It is now 2011 and my daughter is in high school. It has been quite a few years since the fiasco trip to Washington DC. I am prompted to write, yet again on this blog regarding travel scams aimed at children. Just today my daughter received a letter in the mail stating she has been "chosen" to be a student ambassador to Scotland, Wales and England.
The letter has on it a list of all the past presidents as "honorary chairmen." That to me was a BIG tip off. My bet is that all of those presidents didn't even know that the company existed.
It is nothing more than a glorified tour company trying to snag another sap with an expensive and poorly planned trip abroad. After doing a Google search for "People to People International scam" I found lots of information on them..................none of it good.
The bottom line:
If you want your child to visit a different country to experience culture then just go on a family vacation there. It will probably cost the same in the long run as it would with the tour company for just your child.
Tips for fund raising that are easy and profitible
If our little group had known which of our ventures was a waste of time, we would not have even tried them. Many indoor craft sales were a waste of our time and not worth the effort we put into them. Most of the "easier" ways I am going to list involve at least several members of a group and they should have some internet savvy.
First up, get a blog like this one and don't have it related to your group activities. I am not saying don't write about what is going on but have it relate to another subject and talk about that. Your blog is not for communication but a way for your group to earn money. For more information on earning money with your blog visit this website for complete how-to's
How to make money with your blog
Next make and sell your own calendars, books and other printed items to sell. Go to lulu.com where you can do all that for free and just pay for your items as you need them. You can also use lulu.com to sell your items for you.
Both of those methods above require more than just one person with technical know how. I knew about these methods when I was involved with our group 2 years ago but I was the only one with internet know how. It is just too much for one person to do. The rest of the parents in the group just baked and made crafts, hence our involvement with lots of failed craft fairs.
First up, get a blog like this one and don't have it related to your group activities. I am not saying don't write about what is going on but have it relate to another subject and talk about that. Your blog is not for communication but a way for your group to earn money. For more information on earning money with your blog visit this website for complete how-to's
How to make money with your blog
Next make and sell your own calendars, books and other printed items to sell. Go to lulu.com where you can do all that for free and just pay for your items as you need them. You can also use lulu.com to sell your items for you.
Both of those methods above require more than just one person with technical know how. I knew about these methods when I was involved with our group 2 years ago but I was the only one with internet know how. It is just too much for one person to do. The rest of the parents in the group just baked and made crafts, hence our involvement with lots of failed craft fairs.
Washington DC travel video
I just stumbled on this interesting video on YouTube. It is a walking tour of Washington DC. Enjoy the music and the sights:
Parents have started early this year (2010) to fund raise for their trips to DC
My own daughter is now in high school and it has been 2 years since that Washington DC trip that this blog was all about. The next batch of 8th graders have started to do fund raising even before the school year has started. From what I have heard so far, the parents lost money instead of getting money. That is not a good start. I don't know if they are using World Strides again this year but I hope they are not. They should give a local travel agency the opportunity to get them some great deals.
I never did get that $100 or so back from World Strides. Their claim of it being "just too small of an amount for them to refund" is such BS. I certainly hope that this blog and others like them have caused them to lose more than $100 over the last 2 years. Just to make sure they do get what they deserve I will up date the blog with any news on World Strides and their nasty business practices.
I never did get that $100 or so back from World Strides. Their claim of it being "just too small of an amount for them to refund" is such BS. I certainly hope that this blog and others like them have caused them to lose more than $100 over the last 2 years. Just to make sure they do get what they deserve I will up date the blog with any news on World Strides and their nasty business practices.
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