Here’s an interesting development. A little over one month before the group leaves for Paris, your group leader will be there at an EF Tours International Convention addressing new group leaders on how to organize and conduct group tours! So from February 14-19, I will be in Paris, checking things out in advance of our group trip in March. It is an opportunity I never expected, and, of course, couldn’t refuse. I was honored to be asked, and consider it a reward for the many tours I have put together for EF. As a result, the pre-trip meeting I had originally tentatively scheduled for February 17 will be moved to Saturday, February 24. Details are listed below.

On each EF tour I organize, I provide an opportunity for the participants to get a small amount of local currency so they arrive in a country with at least something in their pockets without having to run to a bank or ATM as soon as they get there. I usually make a "bank run" to Philadelphia for that purpose. However, since I will be in Paris in mid-February, I will get some currency there at the best possible rate, for those who want it. I generally recommend amounts of $50 or $100 in French francs. There is a form enclosed if you wish to avail yourselves of this service. Since I leave on February 14, I will need your check as soon as possible. Of course, this is simply a service. You can make arrangements through your local bank, or take a trip to Philadelphia (First Union Bank, at Broad and Sansome has a walk-up international exchange counter – and Thomas Cook at 18^th and JFK Blvd. also has walk-up service). As on past tours, I will provide tri-fold currency converters for everyone in our group.

I have made arrangements with Starr Tours for the bus to Newark Airport from and back to Vincentown, as discussed earlier. Thanks to the almost unanimous response from the group, the total cost per person, round trip, is only $35.00. Since I have to pay in advance (and have already paid a deposit), use the enclosed form to remit your payment for the bus as soon as possible. Because we won’t have specific airline information until a week or so before departure, I have tentatively scheduled departure from Vincentown for 3:00 p.m. on March 22^nd (anticipating a 7:00 p.m. plane departure) and pickup on March 27^th at 2:00 p.m. More about parking arrangements in a future newsletter.

I have scheduled the two pre-trip meetings with Burlington County College. We will meet in the Teleconference Center at the college library (first building off the Pemberton bypass at the corner of Route 530). The building is easily identified by the white silo-like rotunda. The meetings will run from 10:30 a.m. till 12:30, and are strictly optional. If you don’t attend, you will be sent the handouts. The schedule: