Oh, I found it. I got it as the co-host. I just tapped to record the cloud, so we're good. All right. Well, thank you, everybody. And again, so let's go ahead and hop in. And actually, if you were in our previous meeting, you saw that we had a little AV issue with a quick go-ahead video. So we believe we have amended that. And I'm going to go ahead and share that real quick with us now. Such a great video with the sound, Josh. Thank you for my channel. explain sorry there we go automatically kicks to the next one but okay we're good could everyone see the northern Italy meeting again okay all right excellent so a quick breakdown of what our meeting will cover today of course a little background about go ahead and our of course our wonderful partnership in the world of Ali the amazing details of our tour some optional excursions that are available I like to call go ahead pick your own adventure and we'll talk about what that looks like for us, pricing, and of course, some good discounts for folks that want to put their deposit down before the end of the month. And as I mentioned before, please, travel is a very nuanced thing. We know you're going to have some amazing questions. The only thing I ask is that either putting them in the chat and just know that we will cover all of them at the end of the meeting. So a quick breakdown about go ahead. So go ahead actually got a tumble beginnings. Actually, we are celebrating our 60th anniversary today. there is a in i am working from home today but in our our office we are doing a global toast right now as we speak um but 60 years ago our our founder actually got out had our humble beginning start because he was Swedish and needed to learn english and was and had the entrepreneurial spirit to start his own language learning school but from the language learning program our travel division uh was born many people if you've been in an airport especially during busier times a year you see the eF backpacks a lot That is our student division in a different life. I was an educator, so very passionate about allowing students to see the world. But from our student division, Go Ahead was born. So go ahead is our elevated adult product. So similar idea, of course, of course, having itineraries based in educational travel. So knowing when you're coming back from one of our tours, you're feeling more learned than when you first departed. But know that this is not one of those student tours where they go from the second you get up in the morning until I can go to bed. We know that's good for middle school and high schoolers, but for adults and our alley members, we want to make sure this is a much more balanced experience. So no worries, there's going to be plenty of time to relax, specifically on the tour we're talking about today. But also thinking about truly partnering with a global company. As I mentioned before, EF actually first started in Sweden and has grown from different places in Europe to, of course, domestically here in the United States, South America, Africa, Asia, and also Australia and New Zealand. So all those places you see little blue dots, those are places we physically have offices and employees on the ground. And I just think when traveling with a travel partner, I like to know that we are a true global presence. Now we're going to pivot a little bit to talk about group travel. So this might may, you know, Michelle mentioned before, you might be a veteran of traveling with Delaware pre-pandemic, you might have done group travel in different capacities, but I think it's important to understand the way that go-ahead attaches or really looks at the world and what does it mean to have a proper group travel experience. So my first experience with group travel was having family members when I was younger do like the AAA type tour. So really amazing opportunities at the time where you'd come back and you'd hear from family members and they would talk about the places they'd go, but they often share experiences by like, well, here's a great picture of places like the Coliseum, but through the bus window and you'd see the flash on the reflection in that back in the days when we all remember when we used to have to go to CVS and Walgreens to deposit or to have our film taking care of versus nowadays where everything seems to be on our phones. But point being is those group travel has evolved over the years. And specifically in the world of Go Ahead, our priorities. to have this being a truly immersive experience. One thing to know about this trip, which also is a, not a misconception, but a concept in group travel is some group travel offer spots to groups, knowing that they are going to be combined with groups from across the country or maybe even across the state. Other group travel is the opportunity for trips to be private. I think it's important to know that this is a private curated trip for Delaware Ali members only. So just kind of know, not that I think, that there's anything wrong with, of course, traveling with strangers, but know that the trip that we are talking about today and actually all three trips we're offering this week are going to be private trips specifically for Ali Delaware members. In addition to that, I think it's nice to know when going to a country like Italy where, unless you happen to be fluent, I think actually one of the biggest values of group travel is having a dedicated tour director with you the whole time. So if you see there in the lower left, that individual there, you use an example of one of our very well -trained tour directors. So this is the individual who's with you from the time. You get off the plane until the time you get back home. They're handling transportation. In addition with our excellent private bus driver, they are going to be handling things like checking us into hotels. They are going to be handling the tickets when we go out to see cultural sites. If we are visiting specific places, they are handling all the logistics with the owners of the venue. So when you show up, you really know you get to show up and just sit back and really enjoy the experience. They also, of course, are fluent in the language of any country you're visiting. So if you are traveling and maybe a little hesitant about going to a place where English isn't the primary, it's nice to know you always have someone with you who speaks to language. But I will tell you from experience, Ireland, not Ireland, Italy is a very English -friendly country. So while, of course, people there do speak Italian, the majority of people you'll come across will also speak English to some degree as well, which to me was just a little. a little comforting because I definitely do not speak any other languages beyond English any at any level of fluency. I do think we are talking about a trip specifically for the Italy trip that is a culinary theme trip. So when going to Italy, of course, you're going to want to experience local cuisine. It's one of the food capitals of the world. But this trip specifically, I think it's important to know that whether it's the history, but also, of course, the opportunity to partake in, this is a culinary. specific trip. So know that you should be coming back full for three lifetimes. That is my goal for you. But just know that you have plenty of opportunity