Every year Blue Valley teachers offer exotic trips to different destinations around the world.

Each place is unique whether it is the streets of London or the mountains of Costa Rica.

Sophomore Peyton Anderson spent her spring break visiting England and France for 10 days along with teachers Jenny Buchanan and Dianne O’Bryan and 20 students.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Paris ever since elementary school,” Anderson said. “I wanted to sign up because I heard a lot about the Costa Rica trip — it looked really fun.”

Junior Tanner Botts and sophomore Katie Beth Jones traveled to Costa Rica last summer.

“I decided to go because I have always wanted to go to Costa Rica, and a lot of my friends were going,” Botts said. “I was hoping to see lots of animals and the different cultures in Costa Rica.”

All trips through the school are planned through educational travel agencies.

“EF Tours organized the trip in a way that we could do the coolest activities that the place had to offer in the amount of time we had,” Jones said.

Both Botts and Jones said they didn’t mind taking a trip through the school and are already signed up to go to the Galapagos Islands in the summer of 2017.

“At first I was kind of worried that there would be too many rules since it was through the school, but the teachers were not strict at all — they made it fun,” Jones said.

On the contrary, Anderson said she had a few doubts about the school trip because she was worried it would be purely knowledge and school-based.

“While it was partly educational, we went on a ton of tours,” Anderson said. “My favorite thing we did was touring Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace in London because we got to see the queen as she was leaving the palace.”

All three students agreed they were able to explore new things and encounter experiences of a lifetime.

“One of my favorite parts was the hot springs,” Jones said. “It was a park that had these really nice pools that were filled with water from the natural springs. The water was super hot, and it was really relaxing. I was not expecting that to be my favorite part, but everyone loved it.”

Botts said he enjoyed experiencing activities he doesn’t get to do in Kansas.

“We did things like zip lining, hiking, white water rafting and went up volcanoes,” Botts said. “It was really cool.”

Anderson said if she were to go back to France, she would rather not go on a school trip so she could venture out on her own.

“If you like being really organized, the school trip is a great idea since they have a very tight schedule,” she said. “If you like to just go out and do your own thing and be on your own time, I would recommend going with your family or friends.”

All three students agreed the trips were well worth their time.

“It was a great experience with great friends and teachers,” Jones said. “It was so cool to see visit other parts of the world and also relate it to what we are learning in school. I cannot wait to go again next summer.”