About Us

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At Son Tours, we are passionate about providing safe, immersive, once-in-a-lifetime educational travel experiences through our customizable student tours.


TRAVEL. TOUR. LEARN.


Founded in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, Son Tours is a student travel agency that has been providing high-quality, full-service school tours for over 20 years. Since then, it has been our passion to organize domestic and international school trips customized to fit a variety of curricula. Our experienced and licensed educational travel operators know that the key to a successful school trip is a balance of accommodation of educational needs and the utilization of only highly experienced tour guides. Our goal is to create experiences that educate students while keeping both our clients and their students happy, and our efforts don’t stop with our tours. We believe every child can succeed when given the proper resources, which is why we’re also a proud Children International sponsor. Learn more about our partnership, and how you can donate as well.


Why Customers Trust Us as Their Educational Travel Company


We maintain a 95% client retention rate and an A+ Better Business Bureau rating. Plus, we are certified by the Student Youth Travel Association (SYTA). Why? Because we put our clients and their students’’ needs first. Our team of trained and knowledgeable student travel operators understands how to organize and carry out a worry-free and highly engaging school trip.

Our Team




John Nelson
President

Our founder and president, John Nelson, has over 25 years of experience in developing, managing, and leading both foreign and domestic educational tours. He has over 35 years of experience in management and travel, and he has worked and lived for more than six years in Europe, namely in Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. He served honorably in the 82nd Airborne Division in the Army and has a working proficiency in both Russian and Italian. He also holds an MBA from the Business School Lausanne in Switzerland.


Mr. Nelson founded Son Tours due to his love of travel, and he truly believes that visiting the locations where history happened and experiencing these places firsthand promotes students’ cognitive retention and self-improvement, leading to an overall more engaging educational experience that lasts a lifetime.


Dana Nelson
Vice President

Dana Nelson graduated with an MBA from the Business School Lausanne in Switzerland and lived in Switzerland and Italy for over six years. She has also lived in Washington, D.C., and in New York City, and has extensive travel experience throughout North, Central, and Eastern Europe. She has working proficiency in both Italian and French. Ms. Nelson has over 25 years of experience in finance and accounting with both Son Tours and the CIA.


Ms. Nelson currently heads the Son Tours financial department, and she thoroughly enjoys interacting with the teachers and principals in charge of the school tours to help create a low-stress, rewarding experience.


Chuck Keller
Director of Operations

Mr. Keller has been the Director of Operations for Son Tours for over 14 years and has more than 30 years of experience with business management and travel. He served honorably in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army and lived in Italy, particularly in Vicenza, for over 15 years, leading to fluency in Italian.


Mr. Keller believes that learning about history, both the history of the country in which you live and history of nations abroad, is one of the key cornerstones of developing into a good citizen, and therefore he loves working with these historical tours. He also enjoys watching the students’ enthusiastic interaction with the Son Tours’ guides as they learn from them and the landmarks they explore.



Karen L. Weyandt
Director of Sales

Karen Weyandt has a B.S. in Marketing from the University of South Carolina and over 35 years of sales management experience in Information Technology and Human Resources industries, including 10 years of student group leader experience in upward of 15 foreign countries, in addition to Washington, D.C. and New York City tours. This has enabled her to be well-versed in the processes of both sales and educational travel. Ms. Weyandt joined Son Tours five years ago to fulfill her passion for the value of student travel, having been with her own three children for many student trips and still reliving those cherished memories. She and her husband enjoy traveling in their free time, too, so travel has become a major part of her life.


LeAnn Hedrick
Tour Escort

LeAnn Hedrick joins Son Tours, Inc after a 31 year career in education as both an English and Theatre teacher. LeAnn first met the owners of Son Tours when she was using the company for tours with her own theatre students. She loved everything about the tours, so she knew this was a perfect opportunity to teach outside the classroom. LeAnn escorts our groups in cities across the nation, including New York, Washington D.C. and Boston.


When not on the road, LeAnn enjoys traveling with her husband, family and Aussie Shepherd. Many summers have been spent camping and hiking across Europe. Some of her favorite destinations are Germany, Spain and Ireland. LeAnn is also a proud mother and grandmother. Although Leann grew up in South Carolina, she graduated from University of Georgia and is an avid “Dawg” fan! Attending football games is a favorite pastime during the fall. Leann’s love for theatre was not only an instrumental part of her career but remains one of her favorite hobbies. It was this love that connected her as a teacher to Son Tours, Inc.


Anthony Welch
Marketing Manager

Anthony Welch has a B.S in Marketing from Georgia Gwinnett College and has served in both the public and private sectors of digital marketing. Anthony has years’ experience growing, managing and connecting social platforms and brand’s online presence through multimedia engagement. When not directing student TikTok videos, Anthony enjoys traveling with his wife and two dogs, playing golf and trying new foods.


What You Get When You Book Student Travel Services with Son Tours


A single point-of-contact

to refer to throughout the entirety of your engagement. This dedicated staff member will be personally familiar with your destination and your tour, so you can rest assured that your tour will go off without a hitch.

Flexible, customized itineraries

based on what your group would like to accomplish. Using your curriculum and collaborating with group leaders, we develop tours that include the most relevant attractions and destinations.

Fully escorted tours with experienced guides on-hand during your tour

so you’ll always have someone to turn to in case of a last-minute change or decision.


Transportation and deluxe hotel accommodations

arranged by us. We hire high-quality motor coaches equipped with DVD players, TV monitors, and restrooms for the full duration of your trip, and hotels are booked in advance to ensure the comfort and safety of your students.

Safety briefings and private security

provided at no additional cost. Our personnel will perform safety briefings before and throughout your trip, ensuring your group has the knowledge necessary to make each stop safe. Private, uniformed security personnel will be on every hotel floor and on all motor coaches, as well.

Quick turnaround

to make sure everything gets planned and prepared on time and within your budget. And our easy payment options mean you avoid the hassle of collecting and keeping track of checks from dozens of parents.



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