2023-24 Tour

Info, Info, Info!

• ABOUT PASSPORTS AND VISAS! ALERT ALERT! We hear from our tour coordinators that passport applications and renewals are seeing significant processing delays. All traveling students must have a passport that expires no later than December 16, 2024 (six months after arrival date).  We highly recommend you start your application/renewal process as early as possible to avoid a problem with your participation on the trip. Additionally: if you know that you need a visa to Europe, please notify us immediately if you are planning to travel with us.
• What are the dates of the tour?
  • We will depart Pittsburgh on Monday, June 17, 2024, and return on Thursday, June 27, 2024.
• What cities will we visit?
  • Our core cities are Ilmenau, Leipzig, Dresden, and Prague
• How many performances will we do?
  • We anticipate there will be three to four concerts, including one in the iconic Dvorak Hall of the Rudolfinum.
• Are students who are members of YPO in 2023-24 season required to attend the tour?
  • All YPO students are expected and encouraged to travel with the orchestra during a travel season and we will do everything we can to make that possible for every student who wants to go. However, with proper notice, permission to miss the tour may be granted without jeopardizing the student’s membership in the orchestra. The deadline to apply for permission to be excused from the tour will be November 18; however, we encourage you to notify TRYPO staff in writing as soon as you have made a decision.
• Who may attend the tour?
  • Any current member of YPO may attend the tour. Some TRYPO alumni may be invited to join the tour if a current student declines their seat. Invitations to join the tour will be granted based on the following criteria at the discretion of TRYPO staff: 1) Instrumentation needs. 2) Has the student had an opportunity to attend an international concert tour in the past? 3) Order in which requests were received. 4) Alum’s standing with TRYPO at the end of their membership (attendance, tuition, preparation at rehearsals and concerts). 5) Alum’s willingness to adhere to trip schedule, rules, and behavior expectations. 6) Alum’s availability to attend tour prep rehearsals/spring rehearsals (Schedule TBA). To join the interest list for Alum Participation on tour, please check back soon for our interest form!
• Who is planning the tour?
  • TRYPO has hired the well-known and experienced tour company ACFEA.  ACFEA was the same company that we used in 2018 that did a fantastic job. They work with hundreds of organizations and youth orchestras such as PYSO, as well as other prestigious youth orchestras like the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.
• What is included in the tour?
  • 9 nights in tourist-class hotels; sharing twin rooms with private facilities; continental breakfast and dinner daily; transportation by luxury air-conditioned motor coaches throughout land portion of the tour; the services of one ACFEA courier per motor coach throughout the land portion of the tour; 24/7 coverage by TRYPO full-time staff members and experienced chaperones (anticipating 8-1 student to chaperone ratio); on-site large instrument rental and transportation; round-trip air transportation from Pittsburgh to Prague and returning to Pittsburgh from Prague; guided sightseeing excursions and admission fees to tourist sites; excess baggage fees for instruments that must be checked; TRYPO tour t-shirt.
• What is NOT included in the tour?
  • Passport fees; trip cancellation and interruption insurance (which is highly recommended); independent lunches and snacks throughout the tour; beverages other than coffee and tea with breakfast, and water with dinners; souvenirs and gifts.
• Will all students be on the same flight?
  • It is possible that the student tour will be on the same flight out of Pittsburgh, depending on how many deviations are requested. A small group of students may need to fly on a different itinerary. On the way back to Pittsburgh, we do anticipate being split between two flight itineraries.
• Will TRYPO have parent chaperones?
  • Yes, TRYPO will have 10 parent chaperones at a discounted rate of $3,600 each (based on double occupancy). Chaperones will be grouped in teams of two with 14-16 students per team. Chaperones must be able to focus attention on other peoples’ children, both for their own sanity as well as allowing your child to have the full trip experience (frequently means we encourage your child to be in a different group than yours!)! Preference will be given to those who have chaperoned with us before or others with needed skill sets such as medical training/language skills.
• Will there be an option for non-chaperone parents/guests to travel with the group?
  • We are offering a shadow tour for parents/guests. The shadow tour parallels the student tour but is its own stand-alone experience. It includes slightly nicer hotels than the student hotels, concert tickets to each performance, a separate luxury coach bus, some meals, and some shared components of the student tour. The cost per shadow tour participant is $4,850. Having the privilege to be able to travel across the Atlantic to hear your child perform in some of the great halls of Germany and Prague is something parents and relatives will cherish for years. See below for more information. Spots may be limited.
• Can non-chaperone parents/guests travel on the student side of the tour?
  • No, the only attendees on the student side of the tour will be chaperones, students, and staff. Why? Tours are time intensive and challenging for staff and chaperones. The culture, structures, and routine of the trip (such as call times, room checks, numbers of people on the bus) is how we keep the kids focused and safe, which means we cannot allocate any energy on the student side of the trip to managing guests who may come and go. However, if specific needs accommodation is necessary for the safety, health, or well-being of a student, one and only one parent/guardian or other adult guest may be approved to accompany the student on the student side of the tour. We do not anticipate that an accompanying adult in these circumstances can also be a trip chaperone. To request an accommodation, please notify TRYPO staff in writing and indicate the accommodation needed. Families requesting an accommodation may wait until the accommodation is approved prior to confirming trip participation. Accompanying parent/guardian will be assessed the same trip fee as the student rate.
• If I participate on the Shadow Tour or if I am making my own arrangements, can I check my kid(s) out during their free time?
  • For liability, safety, and logistical reasons, families may not take their children from the tour except at limited, specific designated times with written notice from the parent specifically agreeing to a) the pick up time and location; b) drop off time and location; c) identifying the adult who will be picking up the child; d) providing a contact number that will work overseas where we can reach the child’s parent. The child will not be released to an adult not identified in the appropriate paperwork. The adult may be asked for identification.
• I am making my own arrangements to follow the student tour. Can I ride the bus/join student tour activities/visit my child at the hotel?
  • Family members making their own travel arrangements certainly can book tickets or attend any activities that are open to the general public. However for liability, safety, and logistical reasons, guests not officially traveling with the TRYPO organization are not permitted on any group bus, backstage at concert halls, in student hotel rooms, or as part of any privately arranged activities or schedule components. TRYPO also cannot arrange tickets for any concerts or events for those not officially with our group.
• How much is the tour?
  • As you can imagine, the cost to bring a group of 100+ people overseas for 10 days is expensive by itself even before you factor in instruments and concert halls! The cost per student is $4,600. This fee represents the true cost to TRYPO of the trip, minus scholarship underwriting, for which we anticipate fund-raising separately.
• Is scholarship assistance available?
  • Yes of course! Scholarship funds will only stretch so far and let’s make sure that the families who need the most help receive the most assistance. Limited need-based financial assistance is available for students who apply for and receive TRYPO tuition assistance for the 2023-24 season. Additionally, we will be looking for parent volunteers to assist us with coordinating student fund-raising efforts to cover the cost of touring.

