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Presented by:
Bill Walling, ILR, Georgia College and State University
Carol Walker, Senior College, Eckerd College, FL
Mamie Hardy, Auburn University Academy for Lifelong Learners, SC
Bill Stickley, ASPEC, Eckerd College, FL (Moderator)
This workshop investigated the intricacies of developing a travel program,
the logistics involved, and how to effectively coordinate the trip and
other aspects of trip planning.
Please contact presenters for more detailed information.
Institute for Learning in Retirement, Georgia College and State
University
• Make a schedule of upcoming events.
• Many are annual events.
• Determine bus cost, ticket cost and ticket cutoff dates.
• Once trip costs are finalized, step back and ask yourself if the
cost is reasonable, or is the trip too costly.
• Some trips may sound great but are cost prohibitive for members
on fixed incomes.
• When possible, visit the site beforehand, even stay in the motel,
if a motel is part of an itinerary. (Note: many motels “comp”
the driver’s room, but others charge).
• When attending a stage show, if possible, see the show first as
it might not be a show that is entirely appropriate for your
group.
• Determine your route beforehand, and don’t assume that the
bus driver knows the best route or even knows where a town is located.
• Ensure that there are adequate rest stops en route.
• Plan to stop every two hours.
• Interstate travel is quicker and provides rest stops.
• Check out eating establishments beforehand.
• If stopping at a large chain for lunch or dinner, try to stop
before or after their main meal hour.
• Many restaurants “comp” the driver’s meal and
the trip host’s meal.
• For long trips, charter a bus with overhead video and take along
several movies to show.
• If its a holiday trip, have someone lead the group in holiday
songs.
• Have games to play.
• Take snacks or cold drinks.
• Plan, plan, plan and start planning early.
Senior College, Eckerd College
• Have a backpack for the tour leader. It should contain a folder
with all the information about the program, including a list of participants,
a first aid-kit, a cell phone, all contact information for people at the
site(s) and back at the LLI, and emergency forms for everyone.
• They do short, local trips with an educational component and several
multi-day trips each year.
• Their most successful format is the Class Trip. The class is short
(one day or less usually) and then a trip (usually a day trip) tied to
the class.
• They try to hold their programs to the standard “If they
can do it on their own, then we will not do it.”
• There is usually a component to the trip/class that is not offered
to the general public.
• They try not to run programs with more than 25-30 participants.
• Larger groups are harder to accommodate at restaurants and docent
led tours, and they also require larger busses.
• People relate better to each other in smaller groups and learn
more.
• They have also had successes with more active programs.
• Kayaking worked very well, as have bike rides with lunch at an
interesting local bistro or a stop at a museum or nature lesson at a park.
• Members learn the new technique first and then try out their skills.
• Volunteers drive their programs.
• Last year there were over 6,400 hours of volunteer time.
• They fill the Advisory Council, lead the trips, assist in classrooms
to provide support to instructors/lecturers, staff the phones and
provide support to the two part-time college staffers who guide the program.
• Senior College has an “Adopt a Spot” program. This
is a way of keeping their brochures and catalogs at various community
locations.
• They ask members to “adopt a spot” in their neighborhood
and see to it that the Senior College materials are current and present
at that spot.
• Some people use as "the spot" their Library, Condo,
Community Center, Chamber of Commerce or wherever.
• Others are very creative in the “spots” and bring
in many new contacts and members.
• Since many of their members have e-mail, etc. Senior College encourages
them to send in digital pictures of their excursions, programs, etc. and
make an effort to include them on the website.
• All photos from trips and classes are posted as quickly as possible.
• They have begun to use the Internet and their website to publicize
the programs.
• They offer free intro classes in computers for newbies.
• They are beginning to explore the possibility of offering CDs
of the trips to participants. There is a lot to do yet but the seed has
been planted.
• They are a young LLI, not yet six years old. They started with
about 60 members in 1997 and now have over 600.
• They are learning and growing and HAVING FUN!
Auburn University Academy for Lifelong Learners
Note : Since the first two panelists covered the major points she planned
to cover in her talk, she decided not to repeat information, instead focused
on two of AUALL’s most successful trips – one a day trip and
the other a three-day trip.
Day Trip to Rural Studio, Hale County, AL, April 2, 2002. (Rural Studio
is a Distance Learning Program of AU’s College of Architecture,
Design & Construction.)
• The Rural Studio is located in West Alabama in one of the state’s
poorest counties. The administrative office is in the small town of Newbern
in an old home given to the program. Hale County is a three-hour drive
from the University’s main campus in Auburn.
• Second-year students live for a semester in Newbern designing
and building housing for poverty-level families. The fifth-year students
live for a year in the town of Greensboro (county seat) where they design
and build a community facility, such as a combination community center/chapel,
baseball field, playground, etc., as his/her thesis project.
• Students often use “odd” materials in building houses
and community facilities, i.e., bales of hay, carpet squares (serve
as support walls as well as insulation), automobile windshields, used
telephone poles, etc.
What made the trip successful?
• Advance publicity. Professor in charge of Rural Studio was invited
as guest speaker at AUALL’s Spring General meeting, which was held
a few weeks prior to the scheduled trip. The news release was
accompanied by a color photo of the Professor and several students standing
on a wall made of carpet squares. The “carpet squares”
house was already under construction.
• The trip was listed in AUALL’s weekly Bulletin Board several
weeks prior to the date of the trip.
• The Professor’s slide presentation on the Rural Studio at
the AUALL’s Spring General Meeting stimulated even more
interest in the trip.
• Details of the trip were planned well in advance with the Administrative
Assistant at the Rural Studio in Newbern.
• These arrangements included not only the sites to be visited,
but also arrangements for a catered box lunch and for two fifth-year female
students to serve as guides for the day.
• Background information on the houses and community facilities
to be visited were circulated among the travelers en route
to the Rural Studio.
• Follow-up newspaper publicity. (Included photo of the group visiting
a community center/chapel made partially of 80 Chevy Caprice windshields
bought from a Chicago scrap yard for $120.)
II. Three-day trip to Philadelphia, April 12-14, 2003 to see an exhibition
of Edgar Degas’ drawings, prints, pastels, oil paintings and sculpture
of ballerinas on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through May
11, 2003.
What made the trip a success?
• The Director of AU’s new art museum taught an AUALL course
on Degas and the French Impressionists winter quarter, 2003 (eight, 90-minute
lectures).
• In addition, the museum gave a special lecture on the Philadelphia
exhibition to the 24 travelers a few days before departing Auburn.The
lecturer served as the tour guide while in Philadelphia.
• Other cultural events were planned for the group while in Philadelphia,
including other art museums, a concert by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra
and dinner at a fine restaurant.
• Unlike some Lifelong Learning Institutes, AUALL has found that
a Travel Committee with co-chairs works best for our group. The Co-Chairs
attend the Board of Directors’ meetings and report on any upcoming
trips as well as on results of the most recent trip taken. From time to
time, the Travel Committee surveys the AUALL membership for members input
regarding travel destinations.
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September 7, 2008
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