Newsletter #2

Hi Team!

Here's an update on all things GV10433.

First, the obligatory reminders section:

1) Flight info: Most of you have already sent us your flight info, but for those that haven't please do this. Habitat would like us to collect the flight info for all team members -- so even for those that will not require airport transportation (because you arriving before the trip and/or leaving after the trip), please send us your flight info.

2) Payment: If you have not paid in full yet and have not been in touch with us about your payment schedule, please call or email us as soon as possible. Habitat Home Office has been gracious in granting us extended time, but they are starting to get serious about us finalizing the roster and having all team members paid in full.

3) Bios: We have bios from most but there are a few stragglers out there as well as some recent additions to the team - please post or email us a bio (photo optional).

4) Shots and pills: This will be our last reminder that it is everyone's individual responsibility to speak to their doctor and get whatever immunizations/prophylaxis they need/desire for the trip. See previous emails and newsletter #1 for more details.

5) Passports: Hopefully everyone has taken care of this by now...

-------------------------------------------------------------

New request - Copy of Passport Photo Pages

We were lying when we said earlier that if you took care of everything above that the only thing you had left to do was pack. There will be a few little things here and there, like this:

Habitat requires that you all get a copy of your passport photo page both to the Habitat GV office and to the team leaders. You should also make a copy to keep with you during your travels.

You can do this by either mailing, faxing or scanning/emailing your passport photo page.

J.B. / Susanna Emails: you have them already because we've sent out about 20 emails in the last few weeks
J.B. / Susanna Mailing Address: 2329 Englewood Ave, Durham, NC, 27705
J.B. / Susanna Fax #: (888) 742-3465 (This is Susanna's work fax)

Habitat Email: gvteam@habitat.org
Habitat Mailing Address: Demetria Brown, Habitat for Humanity International, Global Village program, PO Box 369, Americus, GA, 31709
Habitat Fax #: (267) 295-8714

Thanks for taking care of this!

-----------------------------------------------------------
Itinerary Change

After much discussion with our hosts in Thailand, it has become clear that we will not be able to do any building from Tue Apr 13 to Thu Apr 15 because of the Songkran Festival. Our host compared it Christmas in U.S. and said basically that NO ONE will be working at that time (including Habitat staff).

As a result we have decided that the team will return to Bangkok on Tuesday April 13 after we complete building (including home dedication and farewell party) on Monday April 12. Our reasons for doing this:

1) As we will be without the assistance of Habitat Thailand staff it will be easier for us to navigate/communicate/etc in the large international city of Bangkok than in Udon Thani.
2) We are not sure that there are enough recreational/cultural activities to fill up the three days of Songkran if we stay in Udon Thani -- additional travel to other parts of Thailand is not feasible from both a cost and logistics perspective.
3) Our reading tells us that the best places to be for the Songkran Festival are either Bangkok or Chang Mei. Plus, Bangkok has a wealth of places to visit (both cultural and recreational).

We hope that our early return to Bangkok will allow the team some extended R+R time after more than a week of hard work. We still plan on providing for accommodations and meals during this time, in addition to paying for as many cultural activities as possible (depending on our final budgeting). Everyone will also certainly have free time during these days to pursue site/activites of personal interest. We will update you with more details on our options for these days in Bangkok in a few weeks.

Thanks to the team in advance for understanding this change of plans. We had hoped to build for a few more days, but that just is not possible.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Our Accomodations

So we are about 95% sure where we will be staying and we would like to relay that info to the team (95% because we have selected the hotels and given our roster and dates to the Habitat staff in Thailand -- they make the reservations and we haven't gotten confirmation this is done yet). We will let you know ASAP if we hear that the following is going to change.

In Bangkok:
Sukhunvit 11 Hostel
website: www.hisukhumvit/firstpage/index.php
dates:
Arrive Sat Apr 3; Depart Sun Apr 4
Arrive Tue Apr 13; Depart Sat Apr 17

In Udon Thani:
Karin Hotel
website: none that I could find
dates:
Arrive Sun Apr 4; Depart Tue Apr 13

Feel free to check these places out online. They are the accommodations that were recommended to us by Habitat Thailand, and past teams have been happy with them. They certainly are not luxury accommodations but they should work very nicely for our team.

For those arriving in Bangkok before April 3rd, feel free to reserve a room at the Sukhunvit Hostel -- we can't guarantee that you won't have to change rooms on April 3rd but at least you won't have to change locations.

-----------------------------------------------------------