About

History

Welcome to the Prince Albert Youth Travel Club herein known as the PAYTC. On behalf on this club’s team of advisors, we welcome high school students, into the wondrous world of travel. Our travel experience will be an “adventure”, a trip of a lifetime for all those participating. When traveling this group will gain great insight into the magnitude of the impact other civilizations have on us, whether that is our embracing how the Greek culture has influenced Western civilization or how the Thail people are so welcoming, tolerant and respectful. For the past 29 years, myself and other advisors have been traveling with Prince Albert and area students to places ranging from several countries in Europe in the east to Thailand, Vietnam, China, Brazil,  Tunisia (Africa) and onto Australia, New Zealand and Fiji in the south. We have found that traveling truly broadens young people’s horizons as they learn first hand how other societies/cultures live. They get to interact with people from a different part of the world and soon they acknowledge that even though there is a language barrier there are many similarities within all societies. They soon learn that the 3 most important words in any language are hello, please and thank you, and that when they combine these words with a smile, friends can be made anywhere.  They also return from their trip with a new sense of appreciation of their lives, knowing that they are very fortunate to be in the position they are in and to live where they live.

This travel club allows teenagers the chance to learn and guess what – get excited doing it! The extraordinary experiences they will engage in, will impact their lives forever. Over the years we’ve had parents tell us that once their son/daughter came home from their trip they were more confident, patient and tolerant. This happens because traveling with this group is a cooperative effort and often those young people who don’t take a leadership role in their day to day surroundings/activities really “step up to the plate” and lead while on a trip. We’ve seen teens open up as a rose would, as they savor their newfound acceptance and respect when they become engaged in unusual communication skills all the while, feeling a cordial appreciation for a new language and culture.

I am proud to lead a team of extraordinary advisors who bring life to everything we do on the trip. Between us we have over 35 years of experience traveling with teens. This club (from little old PA) has been honored as the largest travel group in North America (in the last 40 years) and even though our numbers seem large we pride ourselves in feeling small, as each advisor takes on the “mom or dad” role for only 10-11 teens. We are assisted in this role with 24 hour care of a local tour consultant/s, who guides us through cultural dress difference and some of the language restraints. In addition to becoming friends with their tour director we find students make friendships on the trip that last their life time and they become great friends with others they never knew prior to the trip.

During the trip teens get to know adults on a whole new level as we use a collaborative approach to leading this group. Our travelers have a great deal of input into the organization and configuration of our group. Travelers get to make sure they are traveling with their friends on the same flight and bus as well as being with their friends in the small group meetings we have daily and in their rooming arrangement We pride ourselves in our flexibility and understanding teens.

Parents of our traveler’s are the backbone of this group as they fund raise, help write receipts, make phone calls and are generally encouraging at every turn as they realize the  huge opportunity they are giving to their teen through their efforts – thank you parents!

Donna Dalziel  – founder and coordinator of the PAYTC-