to, of course, enjoy food there. And then actually have some unique opportunities to potentially send some things like Italian wine home. We'll cover that in a little while. Now pivoting a little bit to the more logistical piece of the tour. We do not require that you purchase flights through us. But a lot of times, it's much easier for folks to just kind of have everything bundled together. So know that we absolutely have some amazing flight options. We also know that there's folks visiting us from who go to different campuses at Delaware right now. So there's no pressure for the group to have to fly out of one individual airport. You don't have to be in the state of Delaware when this trip departs. You could be in California. You can be in Alaska. You can be wherever you need to be. If you do flights with us, as long as we know where you're looking to depart from, we can help you make sure that your flights are routed correctly. And then last, but definitely not least, the quality of the hotel. I mentioned before, this is not one of those go, go, go, 24-7-type tours. There are days with leisure time built in, and I know from personal experience on group travel that there are some days that I just want to go back and enjoy a little bit of downtime in the hotel while I recharge my battery and prepare for another fun day tomorrow. That is why we have a four-star quality standard in the hotels we partner with. So just knowing that if there's days when you are not out and about exploring with the group, that if you do kind of want to have a more leisurely day at the hotel, that these are nice, high -quality hand-picked hotels, we do not skimp and we do not find budget hotels to try to create a cheaper price on the tour. We very much keep that standard at top of mind. So now let's talk about the actual tour itself. So for folks looking to earmark and mark down and check their calendars to make sure they're available. This trip has a set departure date. So we are departing on September 30th, 2025, and then coming back October 9th. This trip starts off in Milan and actually loops and does like a full circle back because we fly both in and out of Milan. But we first make our way to Turino, making our way down to Chincateri by stopping in Barolo, visiting the five villages of Chincateri when staying in the Italian Riviera. Going over to the Parma region, sneak peek here, we are going to be visiting an actual manufacturing facility for Parmesan Reggiano. So those big, giant wheels you see, you will hear the history, you will see how you're not even allowed to call it, Parmesan Reggiano, until it's aged for at least a year. But I will tell you from experience, there are some wheels up there that have been aging for much longer than that. And then go to the both education and culinary capital of Italy, which is Bologna, before are looping back and ending the tour in Milan, which is, from my experience, some amazing, amazing places to see and experience true food culture in Italy. So what is included in the tour? It is a 10-day tour, but when thinking about tours, day one in your travel day are not days you're going to be sleeping in Italy. So it's a 10-day tour, but eight nights in hand -picked hotels, breakfast every day. and this is high quality, European-style breakfast, you know, many choices, expressos, coffees, juices, eggs, fruits, yogurts, a very, like a widespread. I'd never, I mean, I'd have to be careful because it is a culinary tour. I would find myself wanting to eat so much at breakfast, and I would forget that I need to pace myself throughout the day. Three dinners with beer or wine included if you partake, two additional lunches, two wine tastings, four food tastings, in addition to the food we've, already talked about. Do you see a theme? There's a lot of food on this tour. One immersive cooking class, that was one of my favorite things I did. Four sightseeing tours mentioned before the expert tour director and local guide. A local guide is someone who's brought into the tour in addition to the tour director. So an example like that for when you're in Bologna, when you're doing the morning walking tour on one of the days of the trip, your tour director is with you, but the person actually leading the walking tour is a local guide, specifically local to the city we're visiting. We bring those folks in because they bring that additional level of context and knowledge and information about that region, which it just enhances the tour even more. And then, of course, your private deluxe motor coach, I believe it's important, you know, mentioning that point. This is a private tour. We are traveling in a really wonderful time of the year. But as we get a little bit closer to fall, the weather might be getting a tad bit chillier. So you might want to bring a coat. Well, what if we get to the, we get on the tour, we find out that. well, it's actually really warm today. I don't really want to haul this coat around. It's a beautiful thing because when you have a private bus, you can leave the coat on the bus. It's not going anywhere. It'll be there when you come back. We've got that bus driver with the bus the whole time. And then some other additional highlights, I think that are really unique about this. As we see the theme of culinary, you know, Italian food, in addition to the Parmesan Reggiano visit, we visit the home at the, I guess it's the resident. and also business hub for the president of the Italian balsamic vinegar association. It doesn't sound like a real thing, but I can assure you from experience it is. It is an amazing opportunity to have you go into his home, which is set up to have multiple different kind of these dining spaces. They will give you a history of what true Italian balsamic vinegar is. I will tell you, it's much more like the balsamic glaze we see here in the States where it's much thicker. Some of it is age 25 plus years. You'll get to see where, and it's not big wine barrels. These are small barrels that are rolled into each other for years and years and years. That, to me, might be the takeaway experience of the whole trip, but that is just something we kind of have built in for the group, and I've never once had anyone complain about that experience. Mentioned before, in a previous life, I used to be an educator. One thing you know about teachers, nobody wants to sit here and have me read these slides, word by So know that the information for the tour will be shared, PDFs, the website for the tour, all of the breakdown of the day by day, I believe is going out to everyone on, is it Monday or Tuesday morning, Michelle? Monday, Monday, the link for this recording as well as the information, the flyer essentially will go out on Monday. So just saying, if you have questions, just know that we will be following up with specific information about everything that's going to be covered in the day by day slides here. thinking about group travel, day one, that's your overnight flight, so that's heading out and flying to Milan arriving on day two in the morning, an overnight flight. We all know people, their bodies acclimate differently, especially when crossing oceans, crossing time zones, doing all those type of things that travel includes. So that's why you see day two doesn't have a ton of activity in it