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When faced with the problem of transporting large numbers of people from one place to another and then back, hiring a coach seems the obvious choice. Indeed this is the solution that most schools, colleges and universities opt for when arranging trips or excursions.

The normal process of hiring a coach for a general private hire event, eg. Wedding, Stag-Do or group visit, usually entails someone ringing up several different coach suppliers within their local area and trying to get see if the operator is free on the required day of travel and also to try to get the best price. This is fine for normal private hire jobs, however when it comes to transporting groups of children as in the case of nurseries, schools or colleges, then a bit more care needs to be taken to ensure the coach operator you are hiring meets certain other criteria.

The following questions form a general checklist of points you should consider before hiring any vehicle for your school trip.

Does your operator have a correct and current operators license? Although this might seem an obvious question, in the case of school trips you should request a copy of the current operators license. If an operator has lost their license or failed to renew it, then they are not legally allowed to operate.

Does you operator have the necessary Vehicle Insurance? As above, you should ensure the vehicle you will be transported in has valid and up-to-date insurance. Operators who have failed to keep their vehicles insured will be operating illegally.

Does your operator have a valid Public Liability Insurance? Again as before, you should request to see a copy of this. If in the unlikely event there is an accident then you need to know that your coach operator is covered and you can claim costs and damages without a problem.

Does the vehicle have seatbelts fitted? Although it is not compulsory that all coaches have seat-belts fitted, if there is one fitted, then the law states that anyone aged 14 years and above needs to wear one. It is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that all passengers are wearing the seat-belts. If you are travelling with small children, then you should ask if the operator has child restraints fitted and if not, if they can be fitted or you can use your own. If you want to provide your own, then be aware that they might not be compatible with the coach seats as they do differ from car seats so check this with the operator before booking.

If you have the time and leisure to travel, there are many fascinating alternatives to the traditional package tour. You can plan a culinary vacation for example, where food and wine is the major factor in choosing your travel destination. The experience may cover attending a food or wine festival, visiting farmers’ markets, sampling artisan products or driving through a food or wine area with tasting along the way.

Cruise ships have been famous for their eight meals a day and now a number of them offer cooking classes taught on board associated with the ships gourmet restaurant, with top chefs giving demonstrations of their culinary skills. In Italy and France, residential cooking schools are often held in lovely old villas in the countryside, with side trips around the local farms in cheese and wine-producing areas.

The urge to do something different and have a new skill or marketable talent to show for it, provides a new twist when planning to travel. Someone who has taken this to a whole different level is the treasure hunter, Stan Grist. Visit Stan’s website to get his secrets to traveling with a purpose, to discover treasure in new lands and take it from a hobby to an all-absorbing way of life.

He is happy to share his online guide, “Creating Wealth Through Adventure with the Stan Grist System”, to whet your appetite for adventure, discovery and treasure hunting. He gives the adventurous traveler an enormous amount of detailed advice, for example, he explains how gold diggers can start their own gold rush and cash in on the current high gold prices. He reveals in his Ecuador Gold Report how he discovered millions of ounces of Inca gold. If you are inspired by his enthusiasm to take up treasure hunting and exploration you will find on his site special resources, training courses, treasure guides, out of print adventure ebooks and report packages created to help you. All of this unique valuable information is not available anywhere else and is based on Stan’s lifetime of experience.

Stan’s website also details adventures you can experience as well as the pursuit of gold, such as hunting for raw diamonds, lost cities, buried treasure, ancient tunnels, sunken galleons, meteors, unexplained mysteries, and unknown animals (cryptozoology). You can find out more through online research if this level of exciting adventure stirs your imagination.