THE PERSONAL TOUCH

We have much more to say than we can possibly fit into these pages. Choosing a program that fits your child's needs isn’t always easy, most often we find it helps to have a conversation. It’s a significant decision to send your child away from home for the summer - please don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and give us a call. We make ourselves completely available to you. Our Directors, Jim and Donna Stein, and our team of professionals will guide you through every step. We’re very proud of the fact that Jim and Donna are involved in every detail, from creating the programs, conducting the training, to climbing the mountains and crossing the seas - all in order to make travel the best it can be for your family. We can assist you with everything from selecting the best program for your needs (which we believe is vital) to preparation and gear for your adventure. We encourage (and recommend) that you call and speak with us personally.

ENROLLMENT

A number of factors determine our group sizes as well as our staff-to-participant ratio. In forming each group, special attention is given to the age, grade, maturity, and geographical location of each applicant. Simultaneous sessions are available on some trips. On most of our programs, no previous experience is required. Previous overnight backpacking experience is required for Leadership Challenge. El Sendero and Sigue No Más require a minimum of two years of Spanish experience. Service Leadership applicants are required to have previous community service experience. A telephone interview and two references are required prior to acceptance for all programs.

TIP (Traveler’s Information Packet)

As soon as your application is conditionally accepted, you will receive a confirmation email. Your TIP will be sent to you via email, unless otherwise specified by you on your confirmation email. Your TIP outlines in detail everything you need to know for your summer on The Road Less Traveled, Inc (RLTI). In it you will find specific information on gear, clothing, airline travel, CDC recommendations for country-specific inoculations, spending money, mandatory travel insurance, and other details.

Your TIP will also include several forms that will need to be completed, signed and returned to us as soon as possible. These forms include health questionnaires, medical history forms, physician forms, subcontractor release forms and assumption of risk/release of liability/waiver forms. Final acceptance of your application is dependent on RLTI’s receipt and approval of all of these completed and signed forms. Failure to timely submit any of these required forms will result in late fees and possible rejection of your application.

In an effort to minimize our impact on the environment by paper reduction, and in order to make the enrollment process as easy as possible for you, it is our intent to conduct our administrative business online as much as possible. For those who wish to receive their TIP and accompanying forms via U.S. mail, you can indicate that choice when you receive your confirmation email.

GETTING THERE

Our leaders will be waiting to greet you at the destination city on arrival day and will accompany you to the airport on the day of departure. Group travel is available on select trips. Contact the RLTI office for more information. To ensure efficient coordination of arrivals and departures, we ask that you coordinate airline reservations with the RLTI office. Please do not book airfare without contacting our office first.

COMMUNICATION ON THE ROAD

On flight arrival and departure days we will notify you upon your child’s safe arrival and prior to their flight returning home. During the program, cell phones will be held by RLTI leaders or stored in-country and will not be available for use. RLTI is not able to ensure safe storage of cell phones and accepts no responsibility for same. On our domestic programs, parents and participants are given a list of mail stops in their TIP so they can be in touch with friends and family. On our international trips, mail is difficult to receive on a timely basis. For those international trips that can receive mail, parents and participants are given a list of mail stops in their TIP. For those trips where mail is not possible to receive or send on a timely basis, parents can expect an occasional phone call home. The frequency of these calls is program-dependent. For more information on the particulars, call our office. Phone messages can be relayed through our Chicago office, where our leaders call regularly, unless they are in the backcountry.

THE GIFT

RLTI is committed to reserving 10% of enrollment for program scholarship recipients. We have done this since our very first year of operation and will continue to do so through the generosity of private contributions. If you would like to join us in our efforts to help bright, talented, financially disadvantaged young people who would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience a summer on RLTI, please contact our office.

CHANGES TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

A signed application denotes that the signer has read and understands, acknowledges and agrees to these terms and conditions and that RLTI reserves the right at any time to alter these terms and regulations and other conditions stated within the catalogue and other literature printed by RLTI, as well as any other reasonable terms, regulations and conditions necessary for the safety and well-being of the participant and RLTI.

PAYMENT

A deposit of $1000 is required when your application is submitted and will be applied towards the full cost of the program. If your enrollment application is rejected, the initial $1000 deposit will be refunded, otherwise the initial $1000 deposit is non-refundable. Final payment must be made within 30 days of your acceptance. It consists of the total trip price, minus the $1000 deposit. We are happy to work with our families to set up a payment plan if requested. Please discuss this with our accounting department upon application. I agree that a signed application (which includes the electronic acceptance of our terms and conditions), and initial deposit represent that I am entering into a legal agreement with The Road Less Traveled Inc. and that I intend to pay the full amount of the tuition.

Unless other arrangements have been previously made, trip tuition and account balances will be considered past due/late if not received in full by the date due on your invoice (due within 30 days of your acceptance). I agree and authorize RLTI to automatically charge the credit card or echeck (ACH checking account) provided for any unpaid account or tuition balances. A 2.8% late fee will apply to balances considered past due. I understand I can change payment method, credit card or bank information, or cancel in writing this automatic payment of past due account or tuition balances, subject to these terms and cancellation policy. RLTI will attempt to send a courtesy tuition reminder via email and past due notice 5 days before your account becomes past due, but RLTI will not be required to do so. RLTI will send a notice/confirmation of any charges to your credit card or bank account.

The price of the trip includes everything except: international airfare, domestic airfare, inter-island airfare, in-country airfare, airport taxes, personal spending money, baggage fees, lost luggage fees, passports, visas, airport departure fees, incidental meals on arrival and departure days; personal items; medical, hospital, and evacuation expenses; expenses resulting from delays due to acts or threats of political instability, acts or threats of terrorism, natural disasters and bad weather, trail, river and road conditions, sickness, government action, insolvency or default of any third party, strikes, economic shocks, accidents, acts of God, war, quarantine, epidemics/pandemics or the threat thereof, criminal activity, transportation difficulties, delays or cancellations, force majeure, or any other cause or event beyond the control ofRLTI (any of the foregoing, a “Force Majeure Event”).

Applications filed after April 15th must be accompanied by full payment unless previously authorized by RLTI. RLTI reserves the right to reject any application received after April 15th that does not include full payment. Because costs are prepaid by RLTI well in advance of the departure date and cannot be recovered by RLTI, the applicant and his/her parents/legal guardian release their right to reverse or dispute any and all credit card charges made to RLTI. RLTI reserves the right to cancel unpaid applicants whose full tuition is more than 30 days past due, with no return of fees. A late fee of $100 will be charged if the forms are not completed and returned by May 15. A change in courses may be possible through May 15.

INSURANCE/REFUNDS/WITHDRAWALS/EARLY DEPARTURES

Participation with RLTI requires that you have travel insurance with emergency evacuation coverage. RLTI strongly recommends you purchase a policy that includes trip cancellation insurance. You have the option to choose your own travel insurance provider. RLTI will send you an offer for travel insurance from Travel Insurance Select (“Travel Insure”). Travel Insure’s policies include benefits that will reimburse you for 100% of the forfeited, non-refundable prepaid deposits or payments made to RLTI if your trip is canceled due to certain unforeseen circumstances enumerated in the policy (e.g., debilitating sickness, injury or death of the traveler or immediate family member). Travel Insure also offers an additional “Cancel for Any Reason” benefit at an additional cost that will reimburse you for 75% of the prepaid, forfeited, non-refundable payments or deposits made to RLTI if your trip is canceled for any other reason not otherwise covered by the regular policy (e.g., fear of traveling due to pandemics, weather concerns, work obligations, you simply change your mind). Other terms and restrictions apply. Insurance information and application forms are included in every Traveler’s Information Packet (“TIP”). It is important that you purchase this coverage immediately, as some benefits (including “Cancel for Any Reason”) are only available if you book your coverage within 15 days of the date of your final invoice.

If you cancel your trip in writing more than 90 days in advance of the departure date, RLTI will refund up to 50% of the program price that is not covered by travel insurance (less the $1000 deposit). If you cancel in writing 60 to 90 days prior to departure, RLTI will refund up to 25% of the program price that is not covered by travel insurance (less the $1000 deposit). If you cancel your trip for any reason within 59 days of departure, no refund will be given by RLTI. Under no circumstances is a refund available from RLTI to those who cancel within 59 days prior to departure. Please understand that our refund policy is based on our investment in pre-trip expenses before programs begin. Costs are based on a total group, not a per-person, rate. Expenses on cancellations cannot be recovered. In addition, short notice cancellations prevent others from attending. Changes in foreign currency valuations, gas, transportation costs and other items can cause changes in our program fees and therefore our fees are subject to change.

I authorize RLTI to charge my credit card or echeck (ACH checking account) for unanticipated expenses not covered in my tuition such as medical expenses, international phone usage, lost or damaged gear, fees related to early departure or travel delay. RLTI will notify parents via phone or email if we charge for unanticipated expenses.

Beginning with the first day of the course, there will be no refunds for voluntary withdrawals or dismissals. Ultimately, the parent/guardian must assess the appropriateness of the programs for each child. However, RLTI reserves the right to terminate a travelers participation if he/she lacks sufficient physical, mental, and/or social capabilities to safely complete a program. RLTI reserves the right to accept or reject any person as a trip member at any time. Unsafe actions, abusive language, theft, negative, offensive or harmful behavior will result in immediate dismissal from the program. Drugs (other than prescriptions which will be held by the leaders), drug paraphernalia, alcohol, and tobacco are strictly prohibited on all RLTI expeditions and use and/or possession will result in immediate dismissal. Participants that are dismissed by RLTI will be returned home at their own expense and without a refund.

Both parent/guardian and the participant understand that for the health, safety, and welfare of other participants and leaders of RLTI, rules and regulations formulated by RLTI must be strictly observed. RLTI has the right to terminate the participation of any program member, and such participant shall be returned home at his or her expense and without a refund. Payment for transporting the participant home shall be borne by the parent or guardian.

If a participant leaves the group either voluntarily or is sent home by an authorized Road Less Traveled Inc. employee or agent, every effort will be made to contact the parent/guardian or emergency contact of the participant. RLTI will not be held responsible for the participant if the parent/guardian or emergency contact cannot be reached. Parents/guardians should understand that participants leaving early for any reason may not be accompanied by RLTI leaders on any part of their trip home.

Parents/guardians are responsible for making the necessary arrangements for travel home and, if necessary, responsible for arranging supervision for dismissed students including travel from remote international locations. Participants dismissed from programs will not receive credit for community service hours completed prior to their dismissal.

RLTI CANCELLATION

Cancellation of a trip is unlikely. Our intention is to follow, as precisely as possible, the itineraries as described in this brochure and online. Severe weather could force an itinerary change. If an activity or area is canceled, it will be replaced with a comparable one. We reserve the right to cancel or withdraw any program, alter or omit any segment of the itinerary, and substitute leaders without notice. In the unlikely event that RLTI cancels a program due to insufficient enrollment, then RLTI will provide a full refund of the program price paid. If RLTI cancels a program for any other reason, including without limitation, a Force Majeure Event, then RLTI will provide a refund of that portion of the purchase price paid that is not covered by travel insurance, minus any unrecoverable expenses previously paid or incurred by RLTI. RLTI is not responsible for costs incurred by a participant’s family in preparing for a program that has been altered or cancelled. Airfare should not be booked without permission from RLTI.

MEDICAL INSURANCE AND RELEASE FORMS

There is some element of risk in program activities of community service, international language study, global perspectives, wilderness adventure, water sports, rock climbing, hiking, and all other program activities. All participants must be covered by medical insurance. RLTI will provide each participant with a medical release form and additional signed release forms as well as those of our professional outfitters and country-specific associates. These forms must be signed by the participant and the parent/guardian and returned to RLTI within 30 days of receipt of your TIP. It is the parent/guardian’s obligation to inform us of any changes in the participant’s physical condition once his/her medical form has been returned. Should a participant arrive with a previously undisclosed physical or psychological condition, RLTI reserves the right to immediately terminate that individual’s participation and such participant shall be returned home at his/her expense and without a refund. For applications filed after April 15th, completed medical and additional signed release forms are due immediately upon receipt of the TIP to continue holding the reservation. Until all necessary forms have been reviewed and approved, admission is still pending.

PRIVACY

RLTI does not rent, sell, or share personal information about participants or their families with other people or non-affiliated companies except as necessary in connection with participation on one of our excursions. We will not share any such personal information with marketers, advertisers, or the like.

APPLY EARLY

Courses fill quickly. Wait-listed applicants must include the $1000 deposit with their application. The deposit is fully refundable should a spot on the wait-listed trip not become available. A completed application must be submitted to be considered for acceptance. Should the wait-list application be withdrawn, the $1000 dollar deposit is refundable.