updated 10:56 a.m. ET March 18, 2008

NEW YORK - When Ann Kahn was growing up, her family took the same summer vacation every year — a trip to Yosemite. But things are different for her daughter, Ashley.

At 19, Ashley has already set foot on every continent — including Antarctica. And all but one of her journeys abroad were taken without her parents, on trips with other teenagers. She started when she was just 13, visiting Europe with a youth travel organization called People to People Student Ambassadors.

"It's definitely changed my life," said Ashley, who is from Green Valley, Calif., and is now a freshman at Sonoma State University. When she was younger, she thought she'd like to be a nurse someday. But now, "I'm a French major. I'd like to work in an embassy. Living and working abroad is definitely something I would like to do."

Thousands of teenagers like Ashley are seeing more far-flung corners of the world, and at younger ages, than any previous generation of Americans. High schools now routinely organize student trips that require passports. Middle-schoolers hike the rainforest in Costa Rica instead of attending lakeside summer camps with color wars and marshmallow roasts. And older teenagers use the community service they did in Africa as fodder for college essays.

A recent survey of 75 tour operators that belong to the Student Youth Travel Association found that the top 10 international destinations for youth travel include China, Peru, Brazil and Australia — along with the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Greece. More than half the survey respondents also identified middle school as the biggest segment for growth.

"We still have the traditional tours — an eighth grade trip to Washington or a high school trip to New York," said SYTA spokeswoman Debbie Gibb. "But we're seeing growth in places like China that you never would have thought of 10 or 15 years ago. The world is shrinking and the students who take these trips are getting younger."

Gibb said there are no reliable statistics on how many teens travel abroad compared to the past. But the travel bug is definitely going around. Teenagers today "want that notch on the belt," she said. "They want to say, 'I've been to Ghana.'"

Typically these trips cost thousands of dollars. But the pricetags seem more palatable now that many sleep-away camps routinely charge $4,000 for three weeks in a bunkhouse. A 32-day trip to Europe offered by Westcoast Connection/360 Student Travel is $9,399. A six-week program in Senegal sponsored by an outfit called Where There Be Dragons runs $7,300. Closer to home, the June 27-Aug. 14 session at Camp Mataponi for girls on Sebago Lake in Maine is $9,300.

Often parents write checks for the trips, but some students raise money — especially with school-sponsored trips where kids work on community fundraising events. (Teachers who agree to chaperone typically travel free.) Sometimes travel organizations offer scholarships for low-income students; others provide advice on finding sponsors — everything from asking local merchants for donations to sending a form letter to everyone you know with a request for $25.

People To People Student Ambassa / AP More than 300,000 students have traveled with People to People and connected with other cultures around the world as student ambassadors on continents including Europe, Africa, Australia and China each year.

When schools sponsor trips, they tend to have a major educational component, whether it's practicing French in Paris or studying evolution in the Galapagos. Summer programs "have more of the fun components — rafting, snorkeling and hiking" in addition to cultural experiences, Gibb said.

Westcoast Connection sends 1,500 teenagers each summer on a variety of tours, from language immersion to adventure and specialty sports like golf or snowboarding. But company spokesman Ira Solomon said "there's definitely been a trend of more substantial summer programming. With colleges becoming so competitive, kids are trying to build their resumes."

So Westcoast also offers community service, sending kids to work in day care centers in shantytowns in Costa Rica, building houses with Habitat for Humanity in Hawaii, and doing conservation work in an Alaskan rainforest.

Where There Be Dragons offers unusually intense six-week trips to China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Senegal and Morocco, enrolling a total of only 240 students per summer. The trips include homestays, rugged travel, wilderness exploration, language study and learning about local culture, economy, art and religion.

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