because we don't want to, of course, overwhelm anybody that might need a little more time to acclimate. This tour actually flies into Milan, but then does it transfer to Turino. In Torino is where you get settled at your hotel, and then you will have a welcome dinner on day two. It's an amazing, again, it's the first opportunity to really dive in into some amazing Italian food, but it's also your opportunity to meet the tour director. During the welcome dinner, they will be explaining things like what to expect on tour. Of course, things like every day, logistically, where in the hotel will, the tour director the night previously have the schedule for the following day. Those are really important things to know because it allows you to have an estimation of what the weather is going to be like. It's going to let you know if it's a travel day. So if it's a day where we're actually going to be moving from one location to another, what time do I need to have my bags outside of my door to be brought down to the bus? All of those little piece of information are very important. But it also gets you an opportunity to start bonding with your other group members because at the end of the day, as we mentioned here, it's a culinary tour. So there will be lots of opportunities to break bread with each other, which will just kind of, I think, cement the bond that is traveling with other alley members. Day three, it's a sightseeing tour. So kind of going and doing a walking tour, Torino actually is one of the original capitals of Italy. You learn about the history of Italy and about the different breakdown of different regions and how it was brought back together. The north and the south, you'll get those themes a lot. I do think a lot of times when people have visited Italy, they've been in southern Italy, so I think getting the perspective of northern Italy is a really unique way to understand Italian culture and history a little bit as well. And it's just a really amazing way to see Turin, which to me actually reminds me of like a smaller version of like a walkable version of Paris. But again, I'll get your opinions when you get back from the trip. Continuing in Turin, there are some unique things about these food and wine tours that really make them stand out. Day four is going to be one of those days. You, are doing two things potentially in day four. One thing is a group. You are going and we have a partnership with a family who has a truffle farm in the Piedmont region in northern Italy. So the picture you see down there on the bottom, that is what the backdrop behind the farm looks like because this is a wine making region. But the farm itself is a family-owned farm that we've been doing work with for a long time. And this was one of them, again, besides the balsamic vinegar, I think this is maybe the second or third most fun thing I did on the trip, but I think it arguably is the most unique. You go, one thing you don't have to worry about, don't worry about packing a whole extra pair of boots just for one day. They've got optional boots for you that you can slide your shoes off and use the ones that they have there. It is not a long walk into the woods where you are accompanied by the truffle, the hunter and his trusty dog and or dogs. And you get to experience what it's like for Italian truffle dogs to go hunt for truffles in the wild. This was super unique. We were lucky enough to find two when we were out there. One fun thing you hear about sometimes pigs hunting for truffles. That's more common in France. Another downside of pigs hunting for truffles is sometimes the pigs eat the truffles. Dogs have no interest in truffles. They have interest in the sausage that's in their truffle hunter's pocket. I'll tell you that. So it's a fun experience to be able to get to experience true truffle hunting, which is something I definitely had never been able to do before. And once you're done with the hunt itself, you sit down at the table that is on property and get to experience truffle over cheese, truffle infused olive oil, of course, Italian wine, water if you prefer that instead, and really get to have a nice snack after what is a very, very unique day. And then you see here on highlighted and yellow on the bottom, that is the one optional excursion on this trip, which means once you are done truffle hunting, you'll be brought back to your hotel, be able to relax. It'll be mid-afternoon. But if you want to partake before dinner, there is the ability to also do an Italian chocolate demonstration and actual tour of a facility that makes Italian chocolate. The reason it's highlighted in yellow is because it's optional. It means that if you, you know, truffle hunting, that might be all you want to do that day. You do not have to opt in to the chocolate demonstration. So know that that is something when you are enrolling in tour. you have the ability to add or not add whatever you prefer. And it's also something if you change your mind, if you sign up today or I guess sign up next week and then in a month and a half decide, you know what? I think I do want to do that. There was no pressure to sign up for that right when you enrolled. You can always go back and do it after. Continuing on for making our way down from Torino, we've already done the amazing truffle hunt. But again, food, we've seen a lot of food, but now we're going to pivot a little bit into the wine. component of this tour. So on your way toward Chinketerre and the Italian Riviera, we actually stop at the castle you see there on the right-hand side. It has a connection back to the truffle world. That's actually where they do the auctions for the very famous, like the world's biggest truffles that they find every year. And there's also a great history of kind of the wine-making region of the area. So you actually get to stop. In addition, once we leave the castle and go to a local vineyard to be able to do another food and or wine and wine tasting. That's an opportunity where I mentioned before, or if you have folks who are located in your same geographic area, my tip to the group is if you want to send some of that great tasting Italian wine home, you can bulk order it together, send it to one person's house and then it saves the individual people from having some additional shipping and handling charges. But just my personal experience, but you do whatever is preferable for you. And then day six, you've all seen the pictures of the Italian Riviera, Chinquitare, those colorful buildings you see down there in the lower right-hand corner. This is really an awesome, awesome opportunity for the group to do some independent exploration through them. When I went, you take a very, very small ride from the hotel to the train station, and there's actually a train line that connects all of the villages. You go to the far village and then you start making your way back throughout the afternoon. One of the most memorable pieces of that experience was actually doing a wine tasting cliffside, looking over the water with a private table where you get to learn because that specific region is actually known more for their white wines. I'm not a big white wine person, but I liked it enough, again, back to have another bottle to bring back to share with my family. So I am very excited to speak from