The program for Thursday, February 28, 2008 is:
Gulia Piana
Our Foreign Exchange Student from
Santa Maria Navarrese, Italy
Last Week's Program
Michelle Schrader from Preferred Travel discussed why you might want to consider hiring a Professional Travel Agent rather than booking your next trip online yourself. Some of the more compelling reasons include:
- Complete packages with all travel requirements revealed in advance. Even a short trip into Canada has new document requirements which are only going to get more stringent in the post 911 period. International travel can be for more complicated with some very stringent visa and shot requirements. A professional travel agent can be expected to inform you of these complications where as the online ticketing makes very little attempt to identifying them.
- Verifying that all your needs are being met. While you can certainly buy almost anything online, with out an experienced Travel Agent you might not recognize the need. In some cases it might actually be to your advantage to buy a more expensive ticket with more flexibility than the most economical ticket the web server offers. Additionally, there are reasons so many people buy travel insurance but the web sites rarely provide a reasonable explanation of why you would do so.
- Travel interruptions. If you are traveling on a ticket booked online, you are left to deal directly with the airline. Usually this is complicated by a shortage of time and waiting in line. If you have the services of a Travel Agent, simple call them and let them un-sort the mess as inexpensively as possible. They have access to the same data base the Airline Agent is using.
She left us with the TSA "3-1-1 Rules for Carry On Baggage" and a sample of the deals that are available through her office. Whether you book your own or use an Professional Travel Agent, she wishes you "Bon Voyage"!
- L.E.A.D. Training 2008 March 07, 2008
- Board of Directors Meeting - March 17, 2008
- Board of Directors Meeting - April 14, 2008
- Dist 5580 Conference - Apr 30 - May 1, 2008
International Responsibilities of a Rotarian
As an international organization, Rotary offers each member unique opportunities and responsibilities. Although each Rotarian has first responsibility to uphold the obligations of citizenship of his or her own country, membership in Rotary enables Rotarians to take a somewhat different view of International Affairs. In the early 1950s, a Rotary philosophy was adopted to describe how a Rotarian may think on a global basis. Here is what it said:
"A World Minded Rotarian:
- Looks beyond national patriotism and considers himself as sharing responsibility for the advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace;
- Resists any tendency to act in terms of national or racial superiority;
- Seeks and develops common grounds for agreement with peoples of other lands;
- Defends the rule of law and order to preserve the liberty of each individual so that he may enjoy freedom of thought, speech, and assembly, and freedom from persecution, aggression, want and fear;
- Supports action directed toward improving standards of living for all peoples, realizing that poverty anywhere endangers prosperity everywhere;
- Upholds the principles of justice for mankind;
- Strives always to promote peace between nations and prepares to make personal sacrifices for that ideal;
- Urges and practices a spirit of understanding of others’ beliefs as a step toward international goodwill, recognizing that there are certain basic moral and spiritual standards which will ensure a richer, fuller life."
That is quite an assignment for any Rotarian to practice in thoughts and actions!