Travel program: This type of program continually moves around to various sites. The advantage of such a program is that students are able to see a lot. The disadvantages are that they can be very tiring (lots of packing and unpacking, checking in and out of hotels, riding on buses) and organizationally more challenging, and there is a lack of a home base for students to become acquainted with. Students may not have very much interaction with the people of the host country.
Home base: This type of program includes housing in same hotel, dorm, or host family most or all of the time with excursions from home base. The biggest advantage of such a program is that it allows maximum time for cultural immersion at the program site. Disadvantages are that students pay double for excursion nights (once for home base lodging, once for excursion lodging) and that distance from the home base may limit possible excursions.
Hybrid: These programs are at a home base most of the time, but then leave to travel elsewhere in-country before returning to the U.S. They are a nice combination of the advantages of the other two types of programs. Their major disadvantage is that you need to think about ending courses at the home base prematurely. Also, students may not take final travel seriously if coursework is done.
