Costs and Airfare Information

Cost: $1800.

This includes:

• $500 donation to Habitat and the Nepal building program - MINIMUM*
• mandatory medical travel insurance
• mandatory trip cancellation insurance (new for teams commencing after July 1, 2008)
• orientation materials
• all expenses while in Nepal, including meals and accommodations at the host community
• ground transportation to Antu Danda & Ilam tea estate
• overnight lodging/meals at Antu Danda
• R&R meals, lodging, activities, trekking guides, ground transportation
• overnight lodging 3 nights in Kathmandu (on arrival, Nov 9; before R&R,Nov 19; and departure, Nov 21

It does not include:

• round-trip airfare to Kathmandu (estimated to be around $1800-1900) - see below for travel agent info
• expenses before arriving in KTM
• round-trip airfare to Bhadrapur (estimated to be around $275)
• expenses associated with international travel such as visa, passport, and immunizations

Funds must be received by September 25, 2008. If you are actively fundraising at that time (have donations expected to be coming in, it MAY be possible to give you extra time - check with team leader before making any assumptions!!)

*MINIMUM $500 donation explanation - all you have to raise is the expenses listed. We encourage people on our teams to challenge themselves (it's not a competition between team members) to go beyond that minimum donation. 100% of that money will go to Nepal for their house-building program. The more raised, the more houses built, simple as that. So, as you consider your fundraising strategy, put the listed costs as the minimum that you want to raise. Even if you could pay for this trip right out of your pocket, we would still encourage you to fundraise because that is the number one tool for raising awareness as well. When you tell the story, explain the need, you are letting others know about the challenges of poverty housing in Nepal. And when you do that, donations usually follow. It doesn't need to be an extravagant fundraising strategy. It could be as simple as writing an email to ten of your closest colleagues, friends, and family members, just stating what you're doing and asking them to JOIN you in eliminating poverty housing. Most people appreciate the opportunity. In the end, we hope that you can say you not only raised $xxx, but you also made xxx number of people aware in joining the challenge!!

Ideas on fund/awareness raising will be posted to this blog within a week.

Airfares vary depending on your departure city. Suggested contacts:

1) Eldon Wagler at Golden Rule Travel, Wagler@Goldrule.net - he can probably get you a discounted rate ("humanitarian fare") as far as Bangkok. Check with him to see what other rates he can get you for travel on to Kathmandu or another rate if you don't want to go through Bangkok.

2) Susi at World Traveller's Club, susi@around-the-world.com. She helped several people on our PNG team last spring. She had good rates, but you can't use a credit card.

3) your own travel agent.

Your itinerary must have you in Kathmandu no later than November 9, and leaving KTM no sooner than the morning of Nov 22. No team member can arrive later or depart earlier than the posted itinerary. Your team leader can give you more information.