We already have 19 people signed up to go!

Photos are from an information meeting on April 8th, 2008 7pm meeting

 

We had our first meeting discussing the Bavaria trip last night.  It was well attended with a total of 26 people on the sign up list.  I know many people had other commitments and could not be there since they told me.  I want to make sure I have names of people that are interested and their emails so I can send information on to them as we move ahead.  I wanted to review the information we addressed last night for people that could not be there.  First let me list the itinerary again:

 

The "Optional Sound of Music Evening" cost $90 a person.  This is an evening of Austrian song and cuisine at a centuries-old restaurant in the heart of Salzburg's Old Town.  The Sound of Music, and musicians play Mozart as you dine on schnitzel and strudel, and view the illuminated churches in the distance. 

I want to address a question we had as well.

 

Can we sign up for the Sound of Music Evening when we enroll online as an individual choice or do we all have to decide as a group to do it or not?

- It is an individual choice and you may choose to do it if you like.  Remember that this is not included in your quoted price.  Our tour consultant said that I would need to go with the people that decide to do this and another parent or teacher would take the rest of the group to eat.

 

Here is another slide that I gave out last night giving the break-down of prices for adults and parents:

 

 

 

All Inclusive Insurance Plan $115

I talked about the "All Inclusive Insurance Plan" last night.  You should all have received a pamphlet that says, "Are you Covered?" at the top.  It talked about the extra insurance.  I strongly recommend this.  It covers many things such as:

 

- Full refund of program fee if canceling or partial refund due to serious illness

- injury requiring hospitalization

- financial hardship due to unexpected job loss

- jury duty

- military call to active duty

-severe damage to home

 

It gives you extra medical and accident insurance as well:

 

-Coverage for hospital bills

- doctor's fees

- medical transportation for illness or injury on tour

- travel accommodation expenses for a family member to be with you while you are hospitalized

- combined coverage of up to $35,000 for the above situations

 

It covers baggage and property insurance:

 

- Coverage for theft of baggage, cash, airline tickets, valuable documents and valuable property in cases of theft or delay

- emergency cash on tour of up to $300 within 24 hours in case of theft

- 24-hour emergency assistance

 

Allergy Questions

What if a child has an allergy to peanuts, what do we do so they won't serve them on the flight?

- Our tour consultant said to contact them and let them know and they would make sure they don't serve them on the flight.  She mentioned to try to do this as early as possible.

 

 

The only meals that are not included are lunches and snacks.  When you see "continental breakfast" you probably get the wrong idea.  In the U.S. our typical continental breakfast can look pretty bad, but in Europe it is much different.  Usually their continental breakfasts are all you can eat (cereals, bagels, breads <many many different types of breads -dark, white, swirled, grain, pumpernickel, rye, you name it> fruits, yogurts, juices, teas, coffee, eggs, sausage, bacon, jellies, jams, etc.).  So load-up on breakfast. 

 

Also in Europe their 3 star hotels are the equivalent to our 5 star hotels. 

 

Get your passport as soon as you can.  Passports are about $100 now and usually take around 6 weeks to process.  Passports are not included in the price of the trip, you need to buy it on your own. 

 

Each person must pay a $95 fee when they enroll to go on this trip.  This is not included in the quoted price.  If you choose to pay on the standard payment schedule then you have to make sure you pay on time when each deadline comes up.  There is a late fee if you are late on a payment.  With the Autopay program your payments are drafted out of your account if it is on a debit card or charged to your credit card if you choose.  It does this once each month until it is payed for.  If you started on Autopay this month then your first charge would be for $189 each month if you were a student and $212 a month if you were an adult.  There is no chance of late fees with the Autopay program.

 

 

 

 

It is very easy to enroll just go to the website www.eftours.com/student and enter our tour number listed above and check "Enroll in your teacher's tour".   

 

We need 3 people to sign up to lock in our price.

If you have 10 people sign up in April, we get a free world phone!

 

The deadline for applications is listed as May 9th, 2008.  I wanted to set this date before the summer came so I would know who is going to go.  If you cannot make this deadline but know you want to go please contact me and let me know at patrickmurch@anderson5.net.

We have begun to create our Fundraising Committee and if you would like to be on this committee please email me at patrickmurch@anderson5.net.  The purpose is to raise as much as we can for the people signed up to go.  We will keep a record of who helps with each fundraiser and the profits will be divided evenly among each person enrolled and involved in the fundraiser.  We will have (in the next few days) an account setup called "MOB Germany" where we will deposit all donations and profits earned for thie trip.  We will photocopy and send our records to our tour consultant at EF Tours as she said that she would keep these records as well. 

Please have any donations written to MOB Germany and we will deposit them evenly among enrolled participants. 

 

 

If we have over 41 people sign up for our trip then we can add another stop.  I talked with our tour consultant and told her that since we are going right by Mittenwald could we make it one of our stops.  Mittenwald is know for the instrument makers and shops that allow people to come in and see them make the instruments (Violins, Violas, Cellos and Basses).  They also have a world renown museum of the history of instrument making.  It is a beautiful place as well.

 

 

Students can receive high school or college credit for this trip.  To do this go to www.eftours/studentcredit and fill out the application.  There is a fee for this but it allows you to get credit for college which would count as an elective credit.  Basically the student would need to create a journal of the trip along with pictures in a scrap book and EF Tours would grade the work once the student sent it in.  Be sure to read the information about it at their website.  Harvard requires international credit for entry and more schools are doing this now.

 

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns about the trip patrickmurch@anderson5.net.  I will be sending information to people I have email addresses for.  Please enroll as soon as possible if you are going to go on the trip.  This is a trip of a lifetime!