When do you schedule your choir travel?
I’ve taken tours during two distinct parts of my yearly calendar. Several times, we have toured after the school year ended. May in college, July for high school. Other times, I have traveled during Spring Break, or thereabouts. This includes international tours over Spring Break as well as performance trips to New York and Washington, D.C. in April and May.
A few lessons here. First, plan your travel near the end of your yearly arc. This is when you’ll have the most to offer your audiences, and the most time to prepare for the tour. Second, planning works best when you can minimize the time your students miss school. (Your administrators will appreciate that, too!).
The past several tours (2023, 2018) we have planned to leave a day or two before Spring Break starts. This gives us sufficient time to do an international tour and arrive home with time enough to overcome jet lag and restart school energized, ready, and with stories to share.
If there are specific events I want to attend that are someplace else in the yearly arc, I’m not necessarily opposed – but I have found that the Spring Break and summer tours are the most effective.