The Task When you have finished this quest your group will have planned the "best" trip possible. This task must be accomplished in the following way:   Here are the rules: * You must travel at least 15 days and no more than 22 days. The day you leave home counts as Day 1 and the day you arrive home counts as the last day. (Any longer and you would have to do laundry!) * Each person contributes $3000 U.S. to the trip, including transportation. Use current foreign currency exchange rates in your calculations. * You must have a place to sleep each night. Sleeping on the plane, train or bus can only replace lodging if the trip is more than 5 hours long. * You must travel together at all times. * Assume your travel occurs during the month of June.

 

Activity 1  Where do we go and how do we get there? Task 1:   Choose four of the following cities to visit: Amsterdam, Netherlands London, England Paris, France Berlin, Germany Florence, Italy Madrid, Spain Zurich, Switzerland                                 Click on the flag to find out how to complete this task. Task 2:  Gather airfare information (at least three to each city).            Click on the airplane to find out how to complete this task. Task 3:  Find the distance to each city.              Click on the mile marker to find out how to complete this task. Task 4:  Create a graph of average airfare vs. distance to each city                            and determine if they are related.          Click on the graph below to find out how to complete this task.   Task 5:  Choose a route for your trip, including where you will fly into and out of.          Click on the automobile to find out how to complete this task. Task 6:  Find costs for a Eurrail Pass and purchase one that suits your plans.          Click on the train to find out how to complete this task.     Task 7:  Create a budget spreadsheet and enter your transportation  costs into it.          Click on the money find out how to complete this task.

 
 
 

Activity 2:  What will we do while we're there? Task 1:  Choose attractions to visit in each city.          Click the sign to find out how to complete this task. Task 2:  Determine how long you will stay in each city.          Click on the lodging symbol to find out how to complete this task. Task 3:  Complete your intinerary.          Click on the clock to find out how to complete this task.

 
 

Activity 3:  How much will all this cost? Task 1:  Enter costs to visit the attractions into budget.           Click on the money to find out how to complete this task. Task 2:  Enter up costs for lodging into budget.          Click on the money belowto find out how to complete this task. Task 3:  Enter costs for food and incidentals into budget.          Click on the money below to find out how to complete this task. Task 4:  Enter costs for souvenirs  into budget.          Click on the money below to find out how to complete this task. Task 5:  Compare total costs to allowed budget and replan Activities 1                            and 2  and repeat Activity 3 if necessary.          Click the button below to find out how to complete this task.     Can we pay for all this?   Task 6:  Create a pie chart of your budget.          Click on the piece of pie to find out how to complete this task.

 
 

Activity 4:  Share your trip plans with the rest of us. Task 1:  Create a report about your trip.    Click here to find out how to write the report.   Task 2:  Create and give a Power Point presentation about your trip.   Click here to find out how to do the presentation.

 

Bon Voyage!!!!

 

Process for Activity 2, Task 1: You will choose what attractions you will visit and how you will spend your time in each city.     a.  Each person should use a decision matrix to decide what attractions to visit in their city. Together you must:             Items to consider are: interest level, accessibility, cost cultural relevance. For example EuroDisney may be fun, but it doesn't teach me much about Paris and its people. You will use a decision matrix to do this for each city. To find out how to do a decision matrix, click here…..{Link to decision matrix page} Click here for resources to find attractions

Process for Activity 2, Task 2: Based upon the attractions you will visit, decide how many days you will stay in each city.   Remember, the whole trip should last 15 to 22 days.

Process for Activity 2, Task 3: Create an itinerary.  This is simple a daily list of what you will do.   Include what you will do and see and where you will stay each  night.  Include time for travel as appropriate.

 

Process for Activity 3, Task 1: Find the cost to visit each attraction included in your itinerary and enter them into your budget spreadsheet.

Process for Activity 3, Task 2: Each person should find hotel rates for their city. You may use average rates for each city. Click here to see resources for hotel information.  Use these rates to calculate your total hotel costs.  Enter this information into the budget spreadsheet.

Process for Activity 3, Task 3: Cost of food:  Plan to eat one meal at a decent restaurant each afternoon or evening.  You can find out about restaurants and meal prices on the Internet.  Click here to see some resources. a.  Each person should find meal prices for their city. b.  Add 15% to the meal price for a gratuity. c.  For the other two meals and incidental expenses you must allow an additional $15 U.S. per day.  Some hotels will have breakfast included so this should be sufficient. e.  Enter this infomation into the budget spreadsheet.

Process for Activity 3, Task 4: Souvenirs etc.:  You are probably not going to go all the way to Europe and not buy anything to bring home. a.  Each person must allocate at least $25 U.S. times the number of people in your family for gifts. b.  Each person that has a  boyfriend or girlfriend must set aside another $50 for a special present. c.  Enter these costs into the budget spreadsheet.

Process for Activity 3, Task 5: Your ideal trip probably costs too much. If so, go back and replan so you can do this within budget. If your ideal trip cost much less than the allotted money, you are not taking advantage of this opportunity. Go back and plan some more stuff to do or better food to eat.

Process for Activity 3, Task 6: Use Excel to create a pie chart of your budget.  The categories should be transportation, food and miscellaneous, lodging, and souvenirs.  The chart should display the percent of budget spent on each category.

 

Process for Activity 4, Task 1: After you have planned your trip you will collate all of your information into a five to seven page report describing why you chose to plan the trip the way you did.  You should include a  printout of your airfare data and graph, budget spreadsheet, decision matrices (one for each city) and itinerary.  A reference list containing sites and publications used must be included.  The following should be incuded: A.  General Topics * How is airfare related to distance? * What item(s) impacted your budget the most? * Describe how you chose the attractions to visit? * What is your itinerary for each day? B.  Airfare investigation (hand in printed copy and disk): * Airfares obtained from reliable sources. (Describe in report.) * Several fares to each city averaged. * Distances to each city correct. * Price vs. mileage graphed properly with a trendline. * Stated conclusion about the relationship between air fare and mileage is correct based upon your information.  (contained in report.) C.  Budget Spreadsheet (hand in file on disk): * Includes all costs. * Costs and currency information are correct. * Programmed to automatically sum totals and do currency conversions. * Easy to Understand D.  Decision Matrix * Ratings done correctly indicating understanding of concept. * Highest rated attractions are the ones chosen to visit.  (In other words, you actually used the results!) E.  List of references All sites, books, magazine articles, newspaper articles or other media used to obtain information should be listed and cited within the report as appropriate.

Process for Activity 4, Task 2: After you have planned your trip you will make and present a Power Point presentation describing your planned trip to your classmates. It is expected that your presentation will * be done using Power Point. * demonstrate equal participation by all group members. * be well prepared, clear and interesting. * contain relevant graphics, sound and Excel charts imported into Power Point.

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