See the USA!!!

To win this vacation, The Peer Travel Club has selected six fascinating cities from which you will choose one to visit. Contest entries must include a trip itinerary, budget, and pictures of the places you hope to visit along with a 200 word essay stating why you have chosen this city. The Peer Travel Club has selected a committee to judge the best entry based on effective use of funds for an interesting and informative trip. All entries must be received by The Peer Travel Club within two weeks. Finalists will deliver an oral presentation of their plans to The Peer Travel Club. Select one of the following cities for your entry. Good luck!

• San Francisco
• San Antonio
• Seattle
• New Orleans
• New York
• Boston

The Task

You will be responsible for selecting your city, planning your itinerary, and budget not to exceed $5,000. Be sure to include maps and photographs in your presentation.

Your itinerary will include:

city points of interest

historical sites

museums

industrial sites

educational institutions

other places of interest to you

Your budget will include the following:

all transportation costs (including within the city you visit)

lodging

meals

entry fees

entertainment

souvenirs

miscellaneous

 

 

Encyclopedias: Check out electronic encyclopedias as well as those on library shelves.

 

Library Books: Ask your school or local librarian for help locating travel books and information.

 

Magazines: There are several travel magazines located in bookstores and libraries. National Geographic also highlights special cities, check the National Geographis Index for articles.

 

Periodicals: Many local newspapers have a special travel section printed each Sunday. Check with your librarian for information from her periodical file.

 

Travel brochures: Check the travel section of popular home magazines for addresses to obtain travel information from various cities. Some magazines containing this information are Sunset, Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, etc.

 

American Automobile Association: You can obtain AAA tour books which contain a wealth of information on things to see and do as well as lodging and restaurants.

 

Travel Agencies: Your local travel agencies will have information and brochures about your selected city. They might be able to help you with special group rates for your trip.

 

Chambers of Commerce: Every city has a Chamber of Commerce which has special information available to help tourists enjoy their visit. To obtain this information, write a letter to the Chamber of Commerce requesting a travel packet. You can address your request as follows if you do not know the correct street address: Chamber of Commerce, c/o Postmaster, your city, state, and zip code (obtained from your local post office).

 

Tourist Bureaus: Almost every state has a department of tourism which will send you information on specific areas. Address your request for information to: Department of Tourism, State Capitol Building, your city, state, and zip code (obtained form th your local post office).

 

Internet: The Internet has a tremendous supply of information available to you. A few sites are listed for you, many more are available to you through search engines such as Yahoo on the Internet.

San Francisco:

• Golden Gate Bridge
• San Francisco Resources
• Museums
• Virtual Tour of San Francisco

San Antonio:

• Travel
• City Picture
• San Antonio River

Seattle:

• Seattle Pictures
• Seattle Chamber of Commerce
• Hotels
• See Seattle

New Orleans:

• General Information
• Maps
• Discover New Orleans
• Special Events

New York:

• Paperless Guide To New York City
• Hotels
• New York City Information
• Aerial View

Boston:

• Restaurant Guide
• Best Links to Boston
• Hotels

Transportation:

• Greyhound Bus Company
• Travel Connections
• Amtrak

To accomplish the task, do the following steps in order.

Select the city for your vacation.

Decide the method and cost of transportation to get to your city.

Explore the suggested Internet sites and information sources for your

cities.

Create an itinerary using a word processing program, don't forget to

spell check.

Select your lodging in a convenient location in your city.

Using a spreadsheet, prepare your trip budget which must include the

items listed above. (Remember it is not to exceed $5,000).

You will give a 10 minute presentation on your trip proposal which will

include your budget, at least a 200 word essay, itinerary, pictures and maps.

Now that you have chosen your city and all the important information needed to plan your vacation begin your itinerary. Start with the day you will leave for your trip and complete a day by day schedule of what you will do and the cost of doing the activities.

The group should divide up the responsibilities for their research. It is necessary to have a record keeper who will keep all of the notes, information, pictures, etc. in an orderly fashion. Each group should have a chairperson to help keep the group on task, and report periodically to their instructor with groups progress and assignments. All group participants will participate in the actual research, collecting of materials, organizing presentation and delivery of information orally to the Peer Travel Club.

Upon completion of this project, you will have successfully planned a trip to the city of your choice. The plan includes an itinerary, expenditures, maps, gathering and sorting through information necessary for the trip to your city. By completing this cooperative task you will have learned the value of a budget and to successfully plan an itinerary for a trip. Your oral presentation will allow you the opportunity to share your information with others.

This page was designed by Marjie Sharp, Fahmi Banafa, Jo Pope and Dana Barnett.