Upcoming Trip to India to Participate in a Polio National Immunization Trip – February 2013

Howard Tours is in the final planning process of organizing a trip of about 35 people to travel to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, India in February 2013 to participate in the polio eradication program. District 6080 Rotarians have been invited and an official announcement for this trip is coming up in the next few weeks.

Currently, we do NOT have the final dates of the program, the cost of the trip, and we are not accepting membership. However, we wanted to give advanced notice that we expect to have all of the details in the next few weeks. If you are interested in participating, now is the time to prepare for the possible trip.

Key points:

  1. We expect to make this trip during the second half of February 2013. The trip itself will be approximately 10-12 days, including the travel days. At this moment, we are not sure if the polio immunization exercises will be February 16, 17 and 18 or February 22, 23 and 24. The Indian Department of Health is expected to make this decision within the next few weeks. Last year, the final February dates were decided by the government on 23 December and we announced the trip on 5 January.
  2. Our trip will include hotel accommodations, all transfers, most meals, Rotary meetings and events, project site visits, interaction with local Rotarians, and at least two days dedicated to in-field Rotary immunizations. In addition, we will visit the Taj Mahal and other significant and popular tourists sights in Delhi. Last year, the trip cost approximately $1850 per person, based on double occupancy. In addition to this cost, tour members will need to secure roundtrip airfare and the cost of securing an Indian visa. Many tour members have used frequent flier mileage to secure their air tickets, but for those who purchased their tickets, we were able to secure airfare as low as $1250.00 from many U.S. cities. We will help our members secure their air reservations and tickets, if needed.
  3. We have been organizing these trips since 1998, and have taken over 800 Rotarians, family and friends on these trips. This program will be the 18th such trip we have organized; the fifth to India.
  4. Earlier this year, we announced this trip at 5:00 p.m. on a Thursday, and the trip was sold out, with a waiting list by 12:00 p.m. on the following Monday. We expect that this trip will sell out just as fast.
  5. If you are interested in joining this trip, this is what you should do to be prepare for this trip:
    • Make sure you have a passport that is valid until AT LEAST August 31, 2013. You SHOULD NOT attempt to secure an Indian visa. They will need instructions and a letter of invitation. We will facilitate that process when you are confirmed on the trip.
    • Make sure their travel vaccinations are up to date.
    • We will send you another e-mail when this trip is ready for membership. We will also post it on our web site – (www.howardtours.net). We will also post an announcement on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/howardtours). If you “like” Howard Tours, you will receive a notice as soon as the trip is announced.
    • After the announcement is made, we will confirm people on the group first come, first served based on when we receive their completed application that will be a part of the announcement.

Please rest assured, we will announce this program as soon as we have received the firm dates from the Indian Government and we have secured all reservations and reservations for the trip so that you have confidence in the cost of travel and the program.