When helping my customers with their large groups traveling together internationally, I like to recommend a few helpful tips for the journey. The one thing that I always say is plan for the worst and HOPE for the best when it comes to large groups. Travel insurance is a very important factor to think about which I recommend to our groups first and foremost. If you purchase a good policy, your group will be covered for medical emergencies, emergency evacuation, and things like lost baggage!!! Losing luggage on your international trip is every traveler's nightmare. No one ever wants to be in this position, but let's face it, these things can and do happen and it is always best to be prepared in the event that you find yourself in this crisis situation. Travel insurance will be very helpful to compensate for some of the loss if this should ever occur.
Another important thing I like to recommend is to make sure the group is all wearing the same shirt on the day they will be traveling. This sounds like a silly thing, but for large groups, this is an easy identifier to make sure that members of the group can easily recognize each other and stay together in the airports. This will be very helpful, especially if each group member remembers to wear them and the colors are very bright and distinctive. You may not think about safety issues as much on US soil, but as soon as you step foot in another country and find yourself in an airport all the way across the world, you will find that every safety measure that you take now will be appreciated when you are out of your comfort zone.
You may also want to make sure each person has their passport in a special passport carrier around their neck so that no one in the group loses their passport. It is always good to make copies of your passport and carry one in your checked baggage and another in your carry-on just in case you happen to lose your passport somehow on your trip. Having a copy will be life-saving if you have a forgetful group member who leaves their passport somewhere in Africa and is trying to get on their flight without it.
Also, please remember that if you are a group leader and are a frequent flier, your group members may not be. Please make sure that you remember to educate your group on what to pack. If you have any questions about what to carry on with you, please direct members of your group to http://www.tsa.gov for all of the necessary requirements for carry-on items and how to pack liquid items in your carry-on bags. This can be very time-saving if all members of the group have a good understanding of what to expect when going through security, so that we can all KEEP THAT LINE MOVING if you know what I mean!! And I know that for all of you international travelers out there, you KNOW what I mean. ;)
I hope that these tips are helpful for all of you group leaders and group members of missions trips this summer! Please visit my website for more helpful tips and for a free airfare quote for the missionary and humanitarian airfare we provide! www.cheapmissionstrips.com
God bless and Safe Travels!
~Tabitha :)
