BBYO Passport is a facet of BBYO focused on Jewish travel and service-learning experiences. As a leading educational travel provider, BBYO Passport combines the best of informal education and travel expertise for today’s teens. Check out the destination guide to learn more about BBYO Passport’s travel programs in Israel, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Passionate and caring staff are at the heart of all BBYO Passport experiences. Our programs are led by a carefully selected team of educators, community professionals, logistical managers, trip staff, and madrichim (counselors)—all of whom are backed up by our year-round leadership team. Many members of our staff works with teens year-round and most return year after year. Learn more about our staff.

The exact number of staff on an individual program differs according to the size of the group, the age of the participants, and the type of experience. The staff to teen ratio is 1:9.

Our programs are staffed by a team of professional staff. Once selected through a multi-tiered application process, all staff members attend a multi-day training program. During this in-person training, our staff receives health and wellness training, comprehensive program resources, and have the opportunity to learn from returning staff who typically comprise over half our team in any given summer season.

As an organization that has been serving teens for more than 100 years, and teen travel programs to Israel since 1956, our philosophy is to treat each and every BBYO summer participant as a member of our own family. As such, the safety and well-being of our groups will always be our guiding consideration. For BBYO Passport, this means that we plan our itineraries to avoid areas of concern, limit opportunities for free time, generally use accommodations outside of city centers, and in certain countries, we travel with a security/medical escort. While safety is our guiding priority, we are equally committed to providing you with a meaningful and entirely fun experience. Learn more about our approach to safety.

You can find additional information about enrollment and registration for BBYO Summer programs here.

BBYO Passport experiences are open to BBYO members and non-members alike, and no prior involvement with BBYO is necessary*. On travel programs with BBYO Passport, the ratio of members to non-members tends to be about 50/50 and our staff makes great efforts to create a welcoming community for all teens.

*Camp & Leadership programs (CLTC, ILTC, International Kallah, and Perlman Summer) require membership in BBYO.

Group size varies depending on the nature of the experience and the dates of the program. See the program-specific FAQ for the individual program sizes.

BBYO Passport experiences attract Jewish teens from all over North America and around the world. On any given year, we host Jewish teens from a wide spectrum of the world—representing communities in North America and around the globe.

During the registration process, you will have an opportunity to let us know with whom you'd like to travel. While we try to honor these requests for bus assignments, please note that we cannot guarantee friend requests for rooming, see above. BBYO cannot guarantee friend requests for teens registered for different trips. For example, if your teen is registered for Western Europe Discovery, we will not take friend requests to put them on the same bus as a teen traveling on Ultimate Western Europe Israel.

Some teens choose to sign up together with a friend or two, while most teens choose to come on their own. Either way, our participants will have the opportunity to meet a diverse group of peers from many different locations, which makes exploring a new place together even more exciting.

Families can read our teen rooming policies and procedures for BBYO programs here. When booking our accommodations, we request for each teen to have their own bed in a shared room. On a rare occasion, your teen may share a large bed with another teen of the same gender. We try to avoid this as best as possible but sometimes have limitations due to hotel space. Bathrooms are, in most cases, private to the shared room.

We rotate rooming assignments each time we move to new accommodations in order to give all participants the chance to get to know different members of the group. Please understand that, while some teens come with friends, others come alone; this plan ensures an inclusive and comfortable experience. Travel companions listed within your application are not guaranteed to room with one another.

Each year, many parents make requests to keep friends together in the same room. While we understand families hope to keep friends together, we believe that teens need to learn to branch out and make new friends, and this skill is hindered when there are groups of friends in the same room. This also leads to the development of social cliques which causes exclusion and can potentially lead to negative behavior. In addition, we have found that teens become more distracted when close friends are placed together. They will still have plenty of time to socialize with their friends outside of their rooms.

When assigning buses, many factors are taken into consideration. These factors include, but are not limited to, friend requests, gender ratio, grade, camp and/or partner affiliation, and the specific trip your teen is registered for. BBYO reserves the right to change bus assignments and group dynamics throughout the program to best accommodate each teen.

If a teen's bus assignment changes after assignments have been shared with families, the family will be informed accordingly. If your teen is traveling on an Israel Journey trip with multiple buses, they will register for a specific bus upon registration. Teens should register for the same bus as their friends to ensure they are together for the trip.

Friend requests cannot be guaranteed after January 22, 2027.

BBYO is a teen leadership organization and, as such, we place great trust and responsibility in our participants. The basic program rules include treating fellow teens and staff with respect and decency, and staying with the group at all times. Weapons, as well as possession, purchase, or consumption of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, vaping products, marijuana, and new tattoos or piercings during the program are strictly prohibited. By agreeing to participate in the program, you are agreeing to abide by the terms of our Release Form and the BBYO Code of Conduct.

While the itineraries are quite intensive, we do set aside time for relaxation, shopping, and personal exploration. Because we take your safety and security so seriously, there will understandably be some limits on personal exploration time, especially when we are traveling in major cities. Teens are not allowed to leave the group.

Cell phone use is permitted outside of the trip programming time. Teens will be busy learning with the group, so evenings and mealtimes of the program are generally a good time to call. Prior to departure, families will also be provided with essential contact information in the event of a family emergency.

We encourage you to call the BBYO Passport office or email us at [email protected] with any questions you may have prior to program departure. To ensure that our program staff can best utilize their time with the group, we do not share contact information of our staff on the ground with families.

Prior to departure, families will be provided with essential contact information for our 24-hour emergency line that is to be used in the case of a family emergency at home, or if a teen is in physical distress and contacts a parent before contacting their staff member.

You will also be given contact information for the Field Director responsible for your teen’s trip. This contact is to be used for most situations and questions that arise in the summer.