By now, all the cadets who have been chosen to participate in next year’s trip to Europe should be notified. This tour is being run by Education First education tours and will take the cadets and adult chaperones on a tour of Canadian Battlefields throughout Europe. A tour guide will be with the group at all times.

The trip can be signed up for at the Education First website here – https://www.eftours.ca/secure/login/enroll-preview.aspx. Our trip # is 1246733 and our tour leader/guardian is Lesley-Anne Natalie Petcoff (aka Captain Petcoff). The trip price quoted at our meeting is only guaranteed until MARCH 31 so make sure to enroll and place a deposit before that date. We do not know what the price will be for the trip once April 1 has started. Cancellation insurance costs extra (but is recommended if there is a possibility of cancelling due to illness or scheduling difficulties).

The tour will require 1 or 2 days off of school although European travel is also a very educational experience! The trip price includes everything except for lunch, gratuities and souvenirs. Cadets should budget $10-$15 a day for lunch as well as make sure the guide, bus and waiters are all tipped. The cadet staff attending the trip will help calculate amounts and such.

There are two ways to pay for the trip — A $99 non-refundable deposit and monthly payments until departure or $700 deposit with the balance due 99 days before the departure. There will be some fundraising activities that the cadets can take part in to help subsidize the cost of the trip. Cadets MUST PARTICIPATE in the fundraising activities to benefit from them.

All cadets will need valid passports which can take up to 8 weeks to get through the mail. It is a good idea to get the paperwork started for passports as soon as possible. The government website for passports can be found here: http://www.ppt.gc.ca/index.aspx. They also need to have passport photos done which can no longer be done at registry offices. Try Wal-Mart, Superstore or London Drugs for passport photos.

Adults attending the trip as chaperones will need to have passports as well as a criminal record check and vulnerable sectors check. I recommend starting on this paperwork as soon as possible as well to ensure that it is done well in advance.

At the presentation about the Vimy trip, Mona Yates talked about group fundraising opportunities briefly. At that time, it was pointed out that the corps will TRY to subsidize although there is no guarantees. It was suggested to ask friends, neighbours and companies for bottles to raise money or to approach businesses to help sponsor a cadets trip costs. There was also a discussion about apply for discounts, grants and sponsorships although there was no specific details given.

There will be a fundraising meeting on Wednesday, March 28 in the Atrium at 6:15 for parents who would like to take part in fundraising to pay for their children’s trip. Further details will be discussed at this time.