International Trips
- Do I need any special inoculations for trips abroad?
- Do I need a passport?
- Do I need a visa to travel abroad with ARCC?
- Will I be able to call home?
- Do I need to speak a foreign language to take an international ARCC trip?
- Can my family meet me in the international gateway city after my international ARCC trip?
Do I need any special inoculations for trips abroad?
On ARCC’s international trips, as on all ARCC trips, students must be current on their tetanus vaccinations. ARCC does not require any other inoculations for students participating in the British Columbia, Southern Europe, Italy/Greece, Caribbean Virgin Islands or Australia/New Zealand Adventures.
ARCC requires students traveling to Costa Rica, Fiji, Peru, Ecuador or Thailand to be protected against Hepatitis A. In order to receive the appropriate protection from Hepatitis A, you have two options: An immune serum globulin (IG) injection (formerly called gamma globulin), or the Hepatitis A vaccine.
According to the Center for Disease Control, ARCC groups in Costa Rica spend little time (about 2 days) skirting a region infected by malaria. Therefore, ARCC does not require that students take chloroquine. However, as malaria does exist, some students (about 5%) choose to take this medication. As there are some side effects to the malaria treatments, we advise you to discuss the options with your physician.
ARCC suggests that all students on the Thailand trip take a prescription antimalarial drug. Although ARCC groups spend relatively little time near malaria affected areas in Thailand (approximately 6 out of 30 days), and chances of contracting malaria are relatively slim, we still recommend that students protect themselves against the possibility of contracting malaria.
Do I need a passport?
ARCC requires that all students traveling internationally have a valid passport, including British Columbia and the Caribbean Virgin Islands. Applications are available at the post office. If you do not already have a passport, you should apply for one as soon as you begin enrolling in your international ARCC trip. It normally takes six weeks to process a passport application.
Do I need a visa to travel abroad with ARCC?
No visas are required for US citizens participating in any of ARCC’s international trips, with the exception of the Australia/Fiji Adventure and the Australia/New Zealand Adventure. If you are not a US citizen, please contact our office for more information on traveling to these countries.
If you are participating in the Australia/Fiji or Australia/New Zealand Adventures, you will receive an Australian Visa application form with your enrollment package. You should return this application with the rest of your forms to the ARCC office. You need not worry about obtaining an Australian Visa on your own, as ARCC will process all visa applications together.
Will I be able to call home?
Typically you have a chance to call home after every section of the trip. We recommend you leave your US phone cards at home—they frequently do not work abroad. Phone cards are widely available for purchase in The Caribbean, Canada, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Belize, Europe, Thailand, Australia, Fiji, Tahiti and New Zealand at almost every newsstand and post office. It is also possible to get an international plan on your cell phone.
Do I need to speak a foreign language to take an international ARCC trip?
You do not need to speak a foreign language in order to go abroad with ARCC. However, if you speak Spanish, French, or Italian, you will have ample opportunity to speak these languages in The Caribbean, Costa Rica, France, Tahiti, Switzerland, and Italy. Taking an ARCC trip in a foreign country is a unique way to learn a new language, or enhance a language you may already be studying!
Can my family meet me in the international gateway city after my international ARCC trip?
Yes! Several families each year decide to use the countries visited by ARCC trips as destinations for family vacations. If you are a student on an international ARCC trip and would like to meet your family at the final destination rather than fly back to the US, meeting places and times can be arranged through the ARCC office.