Sunday in Puerto Vallarta

The World Access Project team joined worship at a local church in Puerto Vallarta. Laura enjoyed singing in Spanish. While she can speak a little Spanish, it helped that the words projected on the wall. I’m sure our high school Spanish teacher would be very proud. She says it was just like a worship service in the US with modern praise songs. As soon as she stepped into the church she knew God was there. The church provided headsets with an English translation of the sermon and served them lunch afterwards. Laura felt so honored the way they were treated.

There are 16 in the group. Laura knows several as she has done their travel arrangements. A few are from Mexico who may help with translation. They’ve split up into teams. Some learn to interview and help figure out the best assistive device for the user. They also have walkers, and crutches along with the 50 wheelchairs. They even have brought parts for repairs.

One member of the group has brought her husband wheelchair to giveaway. He husband passed away recently and is looking forward to meeting the recipient of his chair. I hope they are ready with tissues for the tears.

They start giving out wheelchairs, crutches, walkers and canes Monday.


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Guidebooks about Puerto Vallarta

Children of the Dump

While most people think of sun and fun when they hear about Puerto Vallarta, can you imagine being so poor you live in a dump? Now imagine, needing a wheelchair and not having one.
To distribute 50 wheelchairs to the impoverished in the area this week, World Access Project is partnering with an organization called Children of the Dump. Many poor families live in the area around a huge dump outside the sunny streets of Puerto Vallarta. The poor had to live off scraps they found in the dump. The Children of the Dump organization runs a school and provides 600 meals a day. Their School of Champions teaches computer skills, math and English to those who have no resources to such training.
Thanks to their work, and financial help from Canadians, Americans and Mexicans, there are no longer children living or working in the dump. However, due to the fear of H1N1 virus and the down turned economy, many have lost their tourism based jobs. Tourism is the major industry bringing in about 2.2 million a year.
Please help World Access Project and Children of the Dump financially. You can even help the people by bringing your tourist dollars to Puerto Vallarta, and of course we can help you with that at All the World Travel. They do have 345 days of sun a year! Email us or call 360-266-8747.
More on Laura’s mission trip to Puerto Vallarta coming up here, as well as tweets on Twitter.

Support World Access Project here.
Contact World Access Project here.
Support Children of the Dump here.
Contact Children of the Dump here.
Contact All the World Travel here.

World Access Project

Being a travel agency for many mission groups is a real joy as we get to help others go. For several years we have done the travel for a group called Mobility Project. They take used wheelchairs, and other mobility aids, refurbish them. The group then takes them to third world countries and distribute them free to people that don’t have any. They also train them on the chairs use and maintenance and hold special sports camps. Many in the group are in wheelchairs themselves. For years, Laura has been invited along, but running a business makes it really hard to get away, especially when they go to places like Afghanistan. Yes, really! From Mobility Project, other groups have been born, like World Access Project. Laura is joining them on a mission to Puerto Vallarta. We would appreciate your prayers for her health and for the whole mission. If you would like to know more about what they do, or help out, their website is worldaccessproject.org.

All the World Travel is now on Twitter.com

We are now Twittering at http://twitter.com/AllTheWorldTrav. We would love to have you following us. Note that our business name is cutoff since it's too long according to the Big Tweet. ;-) One nice thing about Twitter, is you don't have to join to view it. You can even sign up for RSS just like you can with this blog.

We're working on our Facebook page, but it's still in development. Doesn't saying "in development" make it sounds so very official?

Pet Airways

July 14th, 2009, flight 1101 flew from Chicago to LA. What’s so unusual about that? The cabin was filled with pets. It was the first day of “pawsenger” service for Pet Airways.


They don’t fly people, just their pets. It’s certainly not unusual for people to travel with pets, whether a small one under the seat or the larger hounds in cargo. But what is a niche for Pet Airways is that instead of pets being shipped like a suitcase, or crammed under the seat, they are cared for in the main cabin. Attendants check on them, making sure they are both drinking and… a-hem… "getting potty breaks". Pets can even check in days early if needed. This is a real vacation saver for those families where a vacation wouldn’t be the same without their pet. Some just plain miss Bowser or worry if Fluffly is being cared for properly.


Right now, Pet Airways only flies between New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. They hope to expand to other cities soon. Pet Airways seemed to be a hit right away as there was so much traffic to their website, their internet servers went down.

Our poor kitties had traumatic flights to and from Alaska. Waiting on the tarmac in the snow, getting a cage shaped crease on kitty’s nose, and being in the cargo hold when a dog got loose in the hold. It's nice to see a better way for them to fly. Pet Airways even keeps dogs and cats in separate areas.

Update:
Pet Airways closed in 2011.

Books about Traveling with your Pet

To Carryon or Not to Carryon… that is a tough question.

Since the most airlines are now charging for check-on baggage, many of us are trying to carryon even more. The Transportation Security Administration’s carryon restrictions haven’t changed much lately. If for nothing more then refreshing your memory, it’s always a good idea to make sure you know the rules before you pack up.

Back when the restrictions were tighter, I knew someone who packed a needlepoint kit to keep her busy on the flight. The TSA agent found her grandmothers little scissors in the kit, and said she could not carry that on. The agent was nice enough to let her take it back to a shipping kiosk to ship it home. If she hadn’t arrived extra early, her grandma’s scissors would have been lost.

The latest carryon requirements are always on their website at tsa.gov. Recorded information is also available at the TSA’s Contact Center number at 1-866-289-9673. If it’s still confusing, our customers can call us at 360-266-8747 for more information.

For your convenience, we’ll also keep that TSA link on our website at alltheworldtravel.com. We also have a selection of TSA approved items available at our new GO Store. They include the new “TSA approved” laptop computer cases. These cases were designed so the laptops do not need to be removed for x-ray. Please take a look. The GO Store is powered by Amazon, so all charges, returns, and other customer service needs are handled through them.



The TSA have moved their carryon baggage information to this page. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/prohibited-items

Group Travel

If you have several people going to the same destination, as a licensed travel agent, I can get deep discounts from the airlines. Just call or e-mail me with the dates, destination and the number of travelers... and I'll find the best rate and handle all the travel details.
GoInto@AllTheWorldTravel.com 360-266-8747