• • Need-based assistance: Families who are receiving scholarship assistance for the 2023-24 season are eligible for tour assistance as well.  Application due in August 2023. (2023-24 Scholarship Awards have already been finalized.)

• • Fund-Raising Opportunities: TRYPO and parent volunteers will offer fundraising opportunities for students and families to raise their trip fees.

• Are there other ways that we can support TRYPO’s fund-raising efforts?
  Yes!  we need all hands on deck with dedicated parents to assist with several committees:

• • Assisting with student fund-raising opportunities for students to be able to fund-raise for their own tour fees.

• • Assisting TRYPO to fund-raise for scholarships. These events could be things like host a dinner party at your home, spread the word about a restaurant night where a portion of proceeds benefit the TRYPO tour fund, writing letters, etc.

• • Please e-mail us at staff@trypo.org if you are interested in helping with fund-raising!

• Help! I really want to go on the tour, but I will need to deviate from the planned itinerary.
  The key is advance notice and communication! We should be able to accommodate just about anything you need to do with substantial advance notice, and parental permission. Tour registration will include more information about the deadlines for deviations. Talk to us and we’ll work it out.

• • AIRFARE TRAVEL DEVIATIONS: If you need to some different airfare arrangements than the group, there are two options:
    • 1) Participant does their airfare entirely separate from the group.  IE: Parent has miles, or they want to buy the airfare on a credit card to get points.  The reduction is approximately $1,200, but the actual amount is subject to confirmation with ACFEA once registration for the tour opens. Please keep in mind that booking your own airfare (even if it’s on the same itinerary as ours) means that ACFEA likely will not be able to assist you or your family in the event of a delay/missed connection. ACFEA will certainly try to keep your child with our group, but this could mean that in the case of a delay or missed connection, you and/or your child could get rebooked on a separate itinerary and there won’t be anything we can do about it.
    • 2) Participant wants to stay in Europe after the tour: ACFEA can assist you with booking custom return airfare departing on a different date or from a different city.  When the group flights are confirmed, you will have access to the Individual Travel Request form.  The cost is a $100 deviation fee for requests submitted before 2/17/24 and $200 thereafter, plus any applicable fare increase. The possible increase in airfare depends on what you want to do and how early you make your request.  With enough lead time, ACFEA can help to coordinate family members’ return flights with the participant’s flights, so you can all return together.  If this scenario applies to you, please speak with ACFEA before booking your family’s flights.