Student Discounts / Educator Discounts
on our European Cycle Voyages

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Blue Marble was founded by a quartet of grad students who found ourselves earning a collection of degrees to which we were objectively poorly suited. What we were suited to, we felt, was the stage of life that permitted a month off to cycle around and enjoy riverside picnics with intellectual soulmates.

Our business opportunity came along one day when we saw a flyer for an unusual EEC grant program, subsidizing initiatives to foster cross-cultural understanding. “What else is a bike trip?” we asked. But we asked in the form of a grant application. And so it is that...

EEC funding allows us to offer an educational discount on our scheduled cycle trips, of up to 25%.

This maximum discount is available to full-time graduate students travelling on “long trips” (trips of 19 or more nights). It also applies to graduate students who have completed their degree programs and received their post-4-year diplomas, in their year of graduation.

We have expanded this discount on our own, to offer a more modest version (10%) to some other categories of student, and to full-time educators.


To Qualify:

• The higher, 25% discount applies to you if you are a student who meets all of the following criteria:
  - You are currently enrolled (and have already matriculated), as a full-time graduate student in a post-4 year university program leading to a recognized degree (masters, phd, certain professional degrees).
  - You are studying in (and a legal resident of) a country outside the EEC.
  - You are subscribing to a “long trip” (a trip or combination of trips which includes 19 or more nights).
  
  Details
  The length of the trip is determined by the number of nights included in the “core” trip (not counting Access Package nights, or other hotel nights, if any, booked through Blue Marble).
  
  In this internet age, the definition of a university is evolving. Ours, perhaps unfortunately, remains frozen in time. It refers to a brick-and-mortar institution, typically with a campus (or urban variant thereof). Your institution must be on a list elaborated by the European Union, using we do not know what criteria, and which we cannot consult (we individually submit every application, which is then accepted or refused).
  
  If you have any doubts, feel free to submit your information, and we will pass it on. But we have noticed that any time there has been any doubt, the answer has invariably been “no,” and there is no explanation given nor any appeal process. It is their money, and they give it to whomever they please, we suppose. But the list must be old, or restrictive in some other way we cannot fathom.
  
  
• A discount of 10% is available to...
  - ...graduate students on trips of fewer than 19 nights,
  - graduating undergraduate students completing 4-year degrees outside of the EEC, and subscribing to “long trips” which include 19 or more nights, or
  - full time educators on trips of any length (see qualifications, below)
  
  Educators must teach full time outside the EEC in an accredited primary, secondary or post-secondary institution, leading to a recognized diploma / degree. Part-time teachers of modern European languages also qualify for trips taking place in countries or regions which speak the language(s) they teach.
  
  

Other Details

• Discounts are not cumulable, either with each other, nor (generally) with other discounts (such as group discounts, or special offers to alums of our trips).
  
  
• The discounts apply to the cost of the trip itself. They do not apply to any ancillary service, including but not limited to Baggage Transfer, Access Packages, rail tickets, or additional accommodation charges.
  
  
• Discounts cannot be applied retroactively. You must apply for and qualify for the discount at the time of your trip inscription.
  
  If you fail to do so, the only way to qualify for the discount is to cancel your trip participation, and to sign up anew. But the usual cancellation terms apply, which will consume some or all of the discount.
  
  
• Turn-around time for the grant application (25% discount) is about 3 weeks. If you apply to join a trip within 4 weeks in advance of departure, you must either...
  ...pay for your trip in full (you will receive a refund when the grant application is approved, but the funds will generally arrive while you are on your trip), or...
  ...make your sign-up contingent upon receiving the grant (you may do this regardless of when you sign up), with the understanding that you may not be informed in time to go.