Explorica

Placement organization

Name of organization: Explorica
Town/city: London
Country: Groot-Brittannië
Website:

Student

Name of student: Joop Regter

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Planning and booking educational tours, managing itinerary changes and responding to emergencies. Additionally looking after Tour Directors and supplying them with the correct info at the right time.
Target group of the organization: US and Canadian highschool students
Company culture: Explorica is a real American company: a lot of abreviations are used in the company and many systems work in the American way (date notation for instance). The line between the management and employees is there, but the cuture itself is informal when appropriate. You are expected to work hard and you’ll get a great time in return!
Number of employees: 18
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Tour Director Department
Brief description of your daily activities: collecting necesarry TD documents, sending contracts, booking transfers, helping with any questions Tour Directors may have, recruiting new TDs in Europe, providing TDs with necesarry equipment for tours.
Brief description of your company assignment: Research in new and safe recruitment techniques in the tourism industry.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I had a great supervisor at the company and she was of great help to me. I worked with her every day and she helped me with any questions I might have had.

The supervision from NHTV however was bad. I’m not satisfied about that.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Planning and organisational skills and stress-proof
Additional company requirements for this placement? none
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French: Advanced
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Train

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? house share
How did you go to work every day? Tube (metro) and bike

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? Yes
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Through ministry of income and taxes in UK, via Jobcentre. This work permit (NiNO) is easily obtained after an interview and the Jobcentre
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? About 3 weeks after the interview
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? Yes
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? No

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 60-140 (depending on when you book)
Accommodation (monthly): € 475
Local transport (monthly): € 100
General costs of living (monthly): € 350
Costs of visa: € none
Costs of work permit: € none
What did the company pay for/to you? 300 GBP per month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
It is a real American company: the difference between the employees and the management is there, but everyone is very friendly and kind. There are a lot of different nationalities in the office, which makes this placement a great learning opportunity.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Nu

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 113051@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Do go out and explore the city! Also explore the surroundings and pelase do go the Brighton and the south of the country as well! You’ll see that it is great to get out of the city once a while.

Do not assume you’ll be living in a typically English city. London is very very culturally diverse and it is just such a great city to live in!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There are a lot of beautiful parks in London, definately go there! Also Bristol, Bath and Brighton are great to visit.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link