experience about that unique experience because it really, really is, it's breathtaking the different villages. We also picked a time that's not in the middle of peak travel season because those villages are known to be pretty busy if you were to go in the middle of summer. So if you notice our dates are still at a specific time when the weather is still going to be comfortable, but we have specifically tried to target a time that is not filled with crowds because I will tell you it is a lot more pleasant to navigate those places without a thousand of your closest new friends and family right behind you while you navigate. So I'm very happy that you can anticipate it to be a similar experience for you as well. And we are pivoting to, from the Italian Riviera to Bologna. Mentioning before, this is, if you are a history buff, if you are a true foodie, this is the part of the tour I think I'd be the most excited about. Mentioned before you see that picture on the upper right hand, on upper right hand corner, you will be visiting and seeing all the different steps of the, of what it takes. to create those big wheels of Parmesan Reggiano. And, of course, before leaving, everyone will be able to do a proper tasting. Again, mentioned before, there is a very big difference whether you have a 12-month -aged cheese versus a 24 or a 36 or even beyond that. And, of course, you can't visit without saying, well, I want to see what it tastes like. So that is all part of the experience as well. And then on the way back for lunch, mentioning, stopping at the balsamic vinegar. it's not a factory it is very much again it's it's the man's home um and being able to experience everything uh that a different type of feast let's call it i honestly don't want to tease that one too much because that one i just want you experience for yourself um but those are the two stops along the way making our way uh breaking up that drive from the italian revere to bologna day eight uh mentioned before this is where you're going to have that sightseeing tour of bologna in the morning and then some break in the afternoon to continue to explore the city. Actually, my favorite gelato I had was in Bologna, but again, I recommend trying it in all places so you can have a true comparative experience. And then in the evening, having that cooking class and dinner, the beautiful thing about cooking class is you get to eat what you make. But if you're worried that your culinary skills aren't up to snuff, one, I've got faith in you. I think you'll be fine. But two, there is additional food made in case that you'd prefer to have what the professionals are making. And then after leaving Bologna, we circle back to Milan because we flew into Milan, but if you noticed at the beginning, we actually immediately transfer from Milan to Torino. So a lot of our folks said, hey, it would be nice to be able to see the culture of Milan. It's a little bit different. It's a little bit more of a, it's the largest city in Northern. Italy. It's kind of the finance and fashion capital of Italy. So different from your southern Italian cities. So we make sure that we end with the proper tour of Milan before, of course, day two, before day 10 heading home. The thing to remember about day nine in Milan as well, that's where we were having our final farewell dinner. I say make sure you are adequately prepared to know how to share pictures back and forth because that dinner is a lot of toasts, a lot of hugs with new friends and just figuring out where you're going to travel to next. So excited to be able to balance the sightseeing that day with a really, really awesome one final Italian meal before heading home. And mentioned before there's the optional excursion on day four. It's back to the concept of knowing this is optional. If you want to partake in it, it's a really cool opportunity to be able to see how chocolate is produced. You actually go and they fully put on. the like you have to wear the hair net and do the full bodies like that's they're not scrubs but like uh to make sure of course you're not contaminating the food because you're actually going into the production area and of course don't worry if you are a chocolate fan like me plenty of opportunities for free samples and then at the end um an opportunity to to to buy some if you want to bring it home to share with friends and family and then i'm going to pivot i believe uh beka if you're on here we're to pivot over to our options about travel insurance. Hi, everyone. My name is Becca. I am the account manager that works with Josh on all of the OLLI trips. So basically, I help kind of you as a group member. Once you book and reserve your spot, you'll get an email from me with all my contact information. And basically, up until when you depart for the trip, I'll really be kind of your main point person for answering questions on insurance, payment. plans, excursions, flights, anything that you kind of need. So it'll always kind of be me and a familiar face and a familiar voice, which is great. So one thing that I did want to talk about is our insurance options. This is optional so you don't have to purchase insurance through us. I just would recommend, you know, traveling, lots of things come up, things happen, there's delays, there's baggage loss, things like that. I would still recommend trying to have some sort of travel insurance. I think it's maybe a little bit easier to have it through us, so everything's all in one place. We offer two different options, the basic for $3.49 per person and the premium for $4.49 per person. They'll both cover you and those four specific areas that you can see on the right hand side of the screen. but the main difference between the two is that the premium trip protection will cover more for accident and sickness while on tour and if you add it on we'll have that pre-existing condition coverage in there and our cancellation voucher included um so one thing i wanted to mention is that our insurance doesn't change this is stagnant pricing it's not dynamic so regardless of like your age or health concerns or anything like that our prices stay the same which is something that um i see quite frequently in other insurance options. So if you have questions or if you want like additional details about this, you can just reach out to me and I can help you out. And then I think Michelle is going to say one additional thing about an Ali requirement for insurance. Yeah. Thank you, Josh. Just to clarify, you do not, you're not required to purchase EF, go ahead, tours, travel insurance here, but as a requirement from Ali University of Deliver, you do have to prove trip insurance in order to go on this trip. So you, I would recommend that you go ahead with these prices because these are amazing prices and it would be easy because as a group, if everyone signed up for the same coverage, it's just easier to manage. But if you prefer to get your travel insurance elsewhere, that's okay too. You'll just have to prove that you've purchased it to me before you take off on the trip. So thank you for that, Josh. Thank you. All right. So required travel documents and things like that. So you are traveling internationally, so you will need a valid passport. This is a rule that is set by the U.S. government and TSA. This rule is not set by