Video Index
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introduction
The audio-video clips clickable below also appear, one or two at a time, on
the various travel itinerary pages to which they are thought to be most
appropriate. They are meant to be viewed in a broadband (DSL, cable, T1 or
better) computer environment, with good stereo loudspeakers, although use at 56K
is also possible.
These "mini-movies" document the European travel experiences of
young American students and their teachers over a period of some forty years.
They fall into three main categories: one, very recent (2000-2003);
two, mid-eighties (pre-global terrorism), and three, late-sixties (new 707 and
DC-8 jets, man on the moon, early flocking of Americans overseas). The evolving
mind-set over time of these visitors to Europe is easily
discernable by a careful viewer, and is a source of insight into the
changing motives, hopes and aspirations animating overseas travel.
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clips
Bayside, Edinburgh
A college group from Texas travels from London to Edinburgh. Video by Lou Sanders.
Ba, Ba, Boo, Bah!
A contemporary video shot in two of the world's most contemporary cities: London and Paris. Music by Jeff Christie and members of the band Carmen.
Matrimonio Tarantellato
Music from the south of Italy, performed by Domenico Lupoi; video from the north of Italy by the man's son, the videographer Giuseppe "Lupo" Lupoi.
Tonight in London
"God Save the Queen," Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, interviews with traveling students, and music from the English rock star, Jeff Christie.
Lest we forget...
The horrors of life in a concentration camp cannot be easily inferred from the festive colors of modern-day Berlin. Piano, Jeff Lass.
Fathers and Daughters
Kid relishes opportunity to grow up a bit, on her own, in Europe, and then it gets better. Music, Chris Breault.
Fathers and Daughters, II
"It's a bit of an investment, but it's also something they can bring along to college with them." Music, Chris Breault.
Freak's in Prague
Jevon Kearse, the NFL football star, takes his place among Prague's tourist attractions for this group of young Americans.
La Gazza Ladra
Rossini is alive and well on the streets of Salzburg, city of "The Sound of Music."
How to organize a group
Watch while Mike Pearo, perhaps the most successful travel group organizer in the United States, talks to a prospective student enrollee, and her mother. Lots of helpful tips and pointers. Suitable for presentation (and emailing!) to parents. Broadband only.
Above the clouds
There's great fun to be had high up in the Alps in the middle of the summer. Music, Chris Breault.
Birthday in Cracow
Sweet sixteen party in Poland makes for a tight train connection. passports and Cracow police to the rescue.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Tour participants discover, to their delight, that a familiar bedtime ditty links their culture to others. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Wengen and the Jungfrau
"This is paradise," says the well-traveled teacher-counselor, Mike Pearo. It's nicer still above the Jungfrau snowline in the middle of July.
"I didn't pay anything for this trip!"
A group organizer at the passports International Teacher Convention, Rome, 2002.
Refilling the tanks of educators
A young group organizer supposes that the inspirational benefits of overseas travel accrue not just to students, but to their teachers as well. Thank you, Jeffrey Walters.
"Get yourself a part-time job!"
Do whatever you have to do, as a young American, to make an experience like this a part of your life. This from the passports Teacher-Counselor, Kareen Smith-Fogliano.
Europe is warmth and welcome
"Maybe more so than back home," says Margaret Price.
Come and take a trip with me down to Rome...
Helicopter over the Eternal City. Music underneath, by Meka Seed.
Vieni con me andiamo a Roma...
Nighttime fantasy scenes from the Eternal City.
She Cries
Each of the Roman fountains is said to have its own mystique, and message. Music by David Markle.
Take a trip... to Rome!
Concluding montage of the passports video A Place Called Roma.
Fantasie di Trastevere
Entertainment across the river at a company banquet for group organizers.
Stephen Fogliano, Co-Teacher Counselor
"Whether you want to learn something or not (here in Europe), you kinda have to."
Portrait of a courier
Virginie "Vivi" Bernat tells what it's like to be a young Frenchwoman accompanying Americans overseas.
Vivi, Admissions Coordinator
This young lady knows how to help teachers organize travel groups. She speaks French, too.
Famous Irish Stout
passports students must conform to the sensible rules of conduct set down by their Teacher-Counselors. However, this should not rule out a visit to the world's most famous beer factory. Anchorperson: Virginie "Vivi" Bernat.
When Irish Eyes are Smiling
Two Americans, Chauncey Olcott and George Groff, got it right in 1912. The song they wrote is a virtual national anthem.
