[Travelandtourism] Minutes of the December Board Meeting

[Mary Donahue]

SECRETARY'S REPORT

NFB Travel and Tourism Division Board

December 6, 2011

 

                President Cheryl Echevarria called the meeting of the Travel
and Tourism Division board to order at 7:05 P.M. central time. There were no
guests. Board members present were as follows:

 

Anahit LaBarre, board member

Mary Donahue, secretary

Pete Donahue, webmaster and board member

Cheryl Echevarria, president

Maurice Shackelford, first vice president

Jemal Powell, board member

 

Milton Taylor, Nelson Echevarria, and April Scheppe were absent.

 

                There was no change to the treasurer's report.

 

                Cheryl and Nelson Echevarria and Anahit LaBarre have
submitted biographies. Content for the Web site has come in slowly.
President Echevarria suggested obtaining content off of the blog. Pete
Donahue suggested uploading video and audio clips to the same server.
President Echevarria has a Drop Box account, so she will send large video
files from Drop Box or from SendSpace. Pete Donahue also reported that he
and Mary are still recovering from their technology meltdown, but he is
thinking of ideas for the Web site. President Echevarria and First Vice
President Shackelford will help Pete with Web site content.

 

The 2012 national convention will take place from June 29-July 5. The
division can meet on Registration Day, July 1. President Echevarria has
contacted Robert Newman, Writers Division president, and others to speak
during the meeting. Pete Donahue has contacted Matt Slosky, chief operations
officer of Social Flights, about coming to talk about private jet travel.
President Echevarria suggested getting Mr. Slosky on the January conference
call. Discussion continued about private jet versus commercial airline
travel. Airline rates will not be as good until March, and convention hotel
reservations start January 1. Private jet travel would also encourage other
people to travel with an existing group. It would be exciting to have an NFB
convention listed on the Social Flights Web site.

 

President Echevarria is working with the Bahama Tourism Board for a cruise.
There was no issue in the Bahamas about traveling with a guide dog. Only a
health certificate is required.

 

The New Jersey affiliate will be doing a fund-raiser cruise on April 13,
2013. President Echevarria suggested discussing a land activity at the next
meeting.

 

The board meeting will be on Tuesday, January 10, with Matt Slosky of
SocialFlights.com as guest speaker.

 

Beginning January 1, 2012, the United Kingdom's quarantine will become a
thing of the past. All that will be needed is proof of a rabies shot and a
third-party certificate.

 

                President Echevarria did not meet with Mr. Craig George of
the Kennedy Space Center in November while she was away on her cruise in
November,   but the Vice President  of the Orlando Chapter,   Sherri Brun,
met with Mr. George, about the issues during the July, 2011 convention, when
President Echevarria had a group attending there, as well as other people,
when their services were less than acceptable   in the way of accessibility
and customer service was at their lowest. Per contacts with Ms. Brun, here
is what had come about.

 

"Mr. George seems to want to make things all right.    He definitely wants
to work with the NFB Greater Orlando Chapter on formulating their policy
toward the disabled. He was attending a convention for theme park owners and
is going to talk to Disney about their descriptive service for touring the
park. He also will get in touch with NFB to find out how to make their
website more accessible. He suggested in the future if you make tour
arrangements to work with KSC exclusively instead of going through a third
party. He also plans on attending our state convention over Memorial Day
weekend and the national convention in 2013. I am sure we will keep in
touch. Seems most willing to work with us.              HTH."

 

Anahit LaBarre will be going on a cruise to Belize and Mexico the first week
of January.

 

                The Department of Transportation wants to move forward and
wants feedback from people to make kiosks and airline Web sites accessible.
Members should send concerns about information kiosk and Web site
accessibility to

airlines at nfb.org. Maurice Shackelford will send the email to the Travel and
Tourism Division list.

 

                Pete and Mary Donahue moved and seconded adjournment. The
meeting adjourned at 7:56 P.M. central time.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Mary Donahue, Interim Secretary