WASHINGTON DC
October 8-12, 2009
NOTES & UPDATES
•
A mother/daughter team is looking for another mother/daughter to
share hotel room and travel. Email
editor@carolinahomeschooler.com for more
info.
What we're doing...
We're taking our fourth
trip to
Washington DC in October - come join us! We're
planning to tour the various memorials and monuments, White House, Old Post Office Pavilion
and Tower, Arlington Cemetery, US Capitol, Library of Congress,
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Holocaust Museum, the Pentagon, Ford's Theater, and Union Station.
We'll also have the opportunity to visit Smithsonian museums such as: Air and Space
Museum, Museum of Natural History, Museum of American History
(recently reopened after renovations!), Museum of the
American Indian, and
others of your choice.
Our schedule is flexible, so we may not see every site listed, or we
may see more. It depends on crowd levels, the weather, and where our
travels take us. Some tours we'll do as a group; others we'll do on
our own.
If we are able to get
the White House and Pentagon tours, I will need the personal information of
everyone scheduled to go on the tours (social security number, date
of birth, full names, city/state of birth). You must send this
information via email, or via snail mail with your payment. Due to
the Pentagon's and White House's strict security requirements, I
must have this information for you to join our tours. If you don't
want to provide it, please don't register for this trip. (I will
guard it with my life, and shred it as soon as I'm finished with
it.) Everyone in the group 15
years of age or older will be required to show photo identification
with information exactly matching the name from your registration
form that I submit for clearance. If your identification card does
not exactly match the name that you submit, you may be denied
admittance, so please type or print your information clearly.
The registration
deadline is August 15. Due to the popularity of this trip in
the past, please consider registering as soon as you're certain you
want to go. We'll be limited to 120 (or so) guests for each trip this year, with a
limited number of rooms available. Once we reach our limit, you'll
be added to our waiting list in case a family has to back out at the
last minute. (It happens every trip!)
We must have a minimum
number of travelers to receive group discounts, so I may have cancel if we don't reach our minimum. I'll announce via this
website and our Traveling Homeschoolers mailing
list when this trip is confirmed.
How we’ll get there...
You'll make your own
travel arrangements for this trip (car, train, or plane). If you
choose to fly or take the train, there's no need to rent a car once
you arrive in DC. Our hotel is easily accessible via the metro
(whether you travel by train to Union Station or by plane to Reagan International
Airport - not Dulles) or via a hotel shuttle (if you land at Reagan International
Airport - not Dulles). If you drive, parking at the hotel will be an extra $12
per night.
Please plan to arrive on
Thursday, October 8, by 5:00 pm. We'll have a meet and greet
later that evening, and
I'll distribute admission tickets and information about how to use
DC's wonderful public transportation system. We'll spend Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday touring, and depart for home on the morning of
Monday October 12.
Cost and what's included...
I'm estimating the cost
for a "typical" family of four (depending on ages) will be around
$984. (A family of 3 would be around $882,
and a family of 2 would be around $780, depending on ages.)
These totals reflect the use of fundraising money for some of our
group admission fees (your family will be eligible for the reduced
cost on this trip, even if you didn't participate in fundraising).
The cost for each family will differ depending on family size and
ages of the children. An initial deposit of $500 will be due
within 7 days of registration, with the balance due by August 15.
The cost of your trip
includes your registration fee; hotel for four nights; a buffet
breakfast on Friday through Monday; lunch on Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday; and all site
admissions. It also includes Metro and Circulator transportation
while we're there. All other meals, a $12 per night hotel parking fee if
you drive to DC, and anything you do on your own will be extra.
Our hotel rooms will
have two double beds and will be reserved for each family (you won't
share a room with people you don't know). The hotel will allow only
four people in a room, so you'll need to upgrade to a suite if you
have more than four. (Email me for cost information.)
Let me know if you'd like
to share a room to save money (your party consists of just one
parent and a child, for example, and you know another parent/child
team you'd like to share a room with, or would like to find one to
share with). If you have fewer than four
in your party, the cost of your admissions will decrease, but your
hotel cost (the bulk of your total) will remain the same.
How is this trip different from the November Washington trip?...
The November trip is
almost the same as the October trip with these exceptions:
- October: cost is $110
more (for hotel)
- October: weather may
be warmer
- October: We have reservations for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing;
in November we don't.
- There may be more
differences as soon as our group's reservations are confirmed/denied
(some sites won't let us know until a couple of months to a couple
of weeks in advance).
Refunds...
If you need to back out of the trip after sending your deposit
and/or final payment, I'll work with you to get your money back
(less a $50 cancellation fee) by trying to arrange for another family to take your place (from my
waiting list of families who register after the deadline). I
can't guarantee a refund if I have no families on my waiting list.
If you share a room with
another parent/child team, and then back out, you will not
receive a refund of your share of the hotel room unless the other
family agrees to cover the entire cost of the room, or finds another
team to share the cost.
Last minute drop-outs were a problem with previous trips, nearly
forcing us to cancel due to dropping below the level required for
group discounts. Please be sure you really want to go before
registering and paying your fees - there's no guarantee you'll get
your money back if you cancel.
Important things to know...
w Your deposit will be
due in my mailbox within 7 days of the day I send your confirmation
email. Please don't register until you're able to mail your deposit.
