We’re excited your traveler is joining us for the 4th Annual Foundation Trip to Spain! This is not a typical tour—it’s a experience to fully immerse travelers in the local culture, lifestyle, and traditions. Travelers will live, eat, and explore like locals. It’s an insider’s view, not a view from the sidelines.

All participants should be ready and willing to fully engage in the Expedition. Before the trip, travelers must review all available information, including lodging, rooming, meals, and the physical demands of activities. Activities are not optional, and all travelers are expected to participate to the best of their ability.

Our trip leaves from IAH in Houston on June 12, with 10 days traveling and returning the evening of June 22. Our itinerary is still in progress. We expect most of it to be finalized by December 2025, with final details like room assignments confirmed by April 2026. We’ll share updates as we get them. Please understand that travel plans can change, sometimes beyond our control.

Our travel partner for this trip is E&E Expeditions: https://ee-expeditions.com/.

The trip includes 10 nights of lodging in shared rooms—students may be in double, triple, or dorm-style rooms, with up to eight people per room in some places. In certain locations, students may need to share a bed. Rooms will be assigned based on gender at birth to help ensure everyone's safety and comfort.

All meals in Spain are included. Water and snacks will also be provided—travelers should bring a refillable water bottle. Travelers will need to cover meals during air travel and in airports.

Airfare from Houston is included. If your traveler is coming from elsewhere, they must meet the group in Houston the day before the trip. We can help arrange a place to stay overnight, either with a local student, at our home, or in local lodging or lodging next to the airport.

We suggest traveling light! Pack in a carry-on luggage with a personal item. You will be carrying your bag to/from the coach, down cobblestone streets, and up and down stairs! Don’t pack more than you want to lift! 

Most ground travel will be on air-conditioned coaches. In rural areas, smaller vehicles (some without A/C) may be used. Students may also use public transportation, like local buses or car services, as planned by our tour operator.

“Expedition Mentality” (EM) is the intentional creation of a positive and supportive group culture for the trip. E&E Experiences is great at this, which is one reason we love working with them. EM helps travelers stay flexible and upbeat—turning challenges (like bad weather or travel delays) into opportunities, just like in life.

To help build this group culture before we leave, we’ll have chances to connect and get to know each other. Most of these will be virtual, since our group includes travelers from all over, but in-person meetups will be available in Houston for those nearby or able to travel.

Our chaperones are an important part of the group. They help keep everyone safe and lead group activities. There will be an introduction meeting for parents, travelers, chaperones, and E&E guides, along with smaller group meetings in the fall and spring. If you're in or near Houston, you may be able to meet in person before the trip. We’ll also have a group chat and team-building activities led by our Jr. Chaperone and experienced youth travelers to help everyone feel welcome and connected.

The deposit can’t be refunded because we use it to hold your traveler’s spot with the airline and tour company. If someone else takes their place, we’ll refund it—but we don’t get it back from our providers. Airfare costs, once purchased for the group, are not refundable. 

If you cancel: 

- 150+ days before the trip – full refund, minus the deposit and airfare.

- 121–149 days before – 50% refund, minus the deposit and airfare.

- Less than 120 days before – no refund

 Welcome to Spain and to the experiential learning adventure of a lifetime. Your guides will meet you at the airport. Head to your home base of La Herradura, where your guides begin orienting you to the new geography, culture and cuisine, as well as set the tone for students owning their experience with active and engaged learning. In the evening, we have a welcome party and orientation to the village.

Overnight & dinner in La Herradura.

Your Hometown in Andalucia: La Herradura

La Herradura is our grounding area, our anchor town. It has been a quaint, tranquil fishing village for many centuries which resonate with cultural heritage. Located right on the Mediterranean sea, La Herradura has a horseshoe-shaped bay with stunning cliffs on both sides, making it an isolated, calm, safe village and easy to get to know. La Herradura offers a superb home base location within Spain, with easy access to the cultural treasures of Granada, Sevilla, Malaga, even Madrid. Due to all of these inherent traits, it provides an unbeatable eco-immersion introduction to Spain. 

 Today, we orient ourselves to the setting, history, and culture of La Herradura by exploring the coastal areas of this former fishing village. We take a kayak trip along the shoreline to Calaísa Cove and the Cerro Gordo natural reserve. 

After a typical Spanish lunch, we will visit the workshop of the local master Spanish guitar maker Stephen Hill, who has 35 years of experience in the art of hand-crafting guitars following the old traditions and secrets of the maestro makers of Spain.

Overnight & dinner in La Herradura.

Important Themes:

- Geography: How did people use it for their protection? 

- Flora and fauna unique to this climate

- Livelihoods of the area: fishing, farming, tourism. cultural ownership, and the recycling and continuity of culture.

 This morning we leave our little coastal village en route to the lesser-known, northern part of the province: a territory with a spectacular landscape and a view of one of the best continental geological records of the last 5 million years. Among other treasures, this record contains the most complete set of fossil remains of the last 2.5 million years of the Earth’s history, when humanity appeared on the planet.

