The Blue Man Group is one of the more mysterious of the live performance formats so popular for educational student tours. And if you’re thrown by the word educational in that term, I’ll clear that up a little later.

I’d researched Blue Man Group in order to describe it on travel websites, and I will say the words I found turned out to be very true, words like high-energy, a party, and innovative. I also read something about their purpose toward inspiring their audience to be more creative and innovative as well. And that turned out to be my favorite part.

Now that I’ve experienced Blue Man Group for myself, I feel I can talk about it with a little more authority. It’s a surprising show – you really never know what’s coming next, or how far it will go. The audience is part of the show several times throughout it. If you have any trouble letting go, this isn’t the show for you.

Here are some things to expect in this amazing show.

Music

Blue Man Group is famous for the percussion they beat out on PVC pipes. It’s truly awe-inspiring. You’ll also hear all kinds of familiar rock music and popular tunes throughout the various parts of the show. Expect dance lessons, humor, and the inability to remain quiet and unmoving in your seat.

Comedy

You’ll absolutely laugh as you watch the incredibly creative skits played out on stage by cast-members who never speak. When you mix wet paint, various food items, the tools from which to shoot them, and any number of creative inventions, you’re bound to get some surprising and hilarious results.

Inspiration

Blue Man Group uses all these tools – comedy, innovation, music, and storytelling – to inspire its audience to always do the same. Many times in the show the audience realizes through electronic images, or simple skits and storyboards, that we can be participants in the world of creativity. We see how life happens to us, and how reading or hearing other people’s stories can take away from creating our own. We marvel at the amazing things that can be achieved through talent, hard work, and innovation, and we are inspired to pursue them in our own life.

Because of this, Blue Man Group is perfect for educational tours. Student groups will find themselves a part of the show. The energy, noise, and visual thrills in this performance will intrigue every member of a student group, keep their attention, and help the message of innovation get across. I guarantee it will be one of the most exciting parts of any student tour.

Photo by Roger Smith on Flickr.

With the start of school, things start buzzing around here again. It’s time to huddle into your committee meetings and type up those letters to the parents, and get your creative juices flowing for the fundraisers. It’s Student Travel time.

Maybe you’re an eighth grade administrator looking for a fresh update to the annual Washington DC educational tours. You might be a high school junior dreaming of next year’s senior class trip. Or maybe you’re in college or something else altogether. If you’re planning group travel of any kind, here are some pointers on how to know which type of trip you’re planning and what to consider.

Educational Tours

1. The name basically says it all. This type of student travel should highlight something the students are learning or have learned.

2. It could also open their eyes to a new subject, event, or theme, which is an amazing kick-start for any lesson.

3. A theme brings focus when you’re headed to cities like Washington D.C. or New York City with so many attractions to choose from. Ideas for educational theme tours include: Black history, Art & Culture, American History, or Literature.

Graduation Trips

1. Start with where you’d all most like to go. Plot out whether your time for fundraising will get you there. Pick the next favorite choice if not, plot again. Repeat until all the pieces fit to make it happen.

2. Pick a Goal: See lots and lots of amazing things and stay busy? Or just be together? Choose a destination fitted to the goal. For instance, NYC for lots to do, the beach for relaxing time together.

3. Have you considered a cruise? Many destinations, one-time unpacking.

Making it Great

With so many considerations – your goals, your budget, security, and the number of people traveling – a travel professional is your next step. Once you’re in contact with a person who can help, keep these things in mind as well:

1. Build space into your itinerary. (For rain delays, crowds, and just plain mishaps plus to allow breathable moments to actually take in what you’re seeing).

2. EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER WITH A GROUP. Don’t ever forget how many people you’re planning for. It affects everything.

3. Give recommendations a chance. You probably have a list of things you want to see, but don’t be afraid to add attractions you hadn’t thought of but that your travel professional (or even better, a local) recommends. The surprises are sometimes the best part of a trip.

