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Study abroad programs for high school students rarely inspire envy in adults, but that’s essentially what happened with China Prep. The travel company, which launched in 2006, started off solely leading groups of high school students on three-to-six-week trips in China (read an earlier Indagare article on the trips). The journeys incorporated intensive Mandarin classes with visits to cultural sites and meetings with interesting locals. But after the first few, China Prep’s founder Brantley Turner Bradley was persuaded—largely by the parents of her former travelers—to change her business model. The Brown alumna and current New Yorker now offers custom journeys for curious travelers of all ages, with her first departure scheduled for September. This spring, she also plans to launch a few set ones, with pre-designed itineraries.

If Bradley’s previous programs are any indication, the adult trips should not disappoint. On a summer ’07 China Prep journey to Beijing, Shanghai and China’s rural Yunnan Province, students visited all the must-see galleries, museums and sites. But it was the people that really set the experience apart. “I find personal stories so interesting”, says Bradley, “[on China Prep’s trips] we try to meet someone new every day.” While visiting Beijing’s Dashanzi Art District, a former factory space, turned starving artist enclave, turned hip gallery area, the group stopped to chat with an ex-pat (a friend of Turner’s), who owned an apartment there and had witnessed the district’s shifting demographics firsthand. According to Deb Agrin, an adult on that trip: “The main galleries are not private, but the general public doesn’t get to sit down and have an hourlong conversation with someone from the area. Not everyone has access to these types of insights.”

Bradley’s own personal story is unique and, when putting together China Prep’s itineraries, her connections run deep. Her fascination with China was sparked as a child when her parents moved to Hong Kong for 15 years. At Brown she took as many classes on the country as possible and eventually returned for grad school. She later accepted a consumer research position in Shanghai, where her specialty was the Chinese youth—a job that required interviewing a wide array of tastemakers, ranging from contemporary photographers and artists to hip-hop dancers and pop culture icons. On the (abovementioned summer ’07 trip) students met with experts from various fields in Shanghai. These included graphic and fashion designers like Helen Li, creator of the trendy Insh brand and well-known among teenagers for judging an America’s Next Top Model competition, as well as architects and journalists. The latter discussed the various forces at work in the Chinese government’s controversial destruction of hutongs (traditional housing units being torn down for more modern high rises).

While many of Bradley’s insiders will remain the same for the adult trips, China Prep’s new itineraries will, of course, require a bit of tweaking. Mandarin classes will not be required and dorms—appropriate accommodations for high school students studying at universities—will be replaced with luxury hotel rooms. Bradley also plans to visit more antique stores and markets—not always a big hit with the under 20 set. But while the ages of China Prep’s travelers are changing, Bradley’s mission stays the same: “My goal on every trip is to create passion for China. My favorite part is watching people fall in love with the country.”