[Travelandtourism] Happy New Year from the President of the Travel and Tourism Division

[cheryl echevarria]

Happy New Year to Everyone!

We hope that it will be a happy and healthy 2012 for everyone.

I have been proud to have been chosen at the 2011 NFB Convention in Orlando, FL to be President of this Division, and look forward to working with all of you in the coming year.

We have done a few things from the beginning, we have new officers, we are working on a brand new website, we have monthly teleconferences for all to enjoy, and hopefully will have more of you attending in the future, because without you the membership, we are just working for ourselves.

Our next teleconference is being held on January 10th, 2012 at 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central, 6pm Mountain, and 5pm Pacific Times.  Our first guest of the year will be Matt Slosky, who is the Chief Operating Officer of Socialflights.com, and we are hoping that Peter Donahue and myself will be recording the teleconference to put on our website, but for those who are definitely attending the National Convention in Dallas, Texas from June 30-July 5, 2012, I suggest that you attend the conference call to learn more about saving money or at least a more convenient way to getting there.

We are also looking to having our meeting at convention on July 1st, which is the registration and resolutions day.

Starting in January, you can register for the National Convention, Make your room reservation as soon as possible with the Hilton Anatole staff only, not Hilton general reservations. Call (214) 761-7500

The 2012 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins $63 and triples and quads $68 a night, plus a 15 percent sales tax. The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $60-per-room deposit is required to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before June 1, 2012. The other 50 percent is not refundable.

Please read your Braille Monitors for more information.

The division is also in talks about doing a yearly travel event to raise money, to educate the public on the blind, to educate ourselves as well about traveling to different places.

We do hope that you all will be posting more about your travel experiences.

>From the officers of the Travel and Tourism Division and myself, we wish you health and happiness for the coming year.

Peace.

Cheryl Echevarria, President
Travel and Tourism Division
National Federation of the Blind
631-236-5138

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631-456-5394
reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:reservations at echevarriatravel.com>

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