We creative people have a problem. Actually – all people have a problem. Sometimes we get so focused on what we’re supposed to contribute to the world that we forget to take in the things that have already been contributed.

I’m a writer, for instance, with huge gaps in the library of books every aspiring writer should have read. I’m a movie lover who gets stuck watching the same recent flicks again and again instead of catching up on some of the wonderful films created and highly-acclaimed before I was even born.

Then, someday we realize we’re behind, and it becomes completely overwhelming to try and catch up. One of those recent films I enjoy is The Holiday, and in it a man gives a girl a list of all those classic films she should have seen by now and hasn’t. So you know what she does? She rents them, one at a time, and works her way through the list.

We do this with travel too. The Miss Universe pageant was on last night, and I had to admit some of the countries I hadn’t even heard of. And besides that, through facebook and twitter, every day I’m greeted with the trip-of-a-lifetime photos from people who’ve been to the destinations of their dreams, and I end up adding yet another location to my own list of Somedays. Sometimes we think that if we’ve seen enough pictures or heard about the moving experience of visiting a place enough, then it’s basically like we’ve been there. Don’t make that mistake. Put the well-traveled destinations on your list as well as the trendy ones. You don’t want to take someone else’s word for it when it comes to experiences like those.

Like anything in life, we have to be deliberate about the places we want to go. I realize it’s hardly a list of movies, but make a list anyway. And then do the only thing you can: Start at the beginning and work your way through. If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll feel an amazing sense of accomplishment just visiting the first place on your list – especially if it’s everything you hoped it would be, if it becomes a part of you, and after leaving, you can’t wait to go again.

Our travel company builds opportunity like this every day, especially for students. If you’re lucky enough to be under an administrator who values educational student tours, embrace it. Your list is about to be one destination shorter, and trust me, it will make all the difference in the world.

I was fascinated recently by this article declaring New Orleans the perfect spot for a one-stop, not-so-expensive, nor so international, version of the inspiring journey of self-discovery described in EAT, PRAY, LOVE. I adore this idea.

I love the challenge to celebrate all three of these concepts in any city and in our own lives. We can’t all take a year-long sabbatical to explore them in the international locations featured in the book and described as the pinnacle of each (eating in Italy, praying in India, loving in beautiful Bali). But we can look for them all around us all the time. And certainly, our travels should be fairly well-rounded with representation from all three, don’t you think? And is it just me, or would this be a fabulous theme for graduation trips?

I only had to think for a moment to realize how these concepts played into my recent tour of New York City. Of course, the praying was a big one for me. I’d been dreaming of a visit to New York City for many years. The experience was almost wholly spiritual for me as I prayed it wouldn’t disappoint me, that I wouldn’t feel like a stranger there or somehow unqualified to be a part. And then once I was there, I spent every moment so grateful, so filled with love for this amazing city, that I felt much more on a spiritual plane than not. Still, I can point to certain experiences that really embodied the concepts,  eat, pray, and love.

Playwright Irish Pub III

We only ate delicious food on this trip, but I can hardly call myself a food critic. If you make it and serve it to me, I’ll probably be pretty thrilled already for the simple fact that I didn’t have to cook it myself. We ate pasta, burgers, cheesecake, and salad – all to die for. But my favorite restaurant experience by far, the one that truly was an experience and not just food on a plate, happened at the Playwright Irish Pub not far from Times Square.

I ordered a salad for my meal there, so I balked a bit when they brought me a salad as my first course as well. Determined to please, they swept the offending (hardly) salad away when I mentioned the dilemma and replaced it with a soup called simply vegetable but which I enjoyed so thoroughly that I whipped out my camera and took a picture before I finished. See the homey stoneware bowl and the delicate doily? If only you could taste it, though. that vegetable soup was the smoothest, richest, most deliciously Irish vegetable soup I’ve every sipped from a spoon. I soaked my bread in it, I drank it in, I oohed and ahed, and generally lapped up every last drop with a delight surely even Julia Roberts couldn’t top in the recent film adaption of the memoir on topic.