us. So for your passport, you need to have a valid passport with an expiration date extending at least six months beyond your date of reentry to the country. So you need to make sure that you're checking your expiration dates on your passports so that if it will expire within that six month window upon your return, you will have to start the passport renewal process. Something to be aware of is that renewal process will take at least probably six to eight weeks to renew that passport. So I would definitely try to do that sooner rather than later in case anything comes up. For traveling to Italy at the moment, the EU hasn't given us a specific date for their E-I-T-A-S travel authorization. Basically, they just want everybody to pay like 15 more euros for going into the EU. But they haven't given us a specific date on when that process will start and when they will start requiring it. They've pushed it back twice. Right now, it's just middle of 2025, but no specific day on when that starts. So that will be something that is communicated to you well in advance. I'll send emails about it. I'll also go over it in the departure meeting with everybody. So to be determined on when exactly that requirement will be in effect, but it will be communicated, so nothing to worry about at the moment. Other than that, to travel to Italy, you don't need any proof of vaccinations or any medical documents. You just need a valid passport and eventually that travel authorization form, which we'll figure out once that time comes. Thanks, Becca. All right, tour costs and how to reserve your spot. Well, in our case, not today, but early next week, we promise we won't keep you wait much longer. So things to understand about group travel, it is based off the concept of double occupancy, meaning people either traveling with some sort of a roommate, whether it's a partner, whether it's a friend, we've got options for any of those different type of pairings. But of course, we also understand there are folks that just, they'd prefer. not to travel with someone. So with that being said, all tours come with a finite number of single rooms. In this case, we have four. The reason I bring that up is those are first come first served. So I would say if you know that you are excited about joining the tour, but you just don't want to worry about the task of getting a roommate, know that you, I would recommend enrolling as soon as we open enrollment on Tuesday, just because those rooms are set to depart pretty quickly. And I just wouldn't want you to miss out on one if it's important to you. Notice because this trip is traveling later this year, there aren't as many months to pay it down. So you see here that if you do the manual pay option, which will cover what that means in a second, there's five months to get things paid down. But if you actually do the auto pay, you'll get one additional month. So it'll bring those monthly payments down a little bit to make it a little more digestible. I think the most important thing to know about these tours is that they have different capacities. When we are talking about a food and wine tour, understandably so, we are talking about having a curated experience for a smaller group. There are only 22 spots available on this tour. None have been booked yet, so you will have first dibs at those spots come Tuesday morning, or I guess Tuesday at noon when we are starting enrolling. But I do think it's important to know that this is a smaller tour. So if it's important to you to have that little bit of that even smaller. personal group experience. I think a lot of times, not only is, of course, the food and cultural aspects amazing on this tour, I do think that certain folks really enjoy these tours because they have a much smaller capacity on them. So another thing to consider, the inverse of that, of course, is if it becomes very popular, those 22 spots can fill up rather quickly. When I've launched this tour at a couple different alleys, it has traditionally sold out within the first, I think the quickest we got it sold out was a week and a half. The longest was five weeks. So kind of setting the expectation that those spots do move relatively quickly. So we want to give you a time to, of course, consider it. But know that if it is something you're excited, I do recommend at least putting your deposit down. So you can secure one of those 22 spots when they open. Last, but, oh, sorry, go ahead, Michelle. Yeah, sorry, may you just interject very quickly about double versus single occupancy. If you are a single, but you are willing to take on a roommate, Just indicate, I'm not sure how that will be, I think you indicate it as you register, and Josh and Becca will give me the names of all those who are singles who would like a roommate, and we'll have a meeting together to kind of pair up each other and find the appropriate roommate for you. So double occupancy is available if you're single and you would prefer to have a roommate. Correct. One thing to know is there actually isn't an indicator if you've signed. up online or even do the enrollment over the phone, which will cover those options here in a second. But I do think it's important, like Becca mentioned before, she will do outreach to you once you are enrolled. And when you get that email, please, yeah, just respond to us because we can help curate that list and, of course, communicate with Michelle in the alley to make sure folks that are interested in being paired up, have an opportunity to, of course, meet because we are legally not allowed to do blind pairing. So there's no worry that you are going to be randomly matched to someone. We, of course, will make sure. sure that you would be put in communication with them. Both parties would agree that they'd be comfortable sharing a room before any pairing like that is done. One additional caveat to that that I don't want to throw anyone off guard is that if you enroll with the intention of eventually getting a roommate, you will be defaulted to the single setting. So as you notice there, there is a small $536 upcharge for staying in a single room. But if you are paired with someone, just know any costs associated with having a single room are immediately removed from your account the second you are paired with a roommate. Oh, and last but definitely not least, all enrollments before the end of the month. So that just means putting your deposit down, you will receive $150 off per person. So if you're signing up as a couple, $300 off in total or a friend pairing. So just know that's an extra little incentive to say thank you for the folks that enroll in the month of February. other thing that is going to be known because I do hope to see many of you at our Canada meeting tomorrow and potentially our Greece meeting on Friday that if you sign up, if you end up enrolling for multiple tours on the EF portfolio. So unfortunately, it does not include the Iceland trip, but that's just the Italy trip, the Canada trip, or the Greece trip that you would receive additional discounts on top of the 150 for being enrolled in multiple tours. So multi -tour discounts and additional 100, and if you happen to be a repeat traveler and have traveled with any of the EF products before, whether that's with go-ahead or a student product or anything else