Friday, May 19, 2006

Answers to the Most Popular Questions

I'm not sure if anyone is still checking this but I thought I'd post the answers to the most popular questions everyone seems to be asking lately.

1. Do we need to bring towels and laundry detergent? Towels are necessary. I would also recommend a small pillow that you can pack or even use on the airplane. I'm not completely sure where all of you will be staying or what the situations will be like. Sometimes just being assured of something from home to sleep on brings a little bit of peace. Laundry Detergent is up to you. DO NOT PACK an entire bottle however. The hosts of the teams know that at some point you will need to wash your clothes and they will make that available to you. Please remember that the people where you are going are used to wearing the same outfit a couple of days in a row - you'll be fine if you have to do the same. I would pack one or two packs of woolite (the traveler size or the size you can buy in a laundromat) in case you run out of clean undies.

2. What day do we get home? All of your flights return to the States on July 24 however you will not go home until the 27 to allow time for debriefing.

3. What do we do about TYI? TYI starts on July 31. You will travel home from debriefing and then go to TYI with your divisional delegation. Click here http://www.youthdownsouth.org/tyiappl_web.pdf for your application.

4. What type of vaccinations do I need to get? Get all of the ones the doctor at the travel clinic recommends. It is always better to be safe than sorry. For those of you travelling to Malaysia, you will be spending time in Ipoh and Kota Kinabalu with a short stint (two to four hours) in Kuala Lumpur. Those of you traveling to Peru and Belize, I do not believe you will be traveling into the jungle at any point nor will you be traveling outside of those two countries. In Peru you will be going to Chiclayo, Trujillio and Lima. In Belize, I don't know the specific names of the cities but you will be traveling around the entire country.

I hope all of this is helpful. If there are any more questions, please post them here and I will respond.

Joy