After the soup and two more delicious courses, we stepped out on the patio for drinks and found ourselves in the most relaxing, the most delightful moment of our trip thus far.

This was my Eat. And I so did.

St. Paul’s Chapel by the World Trade Center

I’ve already mentioned the overwhelmingly spiritual attitude I maintained throughout my experience, but there were a couple spaces that were far more pray than not. And one was at St. Paul’s Chapel just past the World Trade Center Site. This part of Manhattan still maintains a certain reverential hush, remembering the tragedy of 9/11. Even the construction site seems quieter, more respectful than most. And just past that, you’ll find St. Paul’s, an antique church, standing unobtrusively among the skyscrapers and glass-sided buildings of the financial district all around. This church miraculously still stands despite the spray of rubble, smoke, and debris on 9/11.

Inside, memorials stand to that day, stories of love and loss and of heroism. I stood beside this bench a long time, imagining the hundreds of rescue workers lying there throughout the day, their tool belts still gripped to their waist, tearing and scratching at the paint on St. Paul’s pews, as the workers struggled to rest between shifts. What a story they tell.

As if the memorials, the chapel, and the pretty cemetery outside are not enough to evoke prayer, the chapel actually held a small service while we there. Many gathered for it, a daily Prayer for Peace, that began during the aftermath of 9/11. If you’re looking for a peaceful outlet to your emotions surrounding the World Trade Center Site, or if you’re looking for a time of prayer for any reason during your day, The Little Chapel that Stood is just the place to find it.

Top of the Rock for Romance

Every street in New York City offered romance for me in one way or another. I felt I was experiencing the opening scenes to every NYC romantic comedy I had ever loved. I enjoyed being there alone but constantly imagined being there with my spouse. And still, it seemed like a great city to be single, that it hade limitless possibility for those chance kinetic meetings of which single people dream.

But for me the greatest feeling of romance came on Top of the Rock. First of all, let’s face it, I was having a love affair with the City, and Top of the Rock offered the best experience with it. I could touch it; after all, I was standing on one of its most iconic attractions. But I also viewed it from a distance, the better to take in all its glory and just admire every street and parkway. Top of the Rock is also so well-designed. Its observatory is highly inviting, spacious, and modern. It offers two levels, the higher one completely open-air. And it’s just screaming for couples. This would be my choice for love, the place I’d want to stand beneath the arm of someone I loved as we talked and talked while gazing over the City. I’m sure there are more intimate places for a date, places to combine the eating and the love. But of the New York City places I experienced, Top of the Rock was the one where I felt this third concept the most.

What about you and your city? Or perhaps, if you have more NYC experience than me – which wouldn’t be difficult – you have different ideas for the eat/pray/love experience there. And after this post, don’t you agree that this would make a wonderful theme for your last great trip with friends?

I know you need new ideas for group travel. After all, to get a whole group interested you need a theme. And I know usually beaches and bikinis is theme enough, for spring break trips at least, but sometimes you want something a little more.

Around here, we build tours around all kinds of themes – black history, art, architecture, theater, and more. But on a recent tour of New York City, I had another idea.

Our tour was surrounded by live events, though we were always just ahead or behind the big moment. We did see several live performances (theater mostly, Broadway, and the Blue Man Group), but we stumbled onto the set of several more once-in-a-blue-moon kind of settings. And each time I thought, how fun would it be to plan an entire trip with your friends around one great event?

This is a picture from Central Park in front of Good Morning America’s Summer Concerts stage. I was there the day before I knew Miley Cyrus would be on stage with crowds and crowds of people on the grass in front of it. It was a strange close-but-so-far-away kind of feeling to stand in a quiet, empty space in Central Park knowing that in less than 24 hours it would be teeming with people, loud music, adoring fans, and applause. Even more, it would be filled with thousands of people living a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Somehow, just picturing it, made me feel that I was living one.

Our next close call was when we toured Radio City Music Hall where the stage was being set for that night’s concert – a comeback tour with New Kids on the Block. I loved watching the stage crew move around beneath us. I hoped we’d catch the sound check. And I thrilled to the fact that the sunbeam-style lights radiated above us in practice for the show even though most tour groups don’t get to see the famous lights illuminated during the day. Again, we were technically going to miss the big event, but being there behind-the-scenes during the preparation, that was the thrilling thing for me.

Still, all totaled, I couldn’t help picturing the excited people who were going to experience the actual performances for these two concerts. I imagined family groups, mother-daughter duos, best friends, school clubs – all coming to this exciting city for one main purpose – this concert or event – and then having hours before and after for sightseeing and strolling on the streets I’d come to love after only a few short hours on them.

This, I think, would make the perfect group travel tour. Find an event – something you can all agree on as worth the money and the crowds and some of your cheering and applause. Enjoy that and then bask in the hours that stretch around it, giving you all the time in the world to discover the location that’s hosted the amazing event. We tend to pack our trips too full with our to-do-and-see lists. So try this instead: One event, hours of anticipation, hours of relaxation afterwards to just talk about the fun.

The World War II Memorial is one of my favorites in Washington D.C. I am so struck by the amazing detail. I first saw it when I went to D.C. to learn about the many beautiful attractions usually included in educational student tours. I thought of my grandfather while I was there, wishing he could be with me. And I couldn’t wait to get home and share the pictures with him and then read all about the memorial and the significance behind each and every part.

We went at night, and it was breathtaking. But I would have liked to see it during the day as well, because I didn’t want to miss a thing.

As we left, a group of people stood by the water’s edge, and some girls danced into the water in pretty, red dresses. I thought it made an amazing picture, and I snapped it before I thought.

Behind me, a coworker grimaced. He couldn’t believe the disrespect of these girls, to prance around in the water of a memorial dedicated to men who’d given their lives in such a devastating war. I was taken back by his response; it hadn’t been mine. And I certainly understood what he meant. One of the beautiful things about the memorials in D.C. is that generally people do show great respect there. You won’t usually find chaos, laughter, or loud conversation. They’re each places of reflection in their own way, and visitors usually feel that and observe it.

But after thinking about it for a while, I still stand by my initial reaction that the scene was a beautiful one. I have to hope that on some level the girls realized they would never be free to dance there without the sacrifice of the people the memorial celebrates. Even if they don’t exactly realize it, isn’t it true? Isn’t it sort of beautiful that generations after that horrible era, young people are so free? It’s a beautiful thing to me.

What do you think?

Do you ever walk into a museum and feel completely overwhelmed? Not by the beauty or the amazing exhibits but by the sheer volume of them and the complete inability to decide where to begin?

It happened to me recently in Washington D.C. I was on a mission, along with other members of my travel company, to see as much of the area as possible and to visit many of the attractions we often include on itineraries for Washington DC group travel tours, student tours, etc. This, of course, included many of the Smithsonian facilities as well as other amazing museums in the area.

One day we spread out with a list of Smithsonian museums. We hit several in a short time period, just trying to get an idea of what they had to offer and how they were unique. (For instance, many of the museums offer food courts, and we wanted to compare the space available in each and the menu available.) We had already visited a few other museums of course, and by the time I walked into the first on my list of Smithsonian facilities, I was a little fried.

It was the Air & Space Museum, the most visited museum on the planet, so I knew I should be impressed. And I was. But I was overwhelmed by the many exhibits, most of them larger than life. And there were so many ways to take in all the information – literature, video, photographs, artifacts, even walk-through pieces from air and spacecraft. I didn’t know where to begin, especially knowing that I had a limited amount of time and should only hit the highlights.

