Open Expeditions

Open DofE Expeditions enable independent participants, those who missed their own group's expedition or those unable to form a viable team, to complete their Practice and/or Qualifying Expedition.

They include a familiarisation and planning period followed by a remotely supervised and assessed expedition. All required training and practice expeditions must be undertaken before a participant can take part in an Open Qualifying Expedition. If booking onto our Qualifying Expedition only, you will need to provide evidence that you have completed all your Training and Practice Expedition.

Open Expeditions are available to individual participants or small teams.

What is an Open Expedition? The DofE Expedition Guide definition

Open Expeditions are DofE expeditions made available to all DofE participants, to join as an individual, and are run at all levels and in all modes of travel. Approved Activity Providers (AAPs) offer a range of open expeditions in many different modes of travel and in many different countries around the world.

A range of opportunities for open expeditions are advertised on DofE.org/opportunity-finder.

Here, participants book onto the open expedition as individuals and not through their DofE centre or Licensed Organisation (LO). In these cases a private contract has been agreed between the participant/parent/guardian and the AAP.

The AAP and Supervisor will take on full responsibility for the young people during their expedition and will have in place robust and complete policies and procedures required under UK law and that reflect best practice. AAPs will also ensure that appropriate and adequate insurance cover is in place for all their expeditions.

For Qualifying Expeditions, the AAP will take on the full responsibility of the delivery of this part of this section including route planning, presentations and writing of the assessor report.

(Source: DofE Expedition Guide issued April 2024 Section 2.3 Open Expeditions)

How to Book

Once you have applied, you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your form. This will include details of how to pay your deposit including our bank account details. Please note that a deposit is required within 7 days of booking in order to secure your place.

Once we have received your deposit, we will send you our comprehensive Information Booklet. This includes more details regarding the programme you have signed up to along with kit lists, menu ideas and other useful information. Participant Joining Instructions with details of dates, times and locations will be sent to you 3-4 weeks prior to each activity.

Please be aware that all Open Expeditions are subject to a minimum number of 6 participants to make them safe and viable to run. We make every effort to ensure there are enough numbers to form a team, but in the event that this is not possible, we will refund all monies paid if we are unable to run the expedition.