Has anybody's DC been on a school trip to CERN

[iamapushymum]

and if so how much did it cost?

No, but it sounds great!

I suppose that coach plus accommodation always stacks up. Would they be staying in Switzerland?

DS is going next July. It is £353 for 3 days.
Includes flight to Geneva, stay in a Hostel., boat trip and visit to the UN

Ds would kill to go - bruffin, don't suppose your ds would like to smuggle mine in his luggage...??

Aww I am sure ds would smuggle him if he could

DS would sell his mother give his right arm to go to CERN. Can we do a MN DC CERN trip

I don't think his luggage allowance would be enough for 2 smugglees.

I think dcs school do the trip every year for those doing A level Physics.

Ds2 went in october. He had a fab time and saw the UN as well. Think it was about £350 as well, stayed in a youth hostel to try and keep costs down as Geneva is so expensive

DS is going next July too, bruffin! Wonder if they'll bump into each other. we've been told 'around £250' though. Hope it doesn't suddenly go up to £350.

Ds is going 8th to the 10th Tingalingle.

If anyone does a CERN trip my DS would be up for it. He would give his left arm to go... and he is left handed lol

DH is trying to get his department to organise a trip to Cern to rival geography's Iceland trip. I didn't see the appeal myself so it's interesting to read this. I'll let him know.

Our trip is in March and £430 ouch!!!

I'm going in April - organised as part of a conference in Geneva, and I'm soooo excited !

I took DS on a day trip, if anyone's school doesn't go.

We got a day return on EasyJet, it was about £18 or £18 each, each way, but the cheapest I can see now are about £50 day return. We took a flight out at about 7.30 am from Gatwick , and an early evening flight home.

There is a bus or tram directly from Geneva airport to the CERN gates, all very easy to navigate. Go on the CERN website and you can see details of guided tours for individuals. There are 2 big exhibitions, we saw the computer that Tim Berners-Lee used to invent the internet, as an communications system for within CERN. My nephew was on placement as a student there and he showed us around, we went to the testing centre where they test sections of the LHC, and we saw the main control room where they use computers to direct the particles round the differnt parts of the accelerators. And we went to a couple of the labs around the LHC. I'm not sure what it is possible to do on a guided tour organised by CERN, but I think the school trips go to those places.

We even had time to go down to central Geneva by the lake for an ice cream and coffee before heading back to the airport - again all completely easy on the tram system, and we passed the UN HQ.

The food in the canteen was v expensive - Switzerland is £££ - but it's once canteen for top physicists and visitors alike. They kept leaping up to rush to labs, according to what was being shown on the monitor screens.

It was a BRILLIANT day out.

Wow!

Ds went on a day trip from school. V.V.early start (~3am ish iirc) to catch an early easyjet flight and then a v. late flight home returning ~2am ish (I'm fairly sure it was about 23hours round trip).

It didn't cost much (thinking around £70), but the Euros and especially swiss francs needed for meal money added quite a bit as the exchange rate was v poor at the time.

They had a great time, but it wasn't quite as good as before they started running the LHC since before that you could actually go down into the tunnels & look at the detectors. Very tired the next day though - and still expected to be in school!

Dh is trying to persuade his school to let him organise a trip. In his life before teaching he was actually there for the official opening and he'd love to go back.

Haven't been on a school trip but went with my DH a couple of years back (he is an engineer) and I think it was the most fun he ever had in his life! It's not that it's so spectacular, but the guides are very well trained and inspiring - I actually felt I understood particle physics for a few minutes afterwards... The area is beautiful too.