I finally just moved forward and walked through several of the displays, reading bits and pieces here and there. I saw enough to know the museum was amazing, simply wonderful, and that our student groups would love every minute there. Even the souvenir shops were bigger and more amazing than those I’d seen elsewhere. Still, I didn’t feel like I really took it in. And the overwhelmed feeling never faded, compounded by the knowledge of too little time.

Next I zipped across the Mall to a large, glorious building and stepped inside The National Gallery of Art. Walking inside was like breathing again. After the hundreds of exhibits and variety of media in the Air & Space Museum, I relaxed around the wide open space and simple display of art around me. I walked through room after room, simply designed, almost no furnishings, and just viewed one painting after another – with nothing but the art to speak for itself.

My experience was definitely due to several factors. One, I was overwhelmed. Never try to take in that many museums in such little time. Choose from among your greatest interests. Go online and view the museum descriptions – you can even see some of the exhibits. Put on your itinerary the museums whose themes interest you the most. Then maybe throw in one outside your normal area of interest – it could surprise you.

For me, the National Gallery of Art was both of those things. It wasn’t on our itinerary, so it was a pleasant surprise. But art is also the subject I’m most drawn to, so it fit that I felt most in my element there. Find a combination that works for you. spread out a few great museums in a two-day time period. Give yourself plenty of time to enjoy them, and you should have the perfect experience.

Remember the scene in National Treasure when Ben Gates tells the FBI guy that he’s found a treasure worth billions of dollars, that it belongs to the people of the world, and it should be shared with all of them? He says they need to spread it out among the world’s major museums – the Smithsonian, the Louvre, etc. I love that, and after my recent experience in Washington D.C. and New York, I feel that I’ve experienced it.

This is a photograph of the room in which President Lincoln died after he was shot in Ford’s Theater. It’s a fascinating walk-through tour, the Petersen House, as you visit this room and the one in which Mrs. Lincoln waited for the news of her husband’s death, what she probably hoped would be the news of his recovery. And while I was there, I remembered that I wasn’t looking at the actual bed on which he died.

My sister had recently been to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Missouri, and I knew the bed from the Petersen House actually rested there. Sure enough, literature I found (or perhaps it was our guide) told me that was correct. Then at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum I stood in front of Abraham Lincoln’s top hat. And I loved to see that people all around the country can see artifacts from the life of this fascinating man.

And speaking of a guide, get one. I was fascinated by our guide the first day and the way he could point out interesting connections to the things we were seeing and things we might be familiar with elsewhere. (Example: While standing at The Awakening, a five-piece sculpture of a giant at the National Harbor, our guide talked to us about its creator, a man named John Seward who is also known for his bronze replicas of the famous end-of-the-war photograph with the soldier kissing the nurse. He is also the son of the Johnson & Johnson legacy). These are the kind of things you’ll never forget, the things that connect us.

Another beautiful moment for me happened on my tour of the Tommy Hilfiger offices in New York City. Having just come from Washington D.C., we immediately recognized a model of The National Mall in the office’s entry. We soon learned this was a model of the proposed Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, largely funded by Hilfiger, that will be placed between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument – the very place the audience stood when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech, I have a Dream. Only days before, I had stood on the Lincoln Memorial in front of the inscription that states simply “I HAVE A DREAM / MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. / THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM / AUGUST 28, 1963. I was extremely moved to have stood on that small inscription and to now see a beautiful, expanded memorial in the works. Instant connection.

On my recent visit to the places most popular for DC and New York City educational tours, I felt so grateful to the men and women throughout history who had the foresight to see me coming. And not just me, of course. But you and our grandparents and our children. These wonderful historians had the foresight to set aside the artifacts of our history, to preserve them for future generations, and to share them far and wide. I was so glad they did.

Planning any upcoming travel to Washington D.C. or maybe Boston student tours? I’ve got a great entertainment idea for you. It’s called Shear Madness, and it’s perfect for groups.