Step Dancing in Dublin
Filmed at a recent company overseas convention for group organizers. Tricky stuff on the dance floor; tricky rocks and kelp walls at the Giant's Causeway, where the floundered ship "Girona" is still remembered.
Great Stuff: Prince Andrew in Tobago
Applause from British royalty on the topic of conservation efforts in the West Indies. Close-ups of a prince.
Shiva the Cave Dweller
This Indian mystic lives in a cave, and thinks all day long about God. He calls himself "The Host of Tobago."
Take the A-Train
All the way to Tobago, in the West Indies. 50's jazz, fifty years later.
Tobago: David Rooks, Ornithologist
Wild parrots crisscross dense green jungle gorges, screeching at the surf and spray. The Bird of Paradise awaits beneath the crosshairs of your binoculars. David Rooks has seen it all, and would live nowhere else. Courtesy National Geographic, U.K.
'Dat CD is yours!
A Calypso reverie, "Ten Thousand Men," in Steel.
Tobago: Sean Robinson, Undersea Adventures
From the placid clear waters of Buccoo Reef to the challenging underwater cliffsides of "Kamikaze Gap," Tobago is a world-class venue for divers. Listen to Sean Robinson, who is said to have spent more hours beneath the surface of the sea than anyone else. Courtesy National Geographic, U.K.
Road March Tobago
Somewhat explicit scenes of a tropical J'ouvert music and mating festival. "Jab Jab" performed by Super Blue.
Mice, Tobago Panman
A medley of Caribbean musical favorites, in steel. A tribute to Ken Pitcher, Tobago aficionado.
Praise the Lord
Christian fundamentalist liturgy in the Caribbean, at sunset. The hymn is "O for a Closer Walk with God;" the singers are local parishioners.
Praise You
Praise to you turtles, and to those of you who are protecting them. Video by Kathy Smith, production edits by Giuseppe Lupoi, music by Fatboy Slim.
Tobago: Wendy Herron, Turtles
If the giant Leatherback turtle is indeed headed for extinction, it will be last seen on the beaches of Tobago, where it is aggressively protected. Wendy Herron explains why, and how. Courtesy National Geographic, U.K.
Traveling Classroom
"It's just terrific educationally..." Stratford-Upon-Avon is just one stop along the way for Karen Jurgens' traveling classroom. She's a teacher from Roswell, New Mexico.
"Especially with our courier..."
Oxford history professor Ron Hutton holds forth on the "wicked, evil, bad King John" at the front of a coach filled with American high school students."
Dedicated Teacher- Counselor
"I think it's equivalent to five units of Social Studies." This from a year-in, year-out traveler from San Jose, California, Rollo Koivisto, caught by a video camera almost 20 years ago, in Camden Lock, England.
Fare Thee Well
English university students make excellent overseas couriers, particularly when they love their job.
Frère Jacques
Up and down the Champs-Elysées, in Paris, riding on a steadi-cam.
Malcolm Miller at Chartres
World-class historian and instructor for thousands of young, visiting American students offers an architect's "hands on" visualization of flying buttresses.
Chenonceaux
Perhaps the most famous of all French châteaux. The kids seem to like the rowboats.
"One, Two, Three, say 'Boys'"
Tulsa girls on the top of Mt. Pilatus, and in nearby Lucerne, Switzerland. Audio recorded in the Stadtkeller.
America the Beautiful
A cold morning in the USA sees the formulation of travel plans.
Burncoat High School, Worcester, Massachusetts
Language teachers preparing their students for a dream-like experience in Spain. Graphic images of the goring of a matador at a bullfight in Madrid.
Florian Café, San Marco
Board a boatbus and float down the Grand Canal to everybody's destination -- St. Mark's Square. The teacher is Rita Couture, from Colorado.
Gondolas in Venice
Visit a glass factory, spend the afternoon on the beach, arrange for a serenaded gondola ride beneath the open windows of stately Venetian palaces. Feel the history!
Funiculi, Funicula
A quick tour of the city of Rome through the lens of a motion picture camera.
Travel in the young...
"You feel better about yourself when you get out and meet the world and see that we're all so basically alike, and yet so different too, in a very nice way!"
"passports is the ticket for me."
Sam Caruso, from Tucson, Arizona, knows what he's looking for in a student travel company: competent courier-guides, centrally-located hotels, good food, and professionalism throughout.
Why group travel?
Straight talk from a young man who doesn't want to spend time looking for places to stay each night while in Europe. Interiors and exteriors of a typical passports hotel property.
Pip, pip...
Chunnel, through London, to Stonehenge.
Bienvenue en France!