we've offered, you have the ability to earn an additional $100 off. You don't have to pick which one is the most. We do allow you to stack those and get the maximum value from our discounts. So now talking about the ways to enroll. So this would be, of course, applicable come Tuesday afternoon. three ways to enroll. Of course, if you're in a position to and you'd prefer not to deal with payments, you can pay in full, but it is by no means required. The majority of folks enroll using the auto pay. That's why you see that red star there. That allows you to put down as low as a $99 deposit. That secures your spot. That makes sure you get the full $150 discount. It gives you a 30-day risk for a window. So if you want to secure your spot and say, hey, well, I still want to check the dates, make sure I'm comfortable with this and review all my options. It gives you that full 30 days, to change your mind. The only thing about the auto pay is it does require that you use a checking account or a debit card. A lot of folks like in my home, married to an accountant, it's important to get those credit card points. That's why you see there is an option to do, make payments using a credit card using the manual pay. That is a larger deposit, so from 99 to 450, but it does allow you to use a Visa or MasterCard. Unfortunately, we do not accept Discover or American Express. And with that, you also don't have the set monthly payment. That is, you decide to make chunk payments on your behalf. And then the last but definitely not least option is there is the ability to go back and forth between the two or combine them. Or some people like to enroll in auto pay because they like the set it and forget it method of a monthly payment coming out. But they prefer to get those points or just make some payments using a credit card. So you can stay on the auto pay and still make additional. payments using a credit card, which of course would reduce your overall balance, reducing your monthly payment. And then one thing to know about this slide, and I promise we are one away from our Q&A section, so I appreciate everyone for putting those questions to the chat and then I'm sure having some written down to ask at the end. Everything we cover in this slide, we will have a meeting for the group right around a month before we leave to cover everything we have here. So it's important to make sure you're aware of it, but just know you don't have to remember any of these things. We will cover everything in our pre -departure meeting where we talk about just making sure the group is ready to hit the road and be excited for Italy. But know that a section of the, I guess the money that the folks who work the tour make are dependent on tips, assuming of course adequate services provided. That's why you see the idea of budgeting between $12 and $15 per day that's split between the tour director, that's the bus driver and the local guide. That's not 12 to 15 per person. That's in combination. And the reason we'd say it's a flexible number is there are certain days like where we won't have a local guide. So of course, there's no need to budget for it. But every day that you're on tour, you will have a tour director and the bus driver. And I do recommend paying those folks at the end, not daily. And of course, you want to make sure you're getting the proper service that we promise you will. So of course, this is a food and wine tour. So meaning that a lot more food is included in the tour itself. But there are days where you're going to have, of course, an independent exploration to do some food hunting on your own, so just budgeting for that. Daily spending money, if you were like me, that's a lot of money bringing back olive oil and wine, but plenty of great things to bring back for friends and family from Italy. Overweight baggage, you know, this is a flight to Europe, so expect that you will get, whether you do flights with us or independently, one checked bag and one carry-on bag. I found from my experience, I actually did a 12-day version, so a little longer than the tour. We are all set up for this one. I was perfectly fine with just those two. But if you need more than that, of course, that's something you work out directly with the airline. And then if you haven't secured your first ever or you need to update your passport, that would be something you'd work out directly with the passport office. All right, we are at the final slide. A reminder, again, information will be shared about the tour at the beginning of next week with how to enroll, but just know that the official tour going live time is Tuesday at noon. So that's Tuesday the 18th. And then spots are first come first serve. Of course, you can secure yours for as low as $99 for a deposit. And then please, if you know you want to join any of our tours, please enroll before the end of the month so we can get to that maximum discount that you are definitely entitled to. And then when we share out that information on Tuesday morning, know that there are three options to enroll. And if anyone was in attendance to the Iceland meeting, I will say this is a little different. I know they have a little bit more of like a pen and paper type of method. Nothing wrong with that. But just know that the three go-ahead tours, we try to make it a little easier. So point is you can call in a number will be shared. you can enroll using the tour website, which will be shared. And then the third one is similar to a call, but a lot of people like it because we all know you have busy schedules. There will be a link shared that will allow you almost like a concierge to set up a phone call at a time of your choice. So that would be a member of our team reaching out to you. Let's say tomorrow I know I have a lunch break between 1 and 2.30. So I opened up that block and I say, hey, I'm available at this time. Please reach out to me in your. fill out, just put your email and phone number and then you just reference the Ali Delaware Italy trip and our folks will know what that means and they'll give you a call and walk you through any questions that we don't cover later on today. But with that being said, I am done with my formal presentation and excited to answer some questions now for the group. Yeah, thank you so much, Josh. You have really made this sound so exciting. And I have to admit, I've been to this region quite a number of times, but as I was listening to the things that this group will get to do, I'm just thinking, oh my gosh, I didn't get to do that. That's amazing. Just like the tours, the truffle hunting, the Parma factory, just there's so many of that, so much of it sounds very, very memorable and, you know, kind of lifetime memory, if you will. So how about I, I have a few questions that I can kind of collate together and answer and then if there's additional ones, I'll take a look. First off, I assume, you know, if you're gluten -free, there will be gluten-free food options available. And, of course, you'll have to be careful if you're on a specific food tour just to inquire about gluten -freeness of whatever's offered. It's a great question. It's one of those ones where we mentioned before, one of the many. amazing things that Becca does to help the group is when you enroll, you absolutely have the ability to communicate to