Like the man said <G>, we get to do some facility familiarizations on duty time here if we can get the time off from the facility. That in itself is rather difficult most of the time.
We get to do familiarization flights on duty time now and only on duty time. That sounds great, but it is a catch 22 in that if you can't be spared from the facility, then you can't get the fam flight. You can no longer do any kind of fams on your scheduled days off.
I have been VERY lucky in that I have been able to take vacation time and do a lot of traveling to other countries and have been able to then get duty time to visit the ATC facilities in the areas that I was in. I have always found it quite interesting and enjoyable. I want to be able to do some more of it too, but this year it just didn't work out. Maybe next year <G>.
NATCA has always thought that this is very important and has been trying to work out a controller exchange program. The FAA has had NO inclination to agree to this, so we are going it without their help. As far as I know, we are working with the French right now to establish a program, and if it is successfull, I would LOVE to see other countries join in... It would be somewhat like a student exchange program where you get hosted by a family. We are proposing the same thing... We can all learn from each other <G>... However, I don't want to just bring the arrivals into the stacks <G>...
regards