Preparing our Group for International Travel

It's hard to believe we are just a 11 days out from our Mission to China.

Here at the chamber we started this process approximately nine months ago with our first full-page advertisements in the Daily Inter Lake and initial informational meeting. Over the following months of getting more and more travelers signed up (see post from 3/25), our office to-do list grew longer and longer.

Organizing a trip around the world, especially to China, entails a lot more than putting a name and contact information on a sign-up sheet.

In case you're wondering what behind the scenes here looked like while prepping for this trip, here's a little inside information on what we've been keeping ourselves busy with.

The last few name badges
with tickets and luggage tags

While payment for this trip wasn't due until nearly 6 months after our first informational meeting, we started working right away. Our interested travelers had to complete a registration form and leave a deposit to reserve their space (good thing everyone did this early, since we built a waiting list of 30+ people).

Our Administrative Services Manager, Katie, and our Presidents son, Andrew, began taking these registration forms and creating what would soon become one of the largest Excel spreadsheets you could imagine. First name, middle name, last name, phone number, permanent address, winter address, deposit received, rooming with, traveling with, luggage tag name, and finally a registration number.

This spreadsheet quickly grew longer when we began collecting visas. As
you know, China is a heavily regulated country and requires a significant amount of paperwork and documentation for anyone wanting to visit.

Soon, instead of registration forms we were collecting 4-page applications, passports and payment for Chinese visas. Additionally, we made copies of all this information as well as duplicates of passports for our own records. It took about 4 months to coordinate all 200 Chinese visas, match every little bit of information across all of our documentation, send everything to California for the visas to be processed, receive the passports back, and then distribute them to their rightful owners.

By early March we finally received all of the airline tickets and itineraries we needed. It's taken us about 3 weeks now to get everyone their information, but I can confidently say we're pretty much done with all of the planning and preparation for this excursion!

One thing that we implemented for this trip that resulted in an overwhelming positive response was a
series of four newsletters we developed. These newsletters included information like important dates, helpful hints for international travel, flight and hotel information, frequently asked questions, optional tour information and more. Providing this information helped us insure our passengers are going to be well-educated and prepared for their trip around the world.

Remember those 30 people I said were on the waiting list for this trip? Well they're in luck! We will be running this trip again in April 2017. If you're interested in experiencing a whole new part of the world, through the safety and comfort of the Kalispell Chamber, give us a call and we'll give you the information you need. (406)758-2806.

If China doesn't suit your fancy, click here to learn about our upcoming trip to Innsbruck, Austria and Oktoberfest, Sept 25-Oct 3, 2016.

- Kate Lufkin
Marketing & Communications Specialist for the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce