado, on his own, has traveled to France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Costa Rica, Canada and Mexico. He said that one of his “favorite parts of traveling to different countries is visiting museum and historical sights.” He also loves “getting to meet and maybe experience what it is like for locals living in our host country.”

When asked what they hoped students will gain from this experience, Mrs. Daisy hopes students “learn to be independent, try new foods, bond with people they may not have been close friends with prior to the trip, speak more Spanish, and develop a love of traveling.” She also hopes students “learn about the history and culture of Peru. They should learn that other countries can be very different from The United States, but that isn’t a bad thing.”

Mrs. Casey has a similar feeling about the students. She said she “hopes they have a greater appreciation of how other people in the world live, not just in Peru, and how we’re all human and we all have that human connection.”  She also hopes that students will “have a lot of personal growth throughout the trip as something like hiking Machu Picchu is not going to be easy.”

Like Mrs. Casey, Mr. DiRado spoke about the human connection. He hopes that “students come away with an understanding of how similar people are regardless of their nationality and cultures. When you travel and talk to the residents of the country you are visiting, you begin to appreciate that everyone shares common goals.”

Mr. DiRado also believes that “traveling makes the world a little smaller and a little friendlier.” He hopes that “students create memories that will last a lifetime” and that they “wander beyond their comfort zone and try new foods, as well as use some of the Spanish they learned in school to communicate with the locals.”

Note: Check out Lily Bonner’s separate story on Sra. Flaherty by clicking here.