You Deserve a Break Today:
Travel to Another Country Writing Project

In this project, you will plan and take an imaginary trip to any country you choose. You will have $2500 to spend during your three-week visit.  Although that budget does not include round trip costs from school, you will need to locate an economical means of getting there and back.
Take notes on your chosen country from at least five sources.  You may use encyclopedias, atlases, textbooks, periodicals, books, and/or websites. First, prepare a bibliography card for each source. Then, take relevant notes, coding them so that it is clear where your information comes from.
Each component of the project must be peer-edited and all final draft components will be submitted in an illustrated envelope.
You will also present the highlights of your imaginary trip to the class.

Parts of the Project
Travel Project Assignment, Peer Evaluation and Teacher Evaluation handouts (Travel Project.pdf).

1. Bibliography and Note Cards
2. An Introduction
3. In-country Itinerary
4. Travel Data and Budget
5. Packing List
6. Daily Personal Diary
7. Letter or Email to a Friend
8. Letter or Postcard to an Adult
9. Scrapbook
10. Descriptive Paragraph
11. Poem
12. Annotated Map
13. Illustrated Envelope

Articles

“The Thirteen Best Online Travel Guides” -- all are free, but some have limited destinations.

Yahoo Travel How to…Section has fascinating and quirky travel articles. My latest favorite is “9 Words That Don’t Exist in English But Perfectly Describe Your Travels.”

24 Best Travel Blogs and Websites 2014 -- The blog’s motto is “I Travel for the Quirk” and it is quirky.

“The 50 Best Travel Websites” -- Many rare and unexpected ones, but ONE might be just the one you love.

If you have a New York Times online subscription, nothing quite matches the online Travel Section of the Grey Lady. Not free.

TETANUS (Tin Eared Tone Abatement Nerds of Upper Sunnyside) music festival trip, complete with cover letter, itinerary, and trip brochure -- Not my assignment, but one I could adapt.

Guidebooks

My personal favorites are the Eyewitness Travel Guides by DK. Online Trip Planner. While I love all the big Eyewitness books for an entire country, the Eyewitness Top 10 books are succinct and portable. And, yes, there are 309 specific titles available.
Frommer's Day by Day guides are also very specific, with hundreds available.

Online Travel Guides

• ArrivalGuides -- downloadable PDF
• Fodor’s Travel
• Frommer’s
• Gogobot -- FaceBook for Travel
• Lonely Planet
• State Department -- Start here.
• Trip Advisor -- Check out “Things to Do.”
• Tripwolf
• Wikitravel
• World Reviewer

Just for Fun

Girl Gone International -- My favorites are the 40 posters illustrating “I am a Girl Gone International because …” which are listed here. I am such a wannabee!

MissAdventure -- Another witty, reflective world traveler.

Independent Traveler -- Multiple contributions from helpful world travelers. Addicted to Travel List.

Travel Quotes

My favorite way to start the project is with Travel Quotes (50+ PDF file). And, of course, since I am mostly an English teacher, my favorite quote is by St. Augustine: “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” I use a different quote each day as a Quick Write at the beginning of the hour, or as a journal entry. I also ask students to find and share a favorite travel quote as an illustrated poster.

Versions of Illustrated St. Augustine Quote

Selected illustrated travel quotes.

“25 Great Travel Quotes for Inspiring Global Adventures” -- Beautifully illustrated already.

Rough Guides also has a Gallery of 50 illustrated quotations.

HMS Store Window in Mannheim, Germany. Found art! Where I least expected it.

Updated 10 September 2018.

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