A quick movie made along the River Seine.
High school student confronts Gothic architecture
Buildings older than he's ever seen before, thoughts about what that means, and lots of fun.
GREAT hotels
"The hotel in Lisboa was magnifique!" So opines a well-traveled passports teacher-counselor. A central location, friendly staff, well-appointed rooms with TV sets on the walls, and luscious buffet breakfasts all go into making this so.
"I like watching the high school student grow..."
A young teacher-counselor, Jeremy Harkin, brings his students back from Europe more mature, and more self-confident, than when they left the U.S. He says that's what overseas travel is all about.
Lisbon through fresh eyes
Portugal's capital city is infrequently visited by American high school touring groups. "That's a shame," says this recent visitor. "Lisbon was magnificent!"
A Muslim in Europe
Picking your way through European menus is easy. And group travel is a lot of fun. passports student Mohammad "Mahdi" Pessamkli explains further, on camera.
Portugal!
A quick glimpse at the colors and romance of Lisboa, on a passports tour.
We Will Rock You
Is it a young Italian cinematographer or a singing DJ on wheels... Only Lupo knows for sure.
passports' secret
A bit of haute couture satin and fluff and two American girls inside a traveling coach. You can't get things like this back home.
¡Bienvenidos!
Welcome to Spain! Assorted moving pictures over music by Agros.
An uncommon market
Sabena Airlines may not be flying to Brussels any longer, but the flower market is still there. Featuring images of Valerie Velardi, ex-spouse of Robin Williams, as a teenager.
The harbor of Capri, and the town above
Brightly colored fishing boats being scrubbed in the sun, while American students shop for Dior look-alike hats up in Anacapri.
Confident, creative, and strong...
Michelangelo's David seen as the symbol of man's rediscovery of man.
The River Neckar
Oom-pah music from the Zillertal, in Heidelberg. The voice belongs to Fred Collins, the famous NBC radio announcer.
Paris is a zealous state of mind...
...or, sometimes Paris is simply being alone, on the banks of the Seine.
"For in learning about Europe...
...they've learned something more about themselves." The tag line that launched a million trips. Self knowledge achieved through immersion in a foreign culture is what student travel is all about. Filmed in Paris, in 1967.
"Ma dove andate?"
"But, where're you going?" complains the gondolier's wife at the end of his long day's work. Not to Harry's American Bar, that's for sure. He's seen enough of them for one day.
The Isle of Capri
Across the Bay of Naples to the favorite hangout of Emperor Augustus. Kids in rowboats outside the Blue Grotto, some two thousand years later.
San Marco and the canals of Venice
The main square and gondolas of Venice are timeless, as illustrated by these images of visiting American students captured almost forty years ago.
So this is the big city of Rome!
From the Spanish Steps to the Colosseum by horse-drawn carriage, in the company of two young Americans.
Concierto de Aranjuez
A sombre Madrid with a touch of Flamenco.
¡Corrida!
Bullfighting in Spain is not a sport, but an expression of a philosophy of life deeply embedded in the nation's culture. Those who would voice impatience with that cultural emblem are strongly advised not to view this clip, which is visually explicit.
La Tour Eiffel
An ascent to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Lofty thoughts on the topics of American provincialism, nascent imperialism, and the underestimation of parental European socities. All this some thirty years ago.
London Stuff
The underground "Tube" and blinking lights in the West End. Music from a mid-seventies New York City night spot called Mikell's.
Girls in the Trevi Fountain
Three coins would have done the job as well. "My Sweetness" is the musical track, featuring Richard Tee (now deceased) on the keyboards.
Who's arrogant? It's real!
What makes "the old Europe" Europe? The buildings? The people? An attitude towards life that Americans call arrogance, and then emulate from across an ocean? One way or the other, you're there, and it's real!
As You Like It
A bit of romantic poetry from the Shakespearean play set to music. Authentic garb on the singer. Picturesque rowboats on a lake near Oxford.
Tre Scalini
Students sitting outside the famous restaurant on the Piazza Navona, in Rome. Respect for other cultures makes for rewarding overseas travel, according to one of them.
full length video programs
A Place Called Roma
The city of the popes, including the recently-deceased Pope John Paul II.
See passports teachers in Rome at the company's 2002 Teacher Convention. Interviews, a word with the star courier "Vivi," helicopter shots, and a glimpse into the farewell dinner get-together in romantic Trastevere.
Conceived by Giuseppe Lupoi. Music by Jeff Lass, Meka Seed, and David Markle.