(This eliminates the need to send repeated deposit reminders.) If I
don't receive it within one week of my confirmation email, your
registration will be deleted. If you decide to register again, a
$25 re-registration fee will be added to your total.
w We'll rely on public
transportation while touring DC. It's well worth the experience, but
it does require that we have patience if things don't go exactly
according to our timetable.
w Please note on your
registration any special requests (carpooling, caravanning, room
sharing, riding the same Amtrak train together, etc), and I'll try to connect you with other homeschool
families who are looking for the same.
w If we are able to get
the White House and Pentagon tours, I will need the personal information of
everyone scheduled to go on the tour (social security number, date
of birth, full name, and city/state of birth). Everyone in the group 15 years of age or older
will be required to show photo identification with information
exactly matching the name from your registration form that I submit
for clearance. If your identification card does not exactly match
the name that you submit, you may be denied admittance, so please
type your information accurately on your registration form. You must
either email this information to me when you register or include it
when you mail your deposit. Please don't register for this trip if
you don't want to provide this information. (I don't use it for
anything other than qualifying you for these tours, and I shred the
information as soon as I'm finished with it.)
w You'll walk a lot on
this trip. If you have problems that won't allow you to walk for
extended periods during the day, please consider postponing your
trip until you're more able. I don't recommend this trip for
older people (grandparents in their 60s or 70s, for example) unless they're very active and are accustomed to walking for
extended periods during the day.
w Start a walking program
before the trip if you don't do much walking now. Be sure to walk in the shoes (sneakers, walking shoes)
you'll be using for the trip - don't buy new shoes without breaking
them in thoroughly. Trust me on this.
w If you plan to take
small children (infants and toddlers), consider bringing both a
stroller and a carrier - both will come handy depending on security
requirements at the sites we visit.
w Security in DC is
extreme. Be prepared to be security scanned every place we visit
and become familiar with the requirements of each site before we
arrive. (I will email this information before our travel dates.)
w If you decide not to
take the trip after you send payment, a refund of your payment is not
guaranteed and is unlikely if I don't have families on my waiting
list. If you have to cancel for any reason, I will try to get back
as much of your money for you as possible, but there will be a
minimum $50 cancellation fee to cover my cost in planning for your
family. Please read and understand my refund policy (in the section
above) before sending your money.
w If you share a room
with another parent/child team, and then back out, you will not
receive a refund of your share of the hotel room unless the other
family agrees to cover the entire cost of the room, or finds another
team to share the cost.
w If you have any doubts
about the legitimacy of me, Carolina Homeschooler, or this trip, please
ask me for references before sending me your money. Don't send money
to anyone on the internet if you don't trust them.
w This trip may be
cancelled if we don't have enough registrations. If I have to cancel, you'll receive a refund of all payments.
w See our
Washington DC 2006
and
2008
reports for a description
and photos of
our previous trips.
w More "things to know"
will be posted as we near our departure date, so check back here
from time to time for the latest updates.
If you want to go...
To register for this
trip, please copy and paste the following form into
an email and supply the requested information (you can delete
the Second Child & Third Child portion if it's not
needed, or add more sections if you have more students to enroll).
It's important to type the correct age of each child on the date
given so I can take advantage of any age-related discounts.
NOTE: Please send your registration from the email address
you'll be using to communicate with me about the trip. Also, please
don't send registrations as an attached file. Copy and paste the
form in the body of an email.
An initial deposit of
$500 will be due within 7 days of registration, with the balance
due by August 15.
If I don't receive your payment within 7 days from the day I
send your confirmation and payment email, your registration will be
deleted. (This eliminates the need to send repeated deposit
reminders.)
If you decide to register again, a
$25 re-registration fee will
be added to your total. (Note: If you lose track of time
or have a problem and know your payment will be a few days late,
don't pay high overnight or express fees - just email me and let me
know.)
A waiting list will be maintained after our
registration deadline. Please read my refund policy carefully before
registering and sending payment.
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WASHINGTON DC
REGISTRATION - OCTOBER 2009
[NOTE: To
participate in the White House and Pentagon tours, please provide each person's birthday,
city/state/country of birth, and Social Security number. You may send social
security numbers, and all personal information, via snail mail with
your deposit if you feel uncomfortable emailing it.]
Parent Information
Full Name(s) of each
participating parent (including middle names):
Email:
Home Address:
Phone Number:
Parents' birthdates,
city/state/country of birth, and Social Security numbers:
First Student
Student's Full Name
(including middle):
Student's age on October 8, 2009:
Student's birthday,
city/state/country of birth, and Social Security number:
Second Student
Student's full name
(including middle):
Student's age on October 8, 2009:
Student's birthday,
city/state/country of birth, and Social Security number:
Third Student
Student's full name
(including middle):
Student's age on October 8, 2009:
Student's birthday,
city/state/country of birth, and Social Security number:
Other Guests
Please list the full
names of other guests in your party, plus their personal information
for Pentagon and White House Tours:
Total number in your
party:
Comments:
[Please note any
special requests (carpooling, caravanning, room sharing, etc), and
I'll try to connect you with other homeschool families who are
looking for the same.]
WASHINGTON DC
REGISTRATION - OCTOBER 2009
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Once I receive your
registration via email, I will respond with payment information and
mailing instructions. Please
email me if you have any questions.
Subscribe to our
Traveling Homeschoolers
mailing list to receive updates via email. To discuss plans for our
trips, visit the Traveling Homeschoolers forum on our
message boards.
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