Close to the town of Guadix, we will visit a traditional cave house, which is still the preferred mode of living in this area. After a bread-making activity and lunch, we will transfer to the Hot Springs of Alicun.

We will embark on a hike, during which we will be able to see not only neolithic burial chambers, but an amazing and unique natural feature: the only documented and existing self-building and ever-growing water conduit on earth. The travertine aqueduct of El Torril is estimated to be 3,500 years old and is still growing. It was originated by people from the neolithic settlement nearby and, due to a high level of calcium bicarbonate and other minerals that precipitate out at the bottom and sides of the channel, it keeps on growing . . .

After a dip in the hot spring, we will prepare for our night in this unique place.

Overnight & Dinner Camping or Cave hotel TBD.

 This morning we transfer to the Fonelas Paleontological Station, an amazing scientific site, home to thousands of fossils of large mammals that lived two million years ago (giraffes, rhinos, mammoths, sabre-toothed cats, cheetahs, zebras, and hyenas).

We will then go for a hike into the Badlands, finishing in the little village of Gorafe, where we will have lunch and learn about the life of neolithic people in the area.

In the evening, after dinner, we will prepare for a star gazing activity together with local guides from the Star Park Los Colorados Astronomical Complex. 

Overnight & Dinner Camping or Cave hotel TBD.

After breakfast we will transfer to Granada, capital and last stronghold of the moors in Spain prior to the Reconquest. 

The greatest of Granada’s wonders is the Alhambra, the mysterious Moorish fortress.  Alhambra is one of the finest Islamic structures in Europe. It is a splendid sight, with its networks of lavishly decorated palaces and irrigated gardens built to resemble the gardens of paradise for the rulers who dwelt there. We will enjoy a fabulous guided tour of Alhambra and explore the palaces as we learn about the history of Moorish rule in Granada, the conflicts, cohesion, and history of cultural influences. 

Lunch in the Albayzin Gypsy quarter, overlooking Alhambra. We will walk through this fantastic neighborhood and travel back in time with Violeta Ruiz, a Flamenco dancer and choreographer. Born into a family of artists, she began her professional career at the age of 16 and toured stages in France, Italy, Morocco, and Lisbon. In 2003, she won the contest for young dancers in Jerez de la Frontera. Since then Violeta has performed in ballet, but also as a solo artist, not only in Spain, but internationally. 

Transfer to Malaga

Dinner and overnight: Malaga Old Quarter​

Important Themes: 

- Culture, cohesion, and conflict: The last 1200 years in Spain, Islamic architecture, religion-driven conquest, and celebrating Flamenco. 

-Arab influence on language, food, architecture, and culture. 

-Moorish vs. Christian power structure, 711-1492.

 Early Morning transfer to the hills of Malaga for a fantastic and easy 7 km hike across and above the canyon of the "Caminito del Rey," a walkway pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge originally built in 1905 to provide access to hydroelectric powerplants. The walkway had fallen into disrepair and was partially closed for over a decade. After four years of extensive repairs and renovations, it re-opened in 2015. It has now been adapted and secured so that it is accessible to a wide audience of nature lovers.

The route of the Caminito del Rey is one of the most famous in the province of Malaga, but also in the whole of Spain. You will be able to see one of the most spectacular landscapes of the Málaga mountain range, with steep walls and considerable height. 

Overnight & Dinner: Malaga Old Quarter

Morning visit to Reserva Tauro. In the heart of a Biosphere Reserve, you will visit an authentic breeding farm for Spanish Bulls and Andalucian horses. Enter the beautiful testing ring, visit the corrals and then embark on a journey in the pasturelands of Ronda, during which you will meet  and learn about the fighting bull, the "toro bravo" and the magnificent Andalucian horse.

After a traditional lunch in Ronda, we will visit one of the oldest bull rings in Spain. Learn about the origin of the controversial heritage and visit the museum of the Royal Cavalry of Ronda, where the tradition dates back to the 18th century, when the town still maintained its cavalry traditions. 

Afternoon transfer across the high plateau to western Andalucia and the 3000-year-old town of Cadiz.

Overnight & Dinner in Cadiz.

The Oldest City In Western Europe

Founded in 1100 BC by the Phoenicians, Cádiz is one of the oldest inhabited cities in western Europe. It was occupied by different nations, including the Carthaginians, Visigoths, Romans, and Muslims.

Today we explore Cadiz and learn about its history and place in Greek mythology through a visit to the Gadir archaeological site. Discover how different modern-day Cádiz actually is from what was found by the Phoenicians, who arrived here 3,000 years ago from Tyre in Lebanon.  We will walk the old town, meet its inhabitants, visit its fish market and finally try (and even learn to cook) its delicacies. Then, relax on the seafront Caleta beach and meet local fishermen.

Pueblos Blancos, Andalusia