To go home for Christmas or not to go home for Christmas? If you’ve been teaching abroad this year, you have inevitably had to make the decision. It might have been an easy decision, or you might have had to literally draw a table of pros and cons.

Since you’ve undoubtedly made the decision already, I’m going to take a light-hearted look at both options and reassure you that whichever option you chose, you’re probably right.

Financially, I just couldn’t get through another year without a salary during the summer so, after toying with the idea for a few years, I decided to do a placement at a summer school.

I was fortunate to have lovely students and like-minded teaching colleagues – essential to making teaching at a summer school a rewarding and stimulating experience.

The flight to Pokhara is short, about 35-40 minutes, and passes parallel to the Himalayas. Imagine flying below the peaks both ways! Quite simply, this was the most spectacular flight of my life. Be sure to get window seats!

Namaste! You’ll hear a lot of that common greeting from the locals in Nepal, one of my favorite vacations during my many years of teaching overseas.

Venice of the East? Well, that certainly sounded tempting. Canals and boutique shops, but in Chinese. This was the description our students gave us of Wuzhen – an ancient water village reconstructed in Eastern China and a very popular tourist destination. Sure, I thought – let’s go! Can you take us there?

Without wishing to get too philosophical, what is life all about?

Tim Douglas, Head of Group Travel at GVI shares his experience of leading adventure trips for young people and demonstrates how enriching these experiences can be…

How often have you walked into the staffroom on the day back and a colleague who thinks they are rather funny comments that there are only 49 days working days until the next holiday? Whilst there is much, much more to teaching, I have no doubt that holidays are probably are the biggest perk of the profession.