us any sort of food allergies or general allergies or health concerns. We build that into your every member or group member has almost like a little profile, which is shared with everyone who's working the tour, the tour director. And of course, for those those type of accommodations are absolutely able to be made. And I can speak from experience. I had someone who had a gluten intolerance on our tour. and they were very, very pleasantly surprised with the options that were afforded to them. And of course, there's always the rumors that, like, people who have intolerance here can somehow eat pasta in Italy. I'm not going to go as far as recommending that. I think trust the medical professionals for that one. But just know, we absolutely are in a position to take care of those type of concerns and still make sure you have an awesome time. Great. So regarding the flights, so people will. work directly with Becca to establish the flights. And people are wondering, I mean, if we wanted out of Philly, it would be Philly. And is there a direct flight to Milan? I mean, that's what I've taken before. But what, Becca, do you happen to know? Yeah. So let me kind of walk through our flight process with everybody. So basically our flight pricing is dynamic. So if you want to change your airport gateway and fly out of like a different one or philly or whatever it may be we'll give you a quoted price for that um so that price that we quote you will be the price um for the best routing that we find available for the group in economy seating so anything on top of that is considered a flight request, that might potentially cost more money to book that specific flight. So if you were like, I want to be on Delta, I want to be on American Airlines, well, that's a specific flight request. So that might be an additional charge on what is quoted. So again, we try to prioritize the group being together. We also are competing with the public in terms of space. So we cannot guarantee that your flight will be direct. You can request to have a direct flight, know that you might not be traveling with the group, and it might come at an additional cost. So those are all things to kind of be aware of a little bit. Very helpful. And then I guess kind of along the same lines, if someone wanted to go early or stay late, they would just arrange those with you. And there's the pre or post trip offered for this so it would be kind of on their own yeah so i can kind of talk about that so you can change the dates of your flights to be any day that you want like i for a spain trip that we're doing we're having somebody she's like i want to go to finland and she's flying back from finland so we have the um capacity and the ability to change like your departure date or departure gateway or whatever it is that you choose to do. Again, all of those are requests and might come at an additional cost. So another thing to be aware of. So there is no extension for this trip. So if you wanted to stay longer, we can do something called a pre-stay at the beginning or a post-stay at the end. We can only do that in the airport gateway cities. So for example, you're flying into Milan, but your first stop is Turin. So we could give you a Milan pre-stay, but we wouldn't be able to book the same hotel in Turin. So it's only on where you fly in for the airport that we could like book a hotel night if you wanted to do that. Or, you know, I can give you some suggestions and you can look on that online and book yourself as well. So it's up to kind of whatever. Choose your own adventure, we like to say. Okay. Thank you. Would you talk a little more about the difference between the two insurance pricings? Yeah, so 349 is the basic, 449 for the premium. The main difference between the two is accident and sickness while on tour. The basic covers you up to $25,000, while the premium covers you up to $50,000. The premium will include pre-existing condition coverage. So let's say you have asthma. a pre-existing condition and you have an asthma attack where you need to be hospitalized while on tour. So if you have the basic, it would really only cover you if it's like, oh, I fell and like I twisted my ankle and I needed to like be in a cast or whatever it is, where it's like if it's a pre-existing condition, I would recommend adding on the premium insurance when you make your booking or adding it on within the first 72 hours because that's when pre-existing condition coverage will be included. After those. 72 hours. If you did not add on the insurance, it won't cover you for preexisting condition. And there's no way that I can add that on either. Then if you add the premium while booking or within the first 72 hours, you also get our any reason protection cancellation voucher. So your insurance will cover you for cancellation reasons that are covered under the policy. Those are more emergency situations such as like death in the family, I need to have a surgery, I lost my job and can't financially pay for this anymore, things of that nature. But if you just don't want to go, that's where the any reason protection cancellation voucher will be like, oh, instead of having to pay a cancellation fee, you could just keep that money like in your account and we can apply it to future travel. So it's not like you're losing out. necessarily on those, like having to pay those cancellation fees. I know it's a lot of information. So again, I'm happy to help as well. And I think to add one point on top of that, those incentives are really, I think, the most applicable when working with organizations like an alley like Delaware, because we even see this is the first of three trip meetings we're launching for the next year and a half or through 2026, which I think. it's if you have, you know, to not have those cancellation fees is really great because you could apply those vouchers to, oh, well, I'm not able to go to Italy, but like, Greece is a year after that, like, that actually maybe is going to be a better option for me to not have to lose anything if you had to make a decision like that. So definitely a nice solution for, for folks that have multiple other trips in the portfolios, such as the way that we do. Excellent. Thank you. Another question is about the $99 securing your spot fee. Is that refundable if you change your mind? Within the first 30 days, correct. So that's the idea of giving you that window of put the small deposit down. We totally understand travels a nuanced decision. You've got a lot of things you want to make sure are in a row for you to travel. So know that that's what another reason I think a lot of folks like doing that 99 down first because it essentially gives them a month to think about the trip and, like, fully commit to it. If you were to wait after the month, then the 99 is non-refundable anymore, but it's designed to kind of give you that window to consider. Perfect. All right. Thanks. I'm not sure if you could answer the one I saw from Audrey about if spouses are not Ali members, if we're open as long as one person on the trip as a member or I wasn't sure. I didn't want to overspeak on that one. I did reply to that. So everyone that is on the trip must be an OLLI member. So your husband's welcome to come or your wife or your friend, but they would need to become a member in order