Explorica
Placement organization
Name of organization: Explorica
Town/city: London
Country: Groot-Brittannië
Website: https://www.explorica.com/
Student
Name of student: Anouk Boogaard
Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2018-2019
Information about placement organization
Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Explorica is a company originally based in the United States. They create school study trips for schools in the US and Canada. In the London Office everything regarding the tours going to Europe is taken care of.
Target group of the organization: Schools in the United States and Canada
Company culture: The company culture is not extremely formal. You are free to dress as you would like, but ofcourse you still need to remember that you work in an office. The people working at Explorica are very friendly and you can have a laugh every now and then. But after all you should not forget that you still have to do the tasks you are asked to do.
Number of employees: 16
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes
Information about your placement
In which department(s) are you working?
Operations Department
Brief description of your daily activities: The Operations department is divided into different Regions and I help in 3 regions.
I mainly work in the Central Europe operations where I take care of all the meals for the groups in Central Europe. I look for different restaurant and make reservations for the groups. I also keep in contact with the restaurant by sending them regular updates.
I also help in the Spain operations department where I make a lot of bookings for the activities the groups are going to such as Park Guell, Prado Museum, Royal Palace of Seville and many more.
in the UK operations department I help with stamping of transportation tickets and to deliver the tickets to various hotels. All interns usually help with this.
Brief description of your company assignment: The company did not give me an assignment. Instead I decided to do some more research about how students and teachers experience their trips and what they value during it.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My official supervisor also works in the Central Europe operations department. But if you have a question everybody in the office would gladly answer your questions.
Requirements for students on placement
What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent but also a teamplayer, flexible, stress-proof
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS office, HTML, Writing skills, Explorica Datasystem (will be explained by supervisor)
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German: Intermediate
Italian:
Other languages: Spanish could also be very helpful
The trip
Mode of transport to reach your destination: Plane/ Eurostar/Car
Accommodation
How did you arrange your accommodation? Spareroom.com
How did you go to work every day? 20 Minute walk
Visa / work permit / vaccinations
Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?
Language course
Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Only if your English level is not sufficient enough
The costs in euros
Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 160
Accommodation (monthly): € 650
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € 300
Costs of visa: € 0
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? The company pays you GBP 300 for every full month that you are working.
Culture
How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not really prepare because the UK is very similar to The Netherlands.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No
Future students on placement
Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: anoukboogaard@hotmail.nl
Other information
Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Keep in mind that you are living in London and if you are not used to living in a large city it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes. Although you get used to that after a while and it also depends on the area of where you are living.
To find a room for a reasonable price can be a bit of a challenge in London. Keep in mind what you value when choosing a room. Do not worry if you don’t find a room very early, you can always come to London a few days earlier and stay in a Airbnb while viewing some rooms.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: 20 weeks is too short to explore everything there is to see and visit in London. Go and visit the popular sights, go to a museum on a rainy day (free in London) visit some of the towns like Oxford or Cambridge just outside of the City or go to a local market in the City. Every weekend has different activities you can check on timeout.com
Media
Youtube link Youtube placement video link