2002. Streaming broadband only. Stereo. 11:59.
Cultures of China
A stirring production by the young videographer and composer, Chris J. Emanuel. Shot on a passports tour in 2004.
Streaming broadband only. Stereo.
Eco Costa Rica
An inside look at the passports experience in Costa Rica. Chris J. Emanuel, videographer.
2004. Streaming broadband only. Stereo.
Easy Come, Easy Go
Made at the height of ALSG's influence within the American student travel industry, this 30-minute documentary program enjoyed the sponsorship of British Caledonian Airways, and was widely cablecast throughout the United States. It was shot on VHS tape, and edited in a 48-track audio recording environment. Bill Markle operated the camera; his brother Gil recorded the audio, assembled the tape, and did the edits.
1984. Streaming broadband only. Stereo. 29:55. Credits Only
Easy Come, Easy Go...
A 30-second peek at a passports trip overseas. Broadband only.
Four Days at Troon
Educational travel writers and camera team find themselves in Scotland, at a British Open Golf Tournament. On-camera interviews probe the ambition and motivation of sports greats including Johnny Miller, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Weiskopf, and Jack Nicklaus. Cameo appearances by Glen Campbell, sports manager Ed Barner, and (then-CBS) newscaster Jack Whitaker. Bill Markle made the film, which was successfully suppressed for thirty years by one untoward remark from Mark McCormack, the Cleveland sports mogul. Sean Costello and Mike Forhan assisted in the project overseas. Gil Markle (then a professional philosopher) interviewed most of the golfers.
1973. Streaming broadband only. Mono. 27:04.
Fly Like an Angel
The story of a recent educational travel trip to Europe taken by a group of high school students and teachers from Tucson, Arizona.
The trip was documented in mini-DV electronic format by Giuseppe "Lupo" Lupoi, a rome-based cinematographer who accompanied the group on its travels through Portugal, Spain, France, and England.
Copies in DVD and VHS formats are currently available to group organizers.
2002. Streaming broadband only. Stereo. 17:30.
A Tribute to New Orleans
Lori Deweese, hurricane evacuee, gets a job at passports.
2005. Streaming broadband only. Stereo. 03:33.
Movin' On
Students from Rice Memorial High School (South Burlington, Vermont) in Europe, featuring legendary teacher-counselor, Mike Pearo. Emphasis on German-speaking countries, with lots of music, including the title tune written and performed by English rock star, Jeff Christie.
Video by Giuseppe "Lupo" Lupoi; produced by Gil Markle.
2004. Streaming broadband only. Stereo. 21:29.
On a Journey
A student group from New Mexico travels from London, through Paris, to the canals of Venice and the glass-blowing factories of the island of Murano.
2004. Streaming broadband only. Stereo. 13:42.
The Death of a Pope
Interesting coverage of the coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II. Personal reflections provided by passports
videographer Giuseppe "Lupo" Lupoi, direct from Rome.
2005. Streaming broadband only. Stereo. 06:33.
TripThink Training Video
A quickie training video for the TripThink Custom Trip Planner.
Ms. Saigon
A video rendition of the classical passports 12-day trip to Viet Nam. Filmed by a talented trip participant from California, Chris J. Emanuel.
2004. Streaming broadband only. Stereo.
A Young Look at Europe, I
A wind-up, spring-powered Bollex camera captured the details of the first large-scale invasion of European cities by American students. Valerie Velardi (later to marry and divorce the epic comedian-actor Robin Williams) is prominent in this early film, which is narrated by radio great, Fred Collins.
1967. Streaming broadband only. Mono. 23:36.
A Young Look at Europe, II
passports officials have been making films about young Americans in Europe for a long time. This one, a remake of the original 1967 production bearing the same name, but now boasting sync sound and "live" interviews, featured the British comparative cultures guru Terence Lawson (now deceased), British Member of Parliament Dick Taverne (now Lord Taverne), courier tour guides Geoffrey Wahl and David Fleckney (the latter now deceased), and was narrated by the later-to-be-celebrated AIDS activist, Terry Beirne (now deceased). The film was shot and edited by Bill Markle, and produced by his brother Gil, for ALSG.
1973. Streaming broadband only. Mono. 17:36.
A Young Look at Europe, III
The third and last version of the original and seminal travel film. An Arriflex 16 mm camera was used, synced to a quarter-inch Nagra audio tape deck. The film was assembled and edited in New York City by Bill Markle. Soundtrack attributable in part to Stuff, the well-known group of studio musicians appearing on many of Paul Simon's albums.
1976. Streaming broadband only. Mono. 26:16.
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