to take the trip. So if this trip is in the fall of this year, then they would need to be an OLLI member as of fall 2025. If you want to take one of the other trips that are in 2026, you could wait to become a member until the semester that the trip is taken. But also that, well, I think it's important to know that there's not like a built -in integrated system where if someone enrolled, what we do is just check the overall the folks that are enrolled and kind of compare it against an alley list. So if you get outreach directly from the alley, know that you can enroll without being a current member now. But of course, that kind of you can expect that communication that we would hope that you would then take steps to get your enrollment squared away. Yeah. And I will just reiterate, I've just put it in the chat. But so for communication about all four trips, in our Monday statewide newsletter, there will be a link to all four of these lunch and learns so that you can watch the recording again or maybe you missed it so you wanted to pick out one of the other trips. So Monday, look for the newsletter. You'll have the links to all the recordings. Tuesday will be a separate email with information on how to register with for each trip with a link to the website for each specific trip. And again, that'll go out early Tuesday morning, but then the go live is at noon on Tuesday, February 18. And can your spouse enroll in the summer Ollie session? I don't, we have not talked about that. So Christine, I'll have to get back to you on that. We would prefer that your spouse is a all OLLI member, but you can get back to me later after I talk with Karen, our director. And we, someone that had asked about tips, tips are preferred in cash. and I presume that they would take dollars or euros. Correct. You'll be able to take folks to ATMs over there as well if they need to get euros, correct? Correct. I think that's a good thing. Another thing we definitely cover in that pre-departure meeting, but just know we are, again, from my experience, literally being these exact cities, every day I was in proximity to an ATM if I needed it. I personally am a believer in getting some, I usually get the equivalent of like two to three hundred dollars in euros when I first land. And then I've almost never once spent them all. And main reason is not just that I'm super fiscally efficient that my wife would love to think that's the case, but it's probably not. But it's just because of the fact that their most, if not all vendors you come across, we'll take credit cards. We'll cover this again in the pre-departure meeting, just to know from a, financial literacy perspective, just making sure that a credit card you bring on tour does not carry any financial or any international transaction fees. And we live in a world now where it is very easy, even if you do like banking with like a credit union or a bigger bank or just got to go online, there are many no fee, no transaction credit cards to kind of start searching for in the next couple of months to make sure that you've got something in your pocket that will allow you to usually make purchases, but with also not penalizing you for making purchases abroad. Thank you. And someone asked, is it better to get the euros in the states? And then my experience, as you do, Josh, as soon as I land, I find an ATM at the airport and I just pop in my card, it works fine, I get the euros. And that's been the cheapest the exchange rate and the easiest to do. So that would be my recommendation. I agree. I think if you want to, there is ways usually through your bank if you'd prefer just to be a little safer. But I think with the exchange rate, if it's not cheaper to do it the way you described, it's negligible, the difference. So definitely personal preference. But no, you're not getting penalized by choosing to do one or the other. And just to confirm an Ollie member is someone that signs up for classes. So either you pay the annual fee or the semester fee. considered an OLLI member. So before, you know, as we're doing these final trip meetings and things, I will be confirming that your OLLI membership is live as well as your trip insurance has been purchased. So those are the two requirements to attend this trip. And again, this is a special trip just for us, just for University of Delaware OLLI members. No one else is, unless they become a UD-Ali member, no one else is able to enroll in this. Hopefully that makes sense. I see a question here. I'm just kind of going from top to bottom as well. The piece about in past experience age ranges, it really differs. I wouldn't say it's necessarily mostly couples. I think a lot of times, as we mentioned before, We've just got members who would prefer not to pay the single cost and meet ahead of time and just agree to be roommates. And from an age range, really difference. Every alley is a little difference. I mean, I've got some that skew more closer to 60, but I've got plenty of volley trips where we've got multiple members that are in great shape and travel into their 80s. So I wouldn't say there's one specific range. I definitely wouldn't want, this isn't a extremely active tour where, you know, you know yourself best, but I would feel comfortable that this is a relatively relaxed pace. And another advantage of being a private group is that if you just happen to have a day where you just kind of want to take it a little more easy, there really isn't the pressure to keep up with the group. You can talk to your tour director, you can say, hey, I'm going to, you know, sit something out or can, you know, is there a way for me to, you know, just kind of. hang back for a little bit while the group continues with their walking tour, know that those are normal requests that are often asked on our private trips and almost always easily accommodated. So definitely don't want anyone to be worried about any of those things. All right. Wow. This has been so fun. Thank you for all of your excellent questions. And since it is 106, we probably better close now. Remember that we'll have the recording available on Monday. it'll go out in the newsletter, our regular statewide newsletter. Hopefully you learned a lot. You're excited about this trip. And Josh and I and Becca will be online again tomorrow at noon. And tomorrow we're talking about Atlantic Canada, right? That's right, the Canadian Maritimes. Unfortunately, Becca's got to fly home tomorrow, so I'll be covering her shift. But we will get all that same great information covered for the group. Awesome. All right. Well, thank you all so very much. And thank you, Josh and Becca, for being here. Yeah, thank you, everyone. Appreciate your time. Excited to see everybody in Italy in no time. All right. See you. Bye-bye. That seemed like that was extremely welcome.
OLLI Travel Lunch and Learn - Italy October 2025
From Michelle Butler February 12, 2025
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Zoom Recording ID: 94982638247
UUID: gmKKGnMbQd6HcGSmwEMfIw==
Meeting Time: 2025-02-12 04:22:40pmGMT
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- OLLI Statewide Travel
- Date Established
- February 14, 2025
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Judy Winters February 18, 2025 8:17 AM
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