This live stage show is a classic – well, maybe not-so-classic – whodunnit with a twist. Audience participation is a must as your questions and guidance actually determine how the criminal is made to confess and subsequently apprehended. Your job is to figure out who the mastermind is.

Shear Madness begins in a salon as your group and the rest of the audience is introduced to the hilarious, colorful, and sometimes outrageous cast of characters. You’ll be eased into the story like the transition from the opening credits of a sitcom to the lines that eventually bring you the meat of the episode. New characters are introduced as the salon receives customers and the two employees talk.

Somewhere in the middle, there’s a scream and running and police sirens – or something like that. The victim has been found right upstairs from the salon, and the suspects are limited to those in the vicinity. That means you’ve seen it all; you just have to put together the pieces.

The audience is brought into the action shortly after the victim is found and the police begin their questioning. After all, you’re all witnesses. If you’ve brought a large group, don’t be surprised if the investigator calls you by name from the stage! And hopefully you were watching closely, because there were all kinds of clues, and it’s up to you to point them out to the investigator. You can even question the suspects!

Because of the audience participation, Shear Madness is a different experience every time you go. You’ll find yourself tapping your foot to the music and laughing at the humor from the first few seconds of the show. You’ll probably even catch different jokes each time around. Shear Madness offers much more fun on stage than just the lines delivered. The show is currently playing in Washington D.C. and Boston in the states plus overseas in Seoul, Korea; Athens, Greece; and Poland. More shows are opening around the world as well.

If you’re planning group travel tours to any of these destinations, consider Shear Madness for just that – it’s sheer fun, sheer excitement, intrigue and – yep – a whole lot of madness.

I’ve written about Times Square quite a bit since working for a student travel company. New York City remains (and always will be, in my opinion) a favorite choice for students. And Times Square is a must for the New York City experience. Actually, that’s how I’ve always said it before, “a must,” as if whether you want to or not, whether you’ll like it or not, you just have to see crazy, brilliant, crowded, unique Times Square at least once.

The truth is, though, you probably will. Times Square is not just an intersection to make a point to visit. It’s the convergence of so many streets and the location for so many favorite NYC attractions that you’ll almost definitely end up basking in its modern glory at some point in your visit.

One of the many ways I’ve written about Times Square is to list its stores and museums as well as its prominence in the theater district. We found ourselves in Times Square several times on our recent visit. We ate there, toured its museums, returned to it for the evening’s broadway show, and even waved to our families on Times Square web cams.

As promised, I was overwhelmed by the mass of billboards, colors, information, and sights towering over us in each direction. I was fascinated by how many people crowded the sidewalks at any given time of the day. And I was amazed by the variety of shopping, food, and entertainment just in this little corner of the world.

But my favorite part, by far, was something I hadn’t known about before. I felt vindicated for every time I complained to myself about trying to write about a place I’d never been. If I hadn’t been there myself, I don’t know when I would have realized the recent (as in, over the last year or so) change in this famous intersection.

Once as crowded with vehicles as with people, Times Square now has a section blocked off for its pedestrian plaza. I loved it. The plaza began on a trial basis. Nearby business owners weren’t sure how how the change would affect their restaurants and shops. The city wondered how it would affect the overall flow of traffic. Since the plaza is permanent now, I guess all concerned decided it was a good idea.

And I have to agree. What a perfect meeting place for groups! Students on New York City graduation trips can spread out to shop and enjoy the sights for a couple of hours and meet again at the metal chairs and tables or in front of the ticket center or by the bleachers. I could imagine grabbing coffee and a snack and just sitting in the plaza for the ultimate people-watching adventure. I like to gain perspective by the ocean or under sturdy trees, but in the midst of a world that’s busy and eclectic and one exciting sight after another can be a great place for perspective as well.

The Times Square plaza has made this iconic intersection even more amazing than before. It’s symbolic of several efforts by this amazing city to open its arms to visitors and provide a